An employee and her insufferable boss become stranded on a deserted island, the only survivors of a plane crash. Here, they must overcome past grievances and work together to make it out alive.

Sam Raimi’s latest film is ‘Send Help’, an entertaining dark comedy that focuses on a long serving employee who finds herself stranded on a remote island with her arrogant boss after a plane crash. It stars Rachel McAdams in the leading role as Linda Liddle, a hard worker who has been patiently waiting for a long overdue promotion, only to see that possibility vanish when the company she works for finds itself in the hands of her former bosses son (Bradley Preston, played by Dylan O’Brien), who chooses to promote his friend instead.

On a business flight to Thailand on a private jet, Bradley and a couple of his minions mock Linda when one of them plays a video he’s found of her auditioning for the TV series ‘Survivor’, something that won’t prove so worthy of mocking when the plane crashes, leaving everyone besides Linda and Bradley dead. Once stranded, the power dynamic shifts in interesting ways, and the script handles that reversal neatly, allowing Linda’s capability to come to the fore while exposing the fragility beneath Bradley’s confidence. They start off clashing with each other, though there are some signs that they may find a way to get along as the story progresses, which Raimi plays with quite neatly.

Rachel McAdams is excellent as Linda, playing her with a quiet competence and simmering resentment that gradually surfaces as the situation deteriorates. O’Brien matches her well, leaning into the smugness and insecurity of a man who has never had to work for anything in his life. This being a Sam Raimi film, there’s also a generous dose of gore and dark comedy, both of which land effectively. The violence is punchy and over the top, and I liked the way Raimi blends together the beauty of the setting with some disgusting or macabre moments, all of which serve to give ‘Send Help’ an edge and prevent it from following the path of a straightforward survival thriller.

I thought the script was sharp with plenty of twists and turns, and aided by two strong central performances, ‘Send Help’ is a really entertaining movie.

Rating: 4/5

Directed By: Sam Raimi

Starring: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Edyll Ismail, Xavier Samuel, Chris Pang and Dennis Haysbert

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt8036976/