High Noon – Nora Roberts’ High Noon (2009)

Directed by: Peter Markle | 92 minutes | drama, thriller, romance | Actors: Emilie de Ravin, Ivan Sergei, Brian Markinson, Ty Olsson, Cybill Shepherd, Olivia Chang, Patrick Sabongui, Savanna Carlson, BJ Harrison, Biski Gugushe, Peter Benson, Tom Carey, Simeon Taole, Norma Lewis, David Lereany

Phoebe MacNamara (Emilie de Ravin) is a police negotiator. She is not only trying to end hostage-takings professionally and without victims; Suicide customers also have to deal with the informal approach of blonde Phoebe – on the roof of a building, for example. She tries to convey this method of working to fellow officers, but one of them is quite rebellious to say the least. This agent Meeks (Patrick Sabongui) doesn’t like being led by a woman, abhors her soft touch and showy ruins a negotiating situation with Phoebe arriving late. With a fatal outcome…

Meanwhile, Phoebe gets to know Duncan (Ivan Sergei, known for the TV series ‘Jack & Jill’); bar owner and filthy rich after winning a lottery. He secretly falls in love with Phoebe, but she doesn’t really have time for a relationship because of her drastic profession, a mother with agoraphobia and a daughter from a previous relationship. When Phoebe is attacked and assaulted in the stairwell of the police station, it raises the question of who was responsible. The suspended Meeks, “date” Duncan or maybe someone else entirely? It’s clear that someone wants to play a game with Phoebe, when she’s being chased, her belongings destroyed and a new hostage situation ends deadly at the hands of a stranger… ‘High Noon’ is clearly a TV movie. Low budget, inevitable romance and some nonsensical side plots. Phoebe’s mother, for example, is an interesting character with her fear of the street, but her role ultimately adds nothing to the story. This also applies to Phoebe’s totally characterless fellow friend, who doesn’t get much further than that “Duncan is such a hottie…”

But okay; the story is completely parasitic on the pressing question: who is the perpetrator? That’s why you keep watching, despite the sometimes lousy acting and very poorly developed script. The film is based on a novel by Nora Roberts (‘The hottest of the day’), so perhaps it is also naive to expect an intelligent(er) thriller. The person ‘Phoebe’ is totally unbelievable. No one believes that she is a mentally tough aunt who keeps her cool in the confrontation with hostage takers. The most shocking thing in this film, however, is the finale, in which all the quarters fall very quickly without the need for a genius idea. As a viewer you feel quite cheated, because in a classic whodunit it is in any case a condition that all suspects have already been reviewed.

Is the romance heartwarming perhaps? Well no. Emilie de Ravin lacks the charisma and acting talent to impress and the chemistry with Ivan Sergei is deplorable. While the latter is well cast to play the sympathetic, slightly mysterious, Duncan. Love and romance play a big part in the script, but it seems very artificial in practice. ‘High Noon’ is a film suitable for women who like simple novels. For example, on RTL4’s TV movie night when the other channels broadcast football, ‘High Noon’ offers a solution for that target group. And for everyone else, it’s all manageable as long as you don’t expect too much from it.