Noir is always an exciting medium, and late-night Uber or taxi rides are a perfect setting. A transactional service of riding from A to B, you’re both momentary blips on one another’s radars unless something goes awry. Drew Walkup’s debut film, Endangered (formerly Fox Hunt Drive), is a fantastically realized first film and a proper nod to old noir thrillers, which uses a rideshare service to breathe paranoia into a reserved woman’s world. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen drivers bringing us a seedy underground. Consider Michael Mann’s Collateral or even Martin Scorsese’s neo-noir Taxi Driver. Now, with the rise of Uber and Lyft, it’s easier than ever for characters to take a ride to the dark side of town and embroil themselves in all manner of mayhem.
There are many components that make up a noir. A city at night provides a perfect metaphor as the brightly lit aspects of what most know about their city melt away, and the night presents a hidden element. Endangered introduces us to Alison Meyers (Lizzie Zerebko), an architect forced out of her firm and blacklisted from obtaining another job in the industry. With no viable alternatives, Alison resorts to driving for a rideshare service in order to make ends meet. She meets many interesting characters during her work day, but when she decides to take on one more passenger (Michael Olavson) before calling it a night, paranoia about the intrinsic parts of her new profession begin to form.
Walkup’s film takes off quickly, blending Alison’s frustrating job search with the mindlessness of listening to chatty passengers tell her their life stories, but, within eight minutes, we’re in the car with our no named mystery man. Olavson’s Passenger is enigmatic, dodging Alison’s questions and deepening the thriller after accusing him of not being the person her app has told her to pick up. The dialogue is essential at this stage of the film, as Zerebko and Olavson disarm each other through witty banter like we’re back in the ’40s. It’s well-crafted and superbly acted, especially for early character-building purposes. An ominousness emanates from the back seat, while a nervous disposition comes from Alison. The actors mesh well throughout most of the film. However, rare exchanges of clunky dialogue and occasional cringy edits during the film’s showdown slow the otherwise satisfying protagonist vs. antagonist mechanic.
I think many have been in this position of not being who the Uber app says they are. Having partied too hard and sent home by friends or having a phone mishap, breakage, or battery issue forces these conditions. The Passenger’s autonomy throughout the film’s first act makes Endangered’s premise more threatening than those situations. Any woman in the position of having a stranger in their backseat late at night without proper identification and refusal to put their mind at ease about their late-night exploits can make for a wildly anxiety-inducing situation. Not to mention the gun and the jewelry Alison discovers when she snoops through his bag at a rest stop. And this is all within the film’s first fifteen minutes.
With attention-grabbing intrigue, Walkup nails the setup created by writers Adam Armstrong and Marcus Devivo, who then pour it on thick with a police investigation taking shape, where a hunch leads a detective (Ryan Forrestal) on a search for a murder victim’s missing jewelry. This B-story may be introduced in a slightly clumsy fashion, but the details become a big part of the film. Movie sleuths who enjoy staying a step ahead will begin to put pieces of the film together. I know I did, but there’s much more to appreciate to retain your interest as we go along for this ride. Like a game of Clue, you may begin to suspect what is going on, but you don’t get the complete picture until the film’s over, which makes Endangered an absolute banger of a movie.
By the end of the first act, the audience trusts no one, and an isolative feeling emerges, preying on the what-ifs of a modern-day audience and masterfully manipulating their feelings about the situation. A good chunk of that manipulation is made possible by Patrick Logothetti’s moody film score. Understated, to say the least, Logothetti’s music is sometimes just a subtle keyboard in the background following a beat consistent with the lines in the middle of the highway, injecting a tense atmosphere of danger onto an already difficult situation. At other times, the jazzy techno rhythm feels encompassing of a smooth night drive at the end of a workday.
Aiding the score, the intrusive red lighting and close-up camerawork become equally effective. When The Passenger stops at a drug house, Alison’s prowess to learn more about the man she’s chauffeuring leads to taut scenes with the criminals residing within, which utilize these elements. Even more fascinating at that point is how articulate the film is thematically, especially in how the writers treat their characters. Perception becomes everything, and while we’re busy judging and profiling the threat to Alison, it’s easy to misplace where that danger is actually coming from.
Endangered is a surprise that seemingly came out of the indie nowhere but packs a wallop, distorts preconceptions, and produces a brilliant noir that leaves you on the edge of your seat right up until the very end. The film is smart, sophisticated, and very entertaining. Though the title and poster poise a B-movie look that you’ve probably seen countless times on digital, don’t be fooled. Endangered is a solid and worthwhile addition to film noirs, and the increasing number of Uber-horror films on the rise in the last decade like Ryde, Spree, and Night Drive. It also easily towers above them.
Endangered is currently available to rent or purchase on AppleTV and other VOD providers.