Hours (2013)

Boring

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

It kind of surprised me when I realized that there hadn't been any major movies about Hurricane Katrina and the devastation it brought to New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast in 2005 – until "Hours" (PG-13, 1:37) hit theaters. Like many smart filmmakers, Eric Heisserer, who wrote this film and also directs (for the first time), tells a very big story through the experiences of a very small group of people. His approach personalizes the real life disaster and makes it easier to appreciate, as in "Titanic", "Pearl Harbor" and "The Impossible", the 2012 film about a tsunami hitting Thailand."Hours" adds to its degree of difficulty by allowing one actor to carry the vast majority of the film (like Robert Redford in 2013's "All is Lost", and especially Tom Hanks in the 2000 film "Cast Away"). This whole situation is all the more poignant because the star of "Hours", Paul Walker, didn't live to see this movie released. Walker plays Nolan Hayes, a New Orleans resident, who takes his wife, Abby (Genesis Rodriguez), to a local hospital when complications arise with her pregnancy. Abby dies and Nolan's baby girl is not yet breathing on her own, needing to be on a respirator for about 48 hours.Then, Hurricane Katrina robs the hospital of its power and the subsequent flooding takes out the back-up generators and forces the hospital to evacuate all its patients, staff, nurses and doctors. Since the baby can't be moved, Nolan remains there alone to keep her alive (using a generator which he must crank by hand every 2-3 minutes), while trying to signal for help and protecting himself and his little girl from various other dangers that the disaster brings their way. Minutes stretch into hours and Nolan grows increasingly desperate for help to arrive before either he or his baby succumbs to their overwhelming circumstances."Hours" is both an excellent thriller and a great drama and is the kind of movie that can even make a tough guy tear up. Walker is remarkable in this film. He does the best acting of his career, striking the perfect balance between his considerable emotional depth and his boyish charm. The tragedy and tension in the movie competed for my emotional attention with the sadness I felt believing that this film could have been a game-changer for Paul Walker's career. Either way, "Hours" deserves an "A".

Overall I think this is a good movie. Some people believe there are plot holes and unanswered questions that ruin the movie but I disagree to an extent. The best thing about the movie is we get to see a different side to Paul Walker. He wasn't a smart mouthed wise cracking guy he was a vulnerable dad hanging on for survival. With every breath I was on pins and needles with him. Makes me sad he didn't get to play more movies like this. I give this movie a 7. He's a great actor not many people can carry a movie alone. He did just that! The story is what keeps it from getting a 10. I think it's far fetched that all the critical patients were moved except for the most extreme case...come on. But as I mentioned still a decent movie. This movie is sentimental so don't watch it expecting massive explosions and actions but it has some moments of action.

Hours is a very good film, but reminding me of pResident Bush's comment of "way to go Brownie" for how the head of FEMA (mis)handled hurricane Katrina angered me and saddened me to no end. Work is a necessary aspect of life, work can even be a great thing, but our government should support people to not to have to suffer so much to succeed in life. pResident Bush could have done so much more to help the people of New Orleans and other victims of this hurricane, so sad that his response was an utter failure. Great movie though. Paul Walker plays a wonderful dad in a near impossible situation. This movie shows a lot of the best and some of the worst that humans can be.

Walker is tasked to pretty much carry the whole movie. It's a little rough at the beginning as Walker's character Nolan reacts to hearing news that his wife has died during child birth and that his daughter, born premature, is on a respirator for at least 48 hours. Walker is a little stiff in these early moments. Nowhere near as stiff as the supporting cast though. But soon enough super-storm Katrina clears out everyone but Nolan and his newborn daughter who are slaves to a respirator. Sounds like trouble if the power goes out. The rest of the movie is about Nolan trying to keep the respirator going via a hand cranked generator that he has to crank every 2 minutes since the battery won't hold a charge. To top it all off, the battery is getting worse. As the tension of Nolan's circumstances rises, the movie becomes more and more engrossing. With a combination with flashbacks, and a few circumstances that seem a bit contrived, the movie manages to stay interesting. Overall, Walker does a good job, especially conveying the emotions of a brand new parent trying to save his daughter.