From Corporate Pawn To Island Queen: A "Send Help" Thriller Review

We rate Sam Raimi’s “Send Help” four stars and dig into how an island strips the gloss off corporate ambition, turning tropes into a sharp critique of power, merit, and survival. McAdams owns the screen, the camera bites, and the final stare puts the audience on trial.

• acting that turns humiliation into resolve
• Raimi signatures in kinetic, queasy camera work
• familiar desert‑island tropes used as satire
• the rock reveal reframing agency and ethics
• competence versus entitlement as core conflict
• the last shot reading as judgment, not wink
• theater crowd energy enhancing tension
• why “women are crazy” is the wrong lens
• our insert‑ourselves what‑ifs for dark humor
• final verdict: a tight, rewatchable four stars

Go see this movie if it's still in theaters near you

Transcript

Cold Open: Plane Jokes And McAdams

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Gets sucked out of a door that's been improperly closed because it's Boeing. You know, American made. Yeah. And uh plummet to our own little private paradise island.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

Where we just get to hang out with uh Rachel McAdams. Yeah. Get to watch her glow up. This one guy goes, if you ever see me trapped on an island with Rachel McAdams, do not rescue me. I am exactly where I want to be. For real. And they tried everything they could to uh I mean, like the tuna did do it for me for a second. Yeah, but it was very, very, very uh momentary.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

They really tried to frump her. They tried hard.

Welcome And Pan Am Tangent

SPEAKER_03 1:01

They tried real hard. There was a valiant effort to frump Rachel McAdams, and uh just didn't quite uh didn't quite go for it. So hey everybody. Um welcome to High and Jai Podcast, the only podcast keeping alive the fandom of Pan Am. It was a 2011 drama series uh where Christina Ritchie and uh Margot Robbie played stewardesses.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

For the for the airline that that went bankrupt?

SPEAKER_03 1:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Like, did it did it was it like pre I mean did it like cover the their the bankruptcy of the airline, or was it just like the thing of these the the travel, the adventures of two stewardesses? Couldn't tell you, I never watched it.

SPEAKER_03 1:44

But just a fan. Just a huge fan. Uh you know, there was a plan there. Um, you know, Mike Vogel was on it, so yeah, you just gotta watch.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

I have no idea who that is.

SPEAKER_03 1:55

Michael Mosley was on it.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

So just I feel like I've heard that name.

Hosts, Missing Co‑Host, And Format

CBD And Purple Corn Whiskey Prep

SPEAKER_03 2:00

Just fantastic all around. Well, everybody, I'm your host, Ryan Barron North. With me as always, James Crosslin. This week we are down Luke. He caught scurvy. Um, and he's uh he's gonna be out dealing with that, trying to uh just pound fruit. And uh hopefully we'll have him back here pretty soon. But until then, we still got a good show for you this week. We're going to be tackling the film Send Help, starring uh Rach McAdams. And uh we're going to uh we're gonna rip this thing apart basically. So we're gonna do it in a in a three-part, all right, that's uh guaranteed gives you the best results for your movie reviewing book. All right. First, we're going to give you the definitive rating out of five stars, all right, and then we are going to dive into the deeper meanings behind this film on the golden path, and then finally, we're going to insert ourselves drugs or alcohol into the film. And what makes it so exciting, so special, so fun, so unique, um, is that we're gonna be doing it drunk and or high. So uh Jan, what are you uh imbibing this week?

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Uh I've got some C B D hemp. And uh I'm gonna be smoking that. I haven't picked up any new ones. Like the hemp lasts for a long time. I burn less of it, I smoke less of it, so it just lasts for fucking ever. Get rid of this shit.

SPEAKER_03 3:22

Well, to knock some of that out. I'm gonna be joining you with Purple Hayes Purple Corn Whiskey. It's uh is it really made from purple corn? It's 100% purple corn whiskey. Product of Mexico. Um, I bought it special um from a place in Chicago.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Really?

SPEAKER_03 3:45

Yeah. Uh 40%, so it's uh 80 horse.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

Corn grain alcohol is what they used when I was learning to fire breathe. Really? Yeah, but it was higher-proof.

First Toast And Flavor Chaos

SPEAKER_03 4:02

Well, that's exciting. Well, they said that uh this one was finished in a tequila cask. Oh. So I don't know. It's handwritten. Like oh. Things handwritten. So um, we're gonna try this out on film here. See how it goes. Um that's how you know it's just ethanol. Yeah, just beer. Yeah. So let's line them up in this first toast, first hit, first shot goes out to our movie this week. Here it is to send help. Cheers.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

It's sweet. Fermented corn syrup.

New Listener Shoutouts Worldwide

SPEAKER_03 4:46

Yeah. But uh that that's kind of what it feels like. Uh wow. Okay, so the pancakes like there's so many fucking flavors in that. I I don't know what to do about that. That's that's confusing. Too many flavors. I think so. I think so. All right, so our next toast, next hit, next shot. This one goes out to our newest listeners, and one day, I swear to god, I'll be on top of this. Um, but if that day is not today. Um, our newest listeners, I know last week we had oh, hey, yeah, we had a very large month. So let's take a look, see who our newest locations are coming in at. We have Vilnius City Municipality.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Vilnius again. Wow, Lithuania really loves us.

