Possibly because it stars Nikolaj Coster-Walau is the reason that The Silencing is so titled as we’ve no idea how to pronounce his name either and instead find us referring to him as ‘that bloke from GoT’ instead. Here, ‘that bloke from GoT’ plays poacher turned gamekeeper Rayburn now looking after a big wildlife sanctuary in an even bigger forest. Keeping the area clear of poachers Rayburn is not without his demons – divorced, and still unable to come to terms with the five year disappearance of his daughter he’s taken to the booze. He’s not the only one with a back story. Sheriff Gustafan (Annabelle Wallis) and no we can’t pronounce that either and it appears neither can the cast as she’s called Alice throughout, but she is a new sheriff to the small town where she does her best to keep an eye on her younger brother Brooks still traumatized having been taken into care when he was younger by a couple who brutally abused him. Yep this is all cheery stuff deserving of its own Jeremy Kyle episode.
But it’s about to get even more grim when women start turning up dead in the sanctuary that the pair attempt to get to find out who is doing it and why and in a bit of deliberate misdirection The Silencing leads you in a particular direction. The killer though is caught on the sanctuary’s CCTV heavily camouflaged in military foliage and looking like compost heap from the paramilitary arm of Gardeners World as he pursues the lone women with a deadly spear throwing device. But as the case is further investigated Rayburn starts to believe that this camouflaged killer could well have been involved in his daughter’s disappearance.
The Silencing is the first feature length script from Micah Ranum and is something of a formulaic thriller which leaves both lead actors to their own investigation rather than drawing their plotlines together and as a police procedural it lacks credibility especially when the killer’s motive is revealed and as a cat and mouse thriller it only sporadically has its moments thanks to Belgian director Robin Pront. It’s shame because Coste-Waljau was great in 2017’s ‘Shot Caller’ and Annabelle Wallis, a British actress who has been in some high profile films which have regrettably flopped The Mummy, Grimsby & King Arthur and deserve better in what is a run of the mill thriller.
Here’s The Silencing trailer…….
THE SILENCING IS AVAILABLE ON DEMAND FROM 19TH OCTOBER 2020
