If you haven’t yet received an unsolicited AirDrop in public, it’s likely only a matter of time. Our digital footprints are out there for the world to see, ready to share at the push of a button. It’s a bit unsettling. Often, a random AirDrop is a harmless meme or prank, but it is frankly enough to make anyone a tad paranoid. What if one day it’s something more sinister?
Christopher Landon’s Drop fuels that paranoia with one of the most outrageous frameworks for a thriller in recent memory.
A gripping opening sequence immediately sets hearts racing as a distraught couple takes turns pointing a pistol at one another. Just before a trigger is pulled, the screen goes black. We then meet Violet (Meghann Fahy) as she speaks with one of her clients; she’s a widowed mother working as a therapist for sexual abuse survivors. Later that evening, she intends to step into the unknown: a first date with a dashing photographer, Henry (Brandon Sklenar). Her snarky younger sister (Violett Beane) arrives to babysit her five-year-old son, Toby (Jacob Robinson). One outfit change later, and everything feels good.
The date is at a flashy, upscale restaurant in a high-rise along the Chicago River. As Violet waits, she interacts with odd waitstaff and eccentric customers (a mixed bag of suspects). All the while, she is receiving increasingly threatening—and personal—drops (equivalent to Apple AirDrops). Once Henry arrives, she tries to ignore the messages before turning them into flirtation fodder. But the drops escalate, and the faceless messenger demands more and more from Violet, escalating from snatching items off Henry to outright killing him. If she tells anyone or tries to leave, a masked gunman, whom she spots on her home security app, will kill her sister and son.
With a premise so absurd, Drop could easily lose its footing. But Fahy doesn’t make a single misstep. Her performance is taut, progressing from first-date butterflies to life-and-death anxiety without so much as a second to catch her breath—let alone ours. The 50-foot radius of the restaurant never feels overly claustrophobic, perhaps because, like in the best (and honestly worst) of first dates that escalate unexpectedly, there’s a flicker of hope that against all odds, everything will turn out just right. PG-13, 100 min.
Wide release in theaters
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