By Brent Hannon
Preservation begins in a similar fashion to many other horror/thriller movies. A wife, husband, and his brother are driving to a forest preserve to unwind and do a little bit of hunting. Wit (Wrenn Schmidt: Boardwalk Empire) is hoping that the trip will help rekindle her love for her husband Mike (Aaron Staton: Mad Men). Mike invited his brother Sean (Pablo Schreiber: The Wire) along in hopes that it would help ease his brother’s PTSD. Nothing could possibly go wrong with this situation. When they arrive at the preserve they find a sign saying that it is currently closed. If this wasn’t a horror movie it would probably be a very short one, but since it is they pay it no heed and drive on in.
They set up camp and settle in to do a little hunting before it gets dark. Wit wants to be competitive and show that she can shoot a deer her first time out but cannot bring herself to do it. A shot is heard as she lowers her rifle; she turns and sees that the shot came from Sean. She may not be up to the task of killing a living animal, but we soon find out that blood does not make her squeamish since she is an anesthesiologist with lots of ER experience. Up to this point nothing really exciting has happened, but at least it has good use of camera angles and music. Wit and Mike decide to go for a swim and it is at this point that, thanks to a view of Wit as shot from behind a tree, we get our first hint that something is about to disrupt their happy getaway. Later on in the night, around the campfire, tension starts to build between the three of them. Mike takes a phone call relating to his job and wanders away from the fire; Sean starts to get a little too personal with Wit. There is one more indication of trouble ahead before they all go to sleep for the night.
They awake to an entirely unexpected situation. The tents as well as all of their equipment and supplies are gone, and they all have a black X on their foreheads. Mike, Wit, and Sean are being hunted; The survival aspect of this movie has begun. From here on out the pace picks up fast and hardly ever slows down.
I had my concerns at the beginning since it was a slow start, but overall I enjoyed Preservation. As I mentioned above, the cinematography was great. It helped set the mood and provided a sense of just how isolated the three were. They were filming in a forest, so it would have been a shame if they didn’t get some beautiful footage while on site. The action was tense and at times I felt an overwhelming urge to tell them to hurry the hell up. As much as I enjoyed this film I will say that there were a lot of clichés throughout it. They split up from the start. Everyone knows by now that you never ever split up. The killer walks outside of where they are hiding as they try not to make any noise. They know you are in there; they may pretend like they don’t, but they do. They always do. Finally the one where the girl trips while running. Pick those feet up while you run. And stop looking back all the time, that is why you end up tripping. There were more, but you get the idea. That being said, how many different ways can a survival thriller be presented without including at least a few of the usual suspects, which is why I cut it some slack. Plus I found the who and the why of the relentless killers to be a welcome change.
Rating: 7/10
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