Panic Button

Introduction

It's a well known fact, ignored by everyone, that your every move is logged on the internet. Everything you look at, everything you post and everything you download is logged somewhere. Once you've posted something on the internet, it's there forever. Oddly, most people ignore this and some even behave in a way sat behind a monitor and keyboard that they wouldn't in public.  One phenomenon is the tendency of crowds of people on the internet to behave incredibly cruelly and cyber bullying is a particular problem in the modern world and one that is much more prevalent in the world of social networking. These are the downsides of what on the face of it is a pretty fantastic tool that allows even the most shy or anti-social human beings to create an on-line prescence and make friends all over the world.

Four members of social networking group All2gether.com are informed that they have been chosen in a random draw and that they have won an all expenses trip to New York. The characters are all different and not known to any of the others, effectively meeting for the first time in public, although all have checked out their All2gether.com profiles prior to the trip.

Jo is a young mother who uses the internet to escape from the struggles of raising her young daughter Sophie. Dave is a boisterous and rather narcissistic bloke, who likes to be the centre of attention. Gwen is a quietly spoken girl who uses the internet as a method of self-expression. Max is a dry-witted computer whizz. All four are requested to hand over all communications devices before boarding the plane, which sounds a little odd but due to the promise of further prizes and entertainment, all comply.

Taking off in a luxurious private jet, the four are soon introduced to their host, an anonymous host who speaks through their individual monitors using the animated Alligator logo of All2together.com. As part of the entertainment for the flight, Alligator announces that there will be a series of games involving all of the contestants and that the rules of the game stipulate that once a game starts, all contestants must participate in order to avoid unexplained consequences. From the start, it's clear that all is not as it initially seemed with each game becoming more and more personal, with Alligator holding up a mirror to each character and exposing the indiscretions of their on-line activity through All2gether.com to their personal embarassment and judgement of the others.

As the games get more personal and vicious, the contestants decide to back out - only to find that Alligator has other ideas. He has kidnapped one of each of their loved ones and shows them ready to be executed if co-operation is not forthcoming. Not only that, but blatant disregard of the rules leads to Alligator choosing someone from their friends list and murdering them. It becomes clear to all four that something has gone seriously wrong and that their lives are in danger due to something that they may have no memory of doing whilst networking socially, with Alligator becoming more and more vicious. Not only that, but it also appears as if they're not actually flying towards New York...

Visual

My review disc was a DVD-R so not only did it auto-start sans menu but it also has an annoying clock counter in the middle of the top screen running throughout the duration of the film. I really wish that companies who send stuff out for reviews would stop putting things on their discs that could potentially ruin the enjoyment of the film.

Extras

More than a few available on the retail version apparently but nothing on my review disc.

Overall

There are many dangers within the digital world and none more so than the seemingly benevolent world of social networking. Most of us take it for granted and use it wisely, but also tend to spend a lot of time on sites such as Facebook or MySpace, sharing random or the most intimate thoughts with others, many of whom we don't actually know other than through a shared interest. There is also a myriad of fads that come and go with social networking such as video's shared or various quizzes that will tell you anything you want to know about yourself such as which Star Wars character you resemble or how kinky you are in bed. And most people will perform these activities without even thinking about it, post the results and then forget about it as the next thing comes along. But what if someone is tracking this information? What will happen to this information in ten or twenty years time? Will it still be out there and readable to someone with the right tools and an inquisitive mind?  And if the answer is yes, what are the implications of these things rebounding upon us?

This is the basic premise of Panic Button, named after the current campaigns to add a Panic Button to social networking sites for the protection of children. Panic Button touches upon many topical issues that are relevant within the social networking world, including identity theft, cyber bullying, voyeurism, internet pornography and peer pressure. All of these will be familiar to social networkers, even if they haven't participated in any of it themselves, and all take centre stage in this tightly scripted pychological thriller. Using virtually unknown actors also helps, although all have been around for a while and will be familiar in part to some, even if only vaguely remembering Vicki Fowler (Scarlett Alice Johnson) from Eastenders. This casting strategy helps the suspension of disbelief that this really is the story of four unknown strangers placed unsuspectingly into a precarious situation by a hidden protagonist. The central characters are all well acted, in fact Michael Jibson's Dave is really quite loathsome which is a testament to the actor.

The script is pretty good, covering a gamut of modern issues, emotions and guilt. Emotionally this film starts off very light-hearted and quite quickly moves through embarassment and guilt to a very dark place as we explore the issues held under the microscope. Everything is essentially glossed over but all help to build the tension and the big reveal when it comes helps you understand the build-up, even if it's more than a little predictable. Pacing is very much real-time once we're up in the air and also has a couple of Big Brother-esque reality TV touches with the toilet doubling as the 'diary room'. The setting also helps to highlight the sheer helplessness of the situation when locked in at 30,000 feet with no control over the eventual outcome.

Panic Button actually has the look and feel of a bigger budget Hollywood production, starting with it's quite uptempo opening titles and music - the latter by Mark Rutherford. Other than a couple of outside locations, the entire film is set within two enclosed sets; the main passenger cabin and the onboard toilet. The majority of the budget must have gone into the production design as I never felt I was looking at a set, it looks and feels like I would imagine a private jet to look. This film isn't without flaws, ultimately it's a straight forward revenge thriller that asks some interesting and probing personal questions to help set the overall scene but it is also quite a satisfying view and quite gripping once the action kicks in.

Well worth a watch and may also prompt some searching questions for those who use social networking sites...


**NOTE** This is actually an 18 certificate film, which quite frankly seems a little harsh...