A socially-conscious thriller that misses the mark hits big on streaming

Once upon a time, Phillip Noyce’s name was on virtually every studio shortlist when a glossy thriller was seeking an accomplished and proven pair of hands to direct, but it wouldn’t be unfair to suggest that the filmmaker’s stock has dropped increasingly lower over the last decade.

Titles like Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, The Bone Collector, Rabbit-Proof Fence, The Quiet American, and Salt were all critical and commercial success stories, but his most recent efforts The Giver and Above Suspicion didn’t fare anywhere near as well.

That’s continued with The Desperate Hour, which could only muster a Rotten Tomatoes score of 27% after premiering late last year. Despite the best efforts of star Naomi Watts in the lead role, the timely and socially-conscious story of a mourning mother finding her small town in the midst of an active school shooting during a morning jog in the woods resolutely failed to hit the intended targets.

Critics weren’t too kind, and called the film out for handling such sensitive subject matter in a way that’s been deemed as less than tasteful, and the end result finds The Desperate Hour in danger of being forgotten about in no time at all. It’s proving popular at the moment, though, with FlixPatrol revealing the recent VOD debutant is currently one of the ten most-watched titles on the iTunes library in the United States.