Red Dot
By James Davidson
“Red Dot” is a swedish thriller film that was released on February 11th 2021. It is available exclusively on Netflix. It follows David (played by Anastasios Soilis) and his recently pregnant girlfriend Nadja (Nanna Blondell) as they attempt to rekindle their relationship with a camping trip into the Northern Swedish wilderness. Their romantic hiking trip quickly turns into a nightmare as they are chased by a mysterious sniper intent on hunting the couple down.
I must admit that I have a slight affinity for foreign films, especially Swedish movies, so this seemed right up my alley and the trailer looked quite exciting. While there was no shortage of action in the movie, and the writing presented many unexpected twists, the decision making by the couple was infuriatingly questionable.
The action in the film, while a bit heavy on the violence and gore, kept me on the edge of my seat and was well executed. The couple being chased throughout the wintery Swedish wilderness was frightening and kept me guessing on what would happen next. There weren’t many slow parts in the movie and it is quite fast paced which made the film exciting for the most part.
I also found the writing exciting for the most part. While there were a few predictable parts, especially towards the ending of the film, the first and second acts were pretty unexpected with a few twists that were surprising. Unfortunately, once the big surprising twist was revealed, the entire third act was totally predictable which kind of killed the exciting vibe of the film.
The most frustrating thing about this film were the decisions made by the couple while they were being hunted. There were several times that my wife and I were screaming at the screen because of a mindless decision made by one or both of the couple as they were running for their lives. Needless to say, my wife and I would obviously have done much better running for our lives in the Northern Sedish wilderness (or not been in the situation to begin with). While some of the dense decision making doesn’t make the film unwatchable, it definitely makes it a bit less enjoyable when there are obvious better, life saving decisions to be made.
This movie is rated TV-MA for mature audiences and has a good amount of violence, gore and profanity in it. This would be a fun movie to watch with friends and yell at the screen about how you would make better decisions in the protagonist’s situation.
“Red Dot” is an interesting thriller with an interesting premise that just struggles on the execution, and poor decision making. While it has a strong first and second act, the third act is totally predictable, causing the film to fizzle out in the end. It earns 2.5 out of 5 stars.
Film Fodder 