Jun Kee

I really disliked this movie, and here are quite a few of the reasons why. A sophomoric plot with a hollowed out power hungry caricature of a protagonist. In an era of rampant conspiracy theories and fake news, this film plays on every single worst inclination we have toward our civic institutions and medical institutions in the worst way, while failing to show any of the many real shortcomings of each of these. The screenplay didn’t make any sense; no care home has armed guards, and neither do hospitals, and the staff definitely don’t want to die to keep some old lady there against her wishes. Drawing a syringe of sedative medication takes a long time and involves tons of paperwork and documentation, staff won’t just inject you with something if you’re mouthing off at them or anyone else. The scene with the legal challenge between the hired “expensive” attorney... the court room scene shows the judge and Pike’s character have significant conflicts of interest, Pike’s character introduces hearsay and interrupts testimony, the judge doesn’t show impartiality and takes offense to the suggestion that there was a “miscarriage of justice” — all things that could get a new hearing. Plus, emergency guardianship is temporary and requires significant evidence of an irreversible illness with documented evidence of impairment in one’s life before it becomes concerted to a permanent status (e.g. your house would have to be in ruin to the point where it becomes hazardous to your health, or you would have to be malnourished to be placed onto guardianship). Getting the doctor to just claim that the patient is better now and can care for herself again would also be much easier and more reasonable if you’re a mafioso than getting a former employee to mouth off on the record. And yes, Pike is killed at the end, but it’s so unsatisfying. It was so bad I kept fast forwarding to scenes where it looked like Pike’s character may die about half way through the movie, it became that intolerable. Good cast, terrible movie.