AMBER ALERT (2024) is a remake of the 2012 thriller by the same team. But this time it’s not a found-footage thriller. The two main actors are great, but the story is not. Read our full 2024 Amber Alert movie review here!
AMBER ALERT (2024) is a remake of the 2012 thriller made by the same team and with the same title. But this time it’s not a found-footage thriller.
Unfortunately, the story still has some issues. Big issues even. But the cast is good. That’s what makes the movies both entertaining and worth watching. Still, it could’ve been so much better so this “do-over” feels like a missed opportunity.
Continue reading our 2024 Amber Alert movie review below. Find it in limited theatrical release and On Demand from September 27, 2024.
Same core plot, different style!
With this 2024 remake of a 2012 thriller, the story still revolves around an active Amber alert and how people respond. For this one, the found footage has been left behind, which is fine.
However, this has apparently just paved the way for other issues. The two main actors are really good in this, but they are let down by the script.
When Jaq (Hayden Panettiere) and Shane (Tyler James Williams) end up in the same car, it’s like any other rideshare. Jaq convinces Shane to do just one last trip so that she can make it to a date on time.
He agrees after being promised a huge tip, but the “quick trip” turns into an all-nighter when they receive an alert of a child abduction on their phones. The next car they see matches the description of the Amber alert.
This could mean nothing as the car is a Toyota Camry, but the actions of the driver make them react. From this point on, the story featuring Jaq (or Jaqueline) and Shane works really well. Anything involving law enforcement? Not so much.
Okay, with the exception of Saidah Arrika Ekulona (The Haunting of Hill House) as the 911 operator. She’s fierce and compassionate in all the right ways.
That ending didn’t help
Don’t worry, I won’t be doing any Amber Alert spoilers here. And it’s not that the ending is terrible. It just could’ve been so much better. In that sense, it’s symptomatic of everything wrong with this 2024 version of the same plot.
There’s no need for any Amber Alert ending explained feature as it’s quite simple. Also, you can spot it a mile away.
When I say that the ending didn’t help, it’s because the entire third act feels stupid. Everyone is moving at a snail’s pace which is the opposite of what an actual amber alert should result in. It’s all about acting fast.
Yet somehow, no police officers are near. Ever! The pharmacy is ten minutes away, but not a cop around for many miles, apparently. This irritated me immensely throughout the movie, but especially during the final act.
Watch Amber Alert on VOD now!
The director of Amber Alert is still Kerry Bellessa with the screenplay written by him as well, along with Joshua Oram. The fact that two men have written this screenplay is no surprise.
Especially considering how Hayden Panetierre’s character simply must have a dramatic backstory to explain her actions. It is grossly redundant!
In Amber Alert, there are too many missed opportunities. Or rather, choices about where people are and how long it would take the police to reach them, make little to no sense.
The police seem to somehow always be hours away from our main duo – even when Jaq states that she can be at the police station within an hour – and that ruins the illusion for me.
While the scenes featuring the 911 dispatcher are good, they could’ve been utilized even better. A movie like The Guilty (2018) managed to stay with the dispatcher throughout the movie and it worked brilliantly.
Again, all the actors are good, but the script lets them down. This results in a 2½ rating and since we don’t do halves, I cannot go up to 3 with the weird holes in the timeline and geography of this story.
Still, it is worth watching, so you should. Just be ready for some strange choices along the way.
Amber Alert (2024) is out in limited theaters and on demand on September 27, 2024.
Details
Director: Kerry Bellessa
Writers: Kerry Bellesa & Joshua Oram
Cast: Hayden Panettiere, Tyler James Williams, Saidah Arrika Ekulona, Kevin Dunn
Plot
An ordinary rideshare becomes a high-stakes game of cat and mouse when Jaq (Hayden Panettiere) and Shane (Tyler James Williams) receive an alert of a child abduction on their phones. Quickly realizing they are behind a car that matches the description of the kidnapper’s, Jaq and Shane desperately race against time to save the child’s life.
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