Calibre (4/5)

Calibre is a new intense thriller on Netflix. It’s the kind of story that teaches you one very important lesson: Things can always get worse!

It shows us all how an extremely tragic accident combined with unfortunate circumstances is the worst combination ever.

Already from watching the trailer for Calibre, you’ll know the basic premise. Still, nothing can prepare you for just how badly things can get. Suddenly, seemingly unrelated events make a terrible situation much worse.

You can watch the trailer for Calibre right here or continue reading our review below.

Stellar acting in Calibre

As it’s often the case, the story of the movie is quite small. And as we all know, this means the actors really need to make the story believable. They don’t have any fancy special effects or other distractions to help them.

Fortunately for Calibre, every single actor in this movie deliver performances of the best kind.

Jack Lowden (Dunkirk) and Martin McCann (The ReZort) portray the two lead characters. They have been friends most of their lives and would do anything for each other. This suddenly becomes very relevant early on in the story.

While Vaughn (Jack Lowden) is about to become a father and is more emotional about the events that take place, Marcus (Martin McCann) is a man of action. Whether this is a good thing is very much up for interpretation.

From bad to worse

While the lifelong friends, Marcus and Vaughn, experience everything go from bad to worse, the moviewatching experience is quite the opposite.

The story of Calibre evolves in a very organic way, which keeps the audience engaged. While you might think they’re being stupid in their actions, you can’t fault their logic.

Or rather, there’s no way of saying whether other actions would have ended in a different outcome. This is part of what makes Calibre so fascinating. You can’t help but ask yourself: What would I have done?

Debut from writer-director Matt Palmer

Once again, Netflix is giving a platform to a newcomer. Matt Palmer both wrote and directed Calibre, which serves as his feature film debut.

In the past, Matt Palmer has worked on several short films as both writer and director. However, this is his first feature film. There isn’t much I would change about the movie and the cast is absolutely perfect.

Even the smallest of supporting characters are perfect. I haven’t gone into these too much in this review since I want to avoid spoilers. However, I have to mention Tony Curran (Underworld: Evolution), Ian Pirie (The Terror), and Kate Bracken (Being Human).

Calibre is available to watch on Netflix worldwide now!

Details

Director/Writer: Matt Palmer
Cast: Jack Lowden, Martin McCann, Tony Curran, Ian Pirie, Cameron Jack

Plot

Two lifelong friends on a hunting trip in Scotland find their nerves — and their morals — ruthlessly tested after a harrowing turn of events.