BlackBerry review by Bobby Blakey
Some of the best films to come along are those based on things that all of us know about and lived through without ever knowing the true story behind it all. The cell phone is one of the biggest industries on the planet and we all use them. If you lived through the era of the BlackBerry you know how big it truly was at the time. Now Operation Avalanche director Matt Johnson who also stars is bringing the story to life in BlackBerry. The film stars Jay Baruchel, Glenn Howerton, Cary Elwes, Saul Rubinek, Rich Sommer, Martin Donovan and Michael Ironside, but can it find the signal to bring this story to life or will it drop the call?
Blackberry follows the story of Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, the two men that charted the course of the spectacular rise and catastrophic demise of the world’s first smartphone.
I love films like this because it is just crazy how so much insanity happens that we never know about into making something that is a part of our daily lives so prominently. Much like recent films like AIR and Tetris, BlackBerry dives right into the success and turmoil of it all with perfection. I honestly walked in more interesting in how the story played out than how good the film was acutally going to be just because I am a sucker for these kinds of films. What I got was something not only interesting and intriguing, but also just a great film in itself.
The cast are all great, but the bulk on it falls to Baruchel and Howerton and they are the perfect opposite personalities to keep you fully invested. Much like the real life versions of them their story works here just like their initial business did because of the strength of their own stories. Both are on the same journey while being totally opposite at all times. Even after the successes it just seems to fracture more. Both men have been in numerous types of films, but
here I think they are fantastic bringing something different on some level than we have seen from them in the past.
The supporting cast is great with Matt Johnson chewing up every scene he is in making you constantly wondering if he is just a buffoon or more controlling than you think. He does an excellent job directing this story and being a character that seems pretty simple, but is deeper than you may think. The overall story is just insane to what all transpired in the rise and fall of the famed device, but crazy how much it changed the industry and what we know and love today.
I hope this film finds the audience it deserves as it offers up all the perfect ingredients for this tyle of true life story. Sure it’s fictionalized based on writings about the story, but enough here that you get the feeling of what all came to be.
Decide for yourself and check out BlackBerry when it hits theaters on May 12th from IFC Films.