Boston Detective Frank Shaw (Joel Kinnaman) returns to duty after a career-altering injury leaves him with permanent hearing loss. Tasked with interpreting for Ava Fremont (Sandra Mae Frank), a deaf witness to a brutal gang murder, they find themselves cornered in a soon-to-be-condemned apartment building when the killers return to eliminate her. Cut off from the outside world, these two strangers must lean on each other to outsmart killers they can't hear coming for their only hope of making it out alive.
Writer Dan Hall found inspiration for The Silent Hour after coming across an article about NYPD officer, Dan Carione, who as a result of an on-the-job accident required the use of a hearing aid. At the time, NYPD's policy was that anyone needing hearing equipment to work could not be an officer, and he was terminated from the force. Carione's experience resonated with Hall, and he felt it was a solid jumping-off point for a story featuring a hero deaf cop. Add Brad Anderson's (Session 9, The Machinist) excellent directorial skills and eye for a thriller and a solid cast and you know you're in for a good time.
The key to making this a good movie was making the journey Frank Shaw was on dealing with his hearing loss and his relationship with Ava appear genuine and authentic. Joel Kinnaman (Suicide Squad, The Killing) committed to three months of ASL training, ensuring authenticity in his portrayal of the role. In addition to ASL lessons, he immersed himself within deaf culture, helping him fully understand the experience of someone who loses their hearing abilities and this shows.
Hall also felt it was incredibly important that the role of Ava be played by an actress with the lived experience of deafness, and Sandra Mae Frank (New Amsterdam, Season of Love) was the perfect fit for the part. She and Kinnaman shine together on screen especially in moments of peril when the audience can see and hear what's about to happen but the characters can't. At times the tension is palpable.
This film is one of those rarer treats where it delivers exactly what you want and what you expect. It is billed as a crime, action thriller and that is what it is. It isn't constant balls to the wall fight scenes, nor are there the huge set-pieces and massive explosions synonymous with something like The Expendables but that isn't what The Silent Hour is going for. The action sequences with stunts and SFX that we do get are excellently executed and the building itself, an apartment block, lends to some great chases and camera angles.
Whilst some of the twists and turns were a little formulaic and you may guess where it's headed fairly early on, The Silent Hour is well written, well acted and well directed by Anderson.
Since Kinnaman has now made films where he is mute (Silent Night) and now deaf, could audiences be in for a Daredevil-esque role where he loses his vision next? We'll have to wait and ‘see'…
Streaming on Prime Video 30 December 2024 from Signature Entertainment
