A woman takes her young son to a firework display. On the way home she stops to buy petrol and leaves her top of the range Land Rover with the keys and her son in it. Two men are casing the petrol station and see this. The first, Ash, goes into the station to distract Maddie while the second, Charlie, starts the car and steals it. Things are complicated when Charlie realises he has the boy in the car and also when Maddie stops Ash and makes him chase the stolen car - not aware that he is one of the crooks himself.
As with many shorts that I watch, I had no idea what this was about before I sat down to watch it. The plot unfolds well and it is quite mysterious until the actual theft takes place. Once it does occur it loses a little of it's tension but it still works well. The chase and the climax are well done and I was gripped by it even if it lacked action in the Hollywood sense. The plot is a little weak if you looked at it on paper - it's unrealistic and has holes if you pick at it for a moment, but yet it remains quite thrilling in it's own way.
It is a credit to the direction that it gets past any plot holes and really held me for the whole running time. The direction is really good, giving the film a dark, suspenseful feel to proceedings. The music also made it feel quite sinister even though the onscreen action was quite normal. The cast are all pretty good. If you're like me then you balk at the idea of a cocky kid but Southworth was pretty good and Brydon as his mother was believably panicked - making it al that little bit more tense.
Overall this is only a little film with an OK story that had potential. What makes this an enjoyable little thriller is the skilful direction and production of the film (the direction even co-composing the music) and the solid performances of the cast.
