Exam (2009)

It was time for another Sunday morning Netflix movie,this week I take a look at "Exam". Now that a lot of you school goers are done with their exams for the year, but don’t fret because I will only say Examtwice. After reading the short Netflix summary, I was expecting a weird, lessgore-y version of Saw. And yes I am a huge fan of these psychological thrillers, reason why I loved some of the Saw movies a lot.


So we have 8 candidates that reach the final stage oftheir interview, where they all enter a windowless room. This is when the Invigilator (Colin Salmon) gives them 80 minutes to answer a question, but there are rules. If these rulesaren’t followed, the candidates are DQ’d. As the timer starts, and thecandidates turn the sheet of paper in front of them over they see nothing. Shortly after one of them breaks a rule is shortly ejected. The remaining agrees to cooperate to find the question, but the fun part is: do they?

As the movie gets started and the basic premise of themovie is understood, I felt highly intrigued and hooked. As the movie progressed, I felt more and more interested. Oh and on a side note, Salmon’svoice is awesome. I felt that the Invigilator was the boss and I would not bethe one to challenge him. This is where the peak of my interest lies, rightafter the first candidate was ejected, and the 7 remaining try all these different methods to try to solve this riddle. As I learnt more and more about the characters themselves, the communication between them was real great towatch, obviously the script was equally great.

My level of satisfaction did take a turn for the worst when the more dramatic part of the movie came along. The things I loved were still there except the acting seem to take a dive. The actors really did not sell me on the fact that shit hit the fan and they were all f’d. It felt real cheesy like a bland TV drama show. And the ending was not any better, riddled with cheesy acting the story was wrapped up in a boring conclusion. Nothing really stood out and my mind was not blown. Also, it might have dragged on a bit too long.

But to bring it back to the good, the flashbacks to evidences they discover were really cool. A lot of them have the Invigilator’s scenes again, so more of him was awesome. Though they kind of overdo it at the end, though I didn’t mind too much. The acting was superb; I think it takes alot of skill to acting in the progression the movie takes and they all sold their character well.

This movie can best be described as a roller coaster ride. The movie starts off high, builds a great story and delivers a fun ride throughout the movie. But as we approach the ending, the pace slows down quickly and you are left a bit disappointed. If you liked movies such as Cube, Phone Booth or Saw, don’t be so quick to pass on this movie, but don’t expect greatness. Though it would be nice to have a friend watch this movie and talk about it afterwards.