Default

Released Oct 17, 2014

1h 30m

Mystery & Thriller

List

33%

9 Reviews

Tomatometer

33%

50+ Ratings

Audience Score

Somali pirates kidnap an American news crew and their leader demands to be interviewed by the most prominent journalist among them.

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Dennis Harvey

Variety

Resourceful, Los Angeles-shot low-budgeter is solidly assembled, with Xander Lott's unobtrusive yet unsettling score a plus.

Oct 17, 2014

Full Review

Martin Tsai

Los Angeles Times

Brand devotes so much running time to fear-mongering and grotesque stereotypes that a last-ditch effort at moral ambiguity and a critique on muckraking barely register.

Oct 16, 2014

Full Review

Ben Kenigsberg

New York Times

Even the failure to find a persuasive closing note doesn't detract from Mr. Oyelowo's riveting performance.

Oct 16, 2014

Full Review

Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

Moments of violence punctuate this rather overly talkative drama quite effectively, but it's dismal, almost gimmicky cinematography cheapens the film.

Rated: 2.5/5

Sep 6, 2019

Full Review

Travis Hopson

Examiner.com

Setting itself apart from a crowded field of Somali pirate movies is a goal "Default" reaches for, but in choosing meaningless action over all else it's never achieved.

Rated: 2/5

Nov 7, 2015

Full Review

John Noonan

FILMINK (Australia)

Default's stylistic choices in storytelling give the found footage genre some maturity not seen since Barry Levinson's The Bay.

Jun 18, 2015

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Audience Member

I Know It Was Aiming For A Realistic Edge, Like Nothing Seen Before...It Definitely Acheives That, But There Is No Substance & The Story Haphazardly Comes Together...It Ultimately Feels More Of A Crass, Cheap Horror-Gore Thing Then A Realistic Thriller. I Tuned Out As A Result.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/21/23

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Simón Brand

Director

David Oyelowo

Atlas

Katherine Moennig

Juliana

Jeanine Mason

Marcela

Stephen Lord

Kane

Greg Callahan

Saltzman

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0%

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A Dark Truth

0%

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29%

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Jacqueline Argentine

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Honour

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Synopsis

Somali pirates kidnap an American news crew and their leader demands to be interviewed by the most prominent journalist among them.

Director: Simón Brand
Screenwriter: Jim Wolfe Jr., Dan Bence
Distributor: Amplify
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 17, 2014, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 10, 2016
Runtime: 1h 30m