The Exit Row

I have a tradition on every flight i take, no matter where i am travelling. Some people might read a book and have some peanuts or other snacks, while some may stare outside the window for the next 4 hours just in case you are lucky to see any redneck farm blow up from making moonshine. Either way, my personal tradition while flying is that i always pick out my 2 disc DVD of Universal Soldier with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. So what do i do with a DVD that i can´t even watch it on board the plane? I look at it for 4 hours, every corner, every detail and imagine the film in my head. I can almost remember every scene in the film, so sometimes i close my eyes while i hold this DVD of Universal Soldier. I remember one flight to Rhodes, Greece and a lady sitting next to me saw me holding this DVD, looking at me holding it and said:- I don´t think they have any DVD players on board this plane. I answered:- I know, and i am truly sorry because everyone on board this plane deserves to experience Universal Soldier. She looked at me strangely afterwards and did not say much after that conversation, so i continued looking at the DVD. If you don´t know how to make time fly by faster on a flight, you should try what i do and i guarantee you will see it works. When it comes to films that takes place on an airplane i have a personal favorite, and that is the 1997 action film Air Force One with Harrison Ford playing President James Marshall. If you never thought you would see a film where the President Of The United States would kick terrorist ass, you get to see it in this film. And i also enjoy watching legendary actor Gary Oldman as the Russian terrorist leader Ivan Korshunov going insane. Air Force One is one of the best airplane action films you just have to see, not only because it is fun to watch but also because the action works well. Every now and then i come across a film that is connected to a flight. It can be a film that takes place during a flight throughout the whole movie or some kind of trauma that happened during a flight. So i came across a film called The Exit Row that clearly had a connection to a specific flight. One of the reasons why i wanted to check out The Exit Row is because this film is distributed by Maverick Entertainment Group who have distributed over 1300 films since 1997 for Black Cinema content. Just the fact that i have not seen one single film before that this company have distributed means i have a lot of films to choose between, but i decided to give The Exit Row a chance. Is this a film that should be seen by a larger audience, or is The Exit Row a film you will most likely forget once you have seen it?

During a flight Sasha Dade ( Honour  Drew ) meets real estate agent Clint Meyers ( Michael Swidley ) as they begin to have a conversation. But when the plane suddenly have an injury they are forced to land earlier than expected. Sasha and the rest of the passengers are ok, but the trauma Sasha experienced from this flight causes her private life to be affected. What she doesn´t know is that Clint from the flight, have actually located her and plans to see her.

Let me begin by saying that there is a character in here that deserves his own TV show, and that is Dr. Rhand played by actor Derek Quick. Not only do you feel safe in the presence of Dr. Rhand but he actually seems to care about his patients. So if he can´t have his own TV show, i at least think Derek Quick should return as this character in his very own film as Dr. Rhand. I have a feeling that might actually work since i like this character. Lead actress Honour Drew as the character Sasha Dade, a hard working mother to a young son, is the most interesting character in this film. I have actually not seen Honour Drew act in any film before so i like to discover actors that i have not heard of, and i am curious to see what she might bring into the future. Ok, we might as well get into one big problem with The Exit Row. And this is one of the problems that ruin a lot for this film in general, and that is the character known as Clint Meyers played by actor Michael Swidley. This has to be one of the worst stalker characters i have ever seen in a film. There is especially one scene where he drives around in circles in a parking lot and it seems to get him turned on. For that i can at least say that The Exit Row have tried a completely different path on the subject of stalkers, because we have never seen one driving around in circles getting aroused by it in any thriller film before. And the acting from Michael Swidley as a stalker is just so bad that i actually found myself laughing in his stalking scenes. I don´t mind if the acting is bad in a film that you are not supposed to be taking serious, but this film is actually trying to make it look like a serious drama thriller with suspensful music and i can´t take this film seriously as long as Michael Swidley tries to act like a stalker. He even tries to talk to his second personality in a mirror making a joke, and even that fails completely to be funny. The suspensful thriller moments could have worked better if they did have a stronger stalker character, and for that reason The Exit Row lacks of suspensful moments. So this film is basically saved by actress Honour Drew making at least an attempt to make her character work in the story. Director Adiyb Muhammad should have replaced actor Michael Swinley before this film started filming, and here he just leave us with a film that no one will most likely remember. Not awful all the way, just easily forgettable. We do need that film with Dr. Rhand as a lead character though, and i know you can fix that Maverick Entertainment Group.

Rating: DD