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Cast: Josh Bowman, Neil Maskell, William Houston
A deadbeat gamer’s girlfriend is kidnapped. Her kidnappers keep in contact with him by phone, issuing increasingly ludicrous and dangerous challenges he must complete to keep her alive, forcing him to fight his way across London. When he discovers who kidnapped her and why, he learns he is part of a game far larger than himself. But he still has to get her back.
"Level Up" tells the story of Matt who is a total slacker. All he seems to want to do is play video games and his relationship with his beautiful girlfriend suffers from it. One day his life changes when his girlfriend is kidnapped. Her captors beat up Matt and they put a vest on him that has a little safe on it. They tell him he must deliver the package to someone across town in order to see his girlfriend alive again.
What starts off as a bizarre trip which includes being held up on the train for the package to being beat up for it turns out to be a lot more than he bargained for. The kidnappers keep demanding Matt to do more things, some of which are amusing and some not so much. Now Matt must try and figure out what is really going on in order to save his girlfriend.
"Level Up" grabs your attention right from the start and like the main character the audience is confused as well. At some point during the film you are going to start wondering where the story is going and what is the point of it all but you need to stick with it because you will be rewarded in the end. Sticking with it isn't really that hard because the film has a lot of fast paced action and it tosses in some crazy characters and some seedy and bizarre settings as well. The film also has some twists and turns a long the way to keep you interested and one large twist at the very end as well that you won't see coming.
Credit must go to Director, Adam Randall who co-wrote the film with Gary Young. "Level Up" takes the typical action/thriller and flips it on its head by creating a unique and original story around it while filling it with lots of action and even some humor as well to lighten the load at times. And then there is the cast, while everyone in the film did a great job the star here is clearly Josh Bowman who plays Matt. "Level Up" is Bowman's vehicle and he does a great job in the film both in the acting department and handling the psychical demands as well which there was a lot of.
I really enjoyed this little British film, I thought it was well-written, well-made, the acting was top notch and the story was different enough to call it original which is kind of rare today. This gritty UK thriller opens in select U.S. cinemas on August 26 and I highly recommend checking it out. There is a lot to like about the film and it keeps your interest all the way to the end with its non-stop action and story line that keeps you guessing. It is like getting your very own shot of adrenaline.
Released by FilmBuff
*** 3/4 Out Of *****