The Desperate Hour

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1:56

The Desperate Hour

PG-13

2022

1h 24m

Mystery & Thriller

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

27%

Tomatometer

78 Reviews

16%

Popcornmeter

100+ Ratings

Unfolding in real time, THE DESPERATE HOUR is a "riveting and pulse pounding" thriller from award-winning director Phillip Noyce. Recently widowed mother Amy Carr (Academy Award®-nominee Naomi Watts) is doing her best to restore normalcy to the lives of her young daughter and teenage son in their small town. As she's on a jog in the woods, she finds her town thrown into chaos as a shooting takes place at her son's school. Miles away on foot in the dense forest, Amy desperately races against time to save her son.

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Critics Consensus

Naomi Watts gives it her all, but The Desperate Hour falls short as a thriller as well as social commentary.

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Brad Newsome

Sydney Morning Herald

Naomi Watts runs herself ragged, but this unsatisfying thriller from director Phillip Noyce doesn’t rank alongside Dead Calm and Rabbit Proof Fence at the apex of his oeuvre.

Mar 10, 2022

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Mark Kennedy

Associated Press

It turns out watching an hour of Watts breathing heavily as she runs and gets more frantic, her eyes ever widening, isn’t that much fun.

Rated: 1/4

Feb 25, 2022

Full Review

Matt Zoller Seitz

RogerEbert.com

A film where it's clear that everyone involved is operating at the peak of of their skills, yet the whole is so misguided that the result is still awful.

Rated: 1.5/4

Feb 25, 2022

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Maxance Vincent

InSession Film

Its misguided script, the senseless exploitation of real school shooting victims to redeem Naomi Watts’ character automatically makes it one of the worst movies of the year and one to never watch.

Rated: D-

Mar 6, 2024

Full Review

Emiliano Basile

EscribiendoCine

The film can be summed up by a shot of Naomi Watts talking on the phone with the forest behind her. This image becomes tiresome and unsatisfactory as we yearn to see something else, but that never happens. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 5/10

Nov 1, 2022

Full Review

Keith Garlington

Keith & the Movies

The decision to explore grief through the tragedy of others doesn’t land well at all. Especially a tragedy that’s so real and devastating as a school shooting.

Rated: 2.5/5

Aug 16, 2022

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GoogleJo & Co

It was OK although very repetitive during the middle of the movie and a mother worrying about her teenage son did some very strange things. The iPhone messaging and calling was too much and shots of her falling and limping were followed by her walking and even running without any discomfort. Then the next shot she was running fine and then next scene she was limping. She even got concussed! So some appalling continuity.. The end piece tacked on with her teenage son appealing to families to watch their kids more was totally unnecessary. The movie should have told that message without it The final meeting with her son was a relief but also from us not having to hear all that phoning. There should have been more back story with her relationship with her son and why it deteriorated after her husband /his father died. It would have been much more moving. The star, Naomi Watts, was on the screen the whole time and I wish my iPhone had a battery in it that lasted so long and have a range that could fine internet coverage in a remote woodland. She did as good a job as anyone could dealing with that script and talking to so many voices over a cell phone! It was not as bad as some of the 1 and 2 stars out of 10 reviews would suggest. They must be the super-hero, non stop, crazy noisy action brigade. But the movie, "The Desperate Hour", sadly was not great.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/12/22

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Jerome L

Slow (in fact, very slow) developing but then totally engrossing film.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/26/22

Full Review

Victoria F

No idea why this got such bad reviews and I’m SO pleased I gave it a chance. Gripping from start to finish and Naomi Watts is just brilliant. The fact that she is utterly alone for so much of the movie adds real desperation to the story. Definitely ignore the tomatometer on this one!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

10/27/25

Full Review

Scott E

It was okay. She spends an hour of the movie in the woods jogging and talking on the phone which is unusual but kinda works.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

08/24/25

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Vicki G

This movie was terrible, I would not recommend it at all.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

07/06/25

Full Review

Anthony M

By far the dumbest movie, if wanna watch a person run for an hour straight making phones calls starting with "CaN yOu hEaR mE" and more heavy breathing then a Πorn film. Waste your money on this trash.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

05/08/25

Full Review

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Phillip Noyce

Director

Naomi Watts

Amy Carr

Colton Gobbo

Noah Carr

Sierra Maltby

Emily

Chris Sparling

Screenwriter

David Boies

Producer

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The Desperate Hour: Trailer 1

1:56

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Synopsis

Unfolding in real time, THE DESPERATE HOUR is a "riveting and pulse pounding" thriller from award-winning director Phillip Noyce. Recently widowed mother Amy Carr (Academy Award®-nominee Naomi Watts) is doing her best to restore normalcy to the lives of her young daughter and teenage son in their small town. As she's on a jog in the woods, she finds her town thrown into chaos as a shooting takes place at her son's school. Miles away on foot in the dense forest, Amy desperately races against time to save her son.

Director: Phillip Noyce
Producer: David Boies, Andrew Corkin, Alex Lalonde, Chris Parker, Zack Schiller, Dylan Sellers, Chris Sparling, Naomi Watts
Screenwriter: Chris Sparling
Distributor: Vertical Entertainment
Production Co: Stratagem RX, JamTart Productions, Untapped, Boies / Schiller Film Group, Limelight, Stratagem Pictures
Rating: PG-13 (Thematic Content|Some Strong Language)
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 25, 2022, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 25, 2022
Runtime: 1h 24m

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