Survive the Night, the new film from director Matt Eskandari, is what I like to call an “efficiency movie.” By that, I mean it is an unpretentious B-movie that swiftly delivers an uncomplicated plot with a clear beginning, middle, and end, and generally runs under ninety minutes. An efficiency movie is not necessarily appointment viewing, but rather the type of film that you may stumble across on a streaming site and settle on for a short while as you await something bigger and better to happen in your life.
Efficiency movies typically cast at least one marquee name to draw in the consumer. No Escape had Owen Wilson, Taken had Liam Neeson, and Survive the Night has Bruce Willis. Willis may be the bigger name, but this is Chad Michael Murray’s movie. Murray plays Rich, a successful city doctor who is now bankrupt following a lawsuit filed by the family of a former patient who died in Rich’s care. Rich, his wife, Jan (Lydia Hull), and daughter, Riley (Riley Wolfe Rach), retreat to Rich’s tranquil childhood home in the country to decompress with his parents, Frank (Willis) and Rachel (Jessica Abrams).
“…criminal brothers on the run from a burglary…follow Rich home and force the doctor to patch up Matty.”
Far from the excitement of his previous big city post, Rich is nonetheless thankful to land a job at a local clinic courtesy of his sister, Alice (Ravare Elise Rupert). Rich is determined to use this time to reconnect with his wife and get his family’s life back on track.
Enter Jamie and Matty (Shea Buckner and Tyler Jon Olson), criminal brothers on the run from a burglary, and a subsequent gas station shooting where Matty took a bullet in his leg. Fleeing the scene, the two reluctantly concede to seek treatment for Matty’s wound at Rich’s clinic, of course. Once inside the clinic, all Jamie has to do is overhear Rich say something vaguely medical-like to another doctor, and, rather than risk identification, decide that he and Matty should follow Rich home and force the doctor to patch up Matty. But this is an action movie with Bruce Willis, so…
"…an unpretentious B-movie that swiftly delivers an uncomplicated plot with a clear beginning, middle, and end..."