SPEAKER_03 5:39

Yeah, we got uh Bucharest. We got um oh, we got uh some shout outs from Helsinki, some very impressive VPNs you guys are using. It turns out uh oh, we got one from Tokyo. Oh, nice the Poplar of the Tower Hamlets, one from Hong Kong, Wimbledon, Augusta, jump jumping up, jumping all over the fucking place. Oh, one from Queens. It turns out that VPNs are used for more than just bypassing the red state restrictions on Pornhub. It's also for listening to High and Dry Podcast. Excellent. So here's to them.

Birthday Toast And Wild Asides

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Cheers. Cheers. Like anyone in Queens would ever listen to this podcast. The far-off fantastical land of Queens.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Of Queens.

SPEAKER_03 6:41

Oh, all right. So uh this third toast there's hit. How about uh James? Happy birthday to you. Oh, thank you. So cheers.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

Yeah, cheers. I'm I'm 125 years old. Well, you're looking great. Thank you. It's because I've and you can check this. You can you can Google it. I uh I've been uh I've been taking adrenochrome doses with the Epstein on Epstein Island with all the politicians. I'm in the documents. Search my name. Just look them up.

Rating Framework Explained

SPEAKER_03 7:21

Yeah, yeah. You know, we've all learned that our world is run by uh fucking pedophiles, cannibals, and whatnot, but uh let's talk about movies. So first things first, we're gonna get you guys the five out of five stars on Sun Help. We're gonna go we're gonna jump through acting, cinematography, score, plot, and re-watchability. And uh this is going to be far superior than anything Fandango has ever produced. That's true. And now Rotten Tomatoes, too, because Rotten Tomatoes uh gave Melania 99% on that uh like you guys have no way of scouring for bots fucking seriously. Like you're you're telling me Melania is up there next to Citizen Kane, the godfather. Like, fuck out of here.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

You know, the thing is, if they really only go by like verified ticket purchases, I wouldn't be surprised if Melania was incredibly high. Because who would pay money to go see that movie unless they already fundamentally, you know, were approved of it. And they don't have much of a critical mind for those things. No, no, not at all. No, and I was reading some of the things. I love, I criticize incredibly heavily, but that's not the way they operate.

Plot Recap And Raimi Easter Eggs

SPEAKER_03 8:45

Anyone who's uh fucking listen to this podcast, uh it's my my girlfriend, it's her sister actually. One one day was asking my girlfriend, like, does he like anything? And I'm like, look, I have a critical eye. These people out, like they don't have to go to my shit job Monday. I am owed good material that is gonna keep me entertained, make me think, be devoid of plot holes. So uh yeah, I'm critical. Advance the craft, you motherfuckers.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Or just if you're not gonna advance the craft, just do the thing really, really well.

SPEAKER_03 9:21

Yeah, and stop giving us your fucking talentless kids. Please, but anyway, please, dear God. One more goddamn Jaden Smith, or I don't even want anything to do with uh Ethan Hawk and Umba Thurman's kid. Like I I'm not interested. I I am good. But anyway, anyway. Oh, get my blood boiling before we even dive in. So let's rate this thing. Uh James, did you want to kick it off?

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Uh sure. I can kick it off. So very quick recap of the movie. So uh this takes the start the movie starts out in corporate America, somewhere in corporate America where where Rachel McAdams is unappreciated in her job. She's she's good at it, but she's not somehow Rachel McAdams is not a smoke show. Yeah, we are that and therefore she's overlooked uh uh by some young by some maze runner dickhead. And we and and and they get on a plane. We know she he he's like he's unscrupulous, right? He he's a he's a grifter. He tells her that she has a chance, she just has to come to this meeting, but in reality, she never has a chance. They f they're on the plane, and uh they're laughing at her being a survivalist because of her videotape uh application for survivor. They somehow got a hold of it. He and his he and his frat buddies are laughing at it.

SPEAKER_03 10:58

Oh they did do a good job at making it feel like I felt the secondhand embarrassment. Yeah, they killed it. They killed that.

Acting: McAdams And Dylan O’Brien

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Yeah, for real. Uh, and then all of a sudden the plane has a malfunction somewhere over I think I think they end up saying it's in Thailand, but so but like somewhere in the uh uh in the Indian Ocean or near there. Um and we find Rachel McAdams and her boss Maroon on this island. And of and and things ensue where they uh the the roles of power are reversed, and and uh and we get a lot of Sam Raimi-esque, you know, because Sam Raimi was the director for this, so we get all of Sam Raimi's bag of tricks as we go through this whole horrific ordeal.

SPEAKER_03 11:48

Uh did you notice that Bruce Campbell's portrait was on the wall as the dead father?

SPEAKER_00 11:54

I missed that. That's so good. I totally missed it.

SPEAKER_03 11:58

In true Bruce Campbell, you know, machismo grinning in his smoking jacket