Not Safe for Work Movie Review
Yes, the title is correct, but don’t worry, it’s not NSFW! “Not Safe for Work” is a 2014 action-thriller film directed by Joe Johnston. The movie stars actors such as Max Minghella, JJ Feild, and Eloise Mumford.
The storyline follows an assistant attorney who witnesses the murder of his colleague in the office. The murder was an attempt to destroy evidence related to a significant case that the attorney’s law firm is about to process. Can he stop the killing and bring the perpetrators to justice?
Contents
Synopsis Not Safe for Work
- Year of Release 2014
- Genres Crime , Thriller , Office
- Director Joe Johnston
- Cast ∙ Max Minghella ∙ JJ Feild ∙ Christian Clemenson ∙ Eloise Mumford ∙ Tom Gallop
Thomas Miller, played by Max Minghella, works as a paralegal at the prestigious law firm, Rosen, Byres and Emmerich Attorneys at Law, in Los Angeles. The firm is set to investigate a major case involving the drug company, Denning Pharmaceutical.
However, the day before the investigation is set to begin, a key witness for the case, John Ferguson, portrayed by Michael Gladis, murders several executives at Rosen, Byres and Emmerich Attorneys at Law, believing them to be incompetent. John then commits suicide, leaving Tom in a predicament as his death means that he cannot proceed with the case against Denning Pharmaceutical.
Desperate to hold on to a case, Tom decides to leave an investigative memo for another case, one that involves the criminal activities of the Gambizzi family.
Instead of being assigned to the Denning case, Tom is called by a senior lawyer who denies his request to join the case, citing his idealistic nature and the risk of witness data leakage. As a result, Emmerich fires Tom.
On the day before the trial, Emmerich announces that all employees can leave early to prepare for the case. Tom and his friend Roger Crawford head towards the elevator to go home, but Roger realizes he left something behind and returns to the office.
As Tom reaches the lobby, a man enters the elevator on the 7th floor and follows him down. Tom becomes suspicious of the man when he sees a suitcase on the floor that is later picked up by someone else. Tom follows the person who takes the suitcase to the 34th floor, which is the office of the RBS law firm.
Tom tries to search the RBS office and finds Roger at his desk. Tom puts his cellphone on record to capture Roger’s actions but is unsatisfied with Roger’s response. Tom goes to continue his search for the mysterious man played by JJ Feild.
Tom finds the man tinkering with the building’s control system and is caught by a staff member who immediately kills him. Tom panics and runs away from the crime scene, but when he returns to the room, he finds that the elevator is locked.
Tom and Roger attempt to find a way out of the office as all access is closed by the man. Even the internet connection is lost. Unfortunately, the man notices Roger’s presence and kills him by strangulation.
After seeing Roger’s lifeless body, Tom hides in fear of being the next target. Unfortunately, the cellphone he used to record Roger’s actions rings, alerting the killer to Tom’s presence. A chase ensues, and Tom finds Emmerich and a woman still in the room.
Tom warns them that there is a killer in the office. However, the killer breaks into Emmerich’s room and shoots the woman, a reporting witness for the Gambizzi family case. The killer threatens Emmerich not to run away, while Tom manages to escape.
Tom tries to alert the police, but the killer thwarts all his attempts. Tom eventually manages to restart all the access cards and escape with Emmerich to the law firm’s main file room.
However, the killer demands that Tom hand over his access card and takes Anna hostage when she arrives at the office. The killer’s goal is to destroy all the files at the RBS law firm. When the killer starts burning the files, Tom closes the door and traps the killer inside.
Tom changes the access card using Roger’s card, which is no longer functional. Despite the danger, Tom extinguishes the fire and is attacked by the killer. Emmerich shoots and kills the killer before he dies.
The killer reveals a password to unlock his phone before he dies, which shows that he was Emmerich’s accomplice in burning the files. Emmerich worked for Denning Pharmaceutical and committed suicide feeling trapped.
However, the case does not end there. The man who met Tom earlier in the elevator when he was leaving is the killer’s accomplice and now targets Tom and Anna because he found Tom’s cellphone in the pocket of his dead colleague in the file room.
Not Safe for Work review
Simple But Top
The film begins with an ordinary opening and even the shooting techniques and settings seem cheap. However, director Joe Johnston manages to turn it into a gripping film that will keep the audience on the edge of their seats.
Credit must also be given to the scriptwriters, Simon Boyes and Adam Mason, who turned this simple film into a compelling story. With a runtime of just 70 minutes, “Prey” is a film with a super plot that will leave you breathless. You’ll definitely agree with this review after watching the film.
Dodgy
Being trapped in a multi-storey building with killers is probably everyone’s worst nightmare. However, Tom refused to be discouraged or shrink in fear, instead he chose to fight back and challenge the murderers, even controlling their movements.
Tom’s quick thinking and clever ideas were essential for his survival. When trapped in a tight spot, all ideas come to mind and Tom made use of this to his advantage. He recorded with his cellphone, started a fire to attract attention from others in the building, duplicated access cards so that only he could move around freely, and even managed to lock up the perpetrators.
Trust Issues
The plot of the film leaves Tom confused about who to trust, as he struggles with the fact that his partner Roger is working against the Denning Pharmaceutical case even though Tom was appointed as the assistant attorney. The situation is further complicated with the presence of the killer in the office building.
Initially, Tom assumes that the killer is an accomplice of the Gambizzi family, but he later discovers that the killer was hired by his own boss, Emmerich, to eliminate the Denning Pharmaceutical case.
This film serves as a great example that good films don’t necessarily require famous actors or a huge budget. It’s also impressive that the film was produced within a short period of time. Plans for the film started in February, and it was finished by August 2012, a testament to the hard work and dedication of the director and crew.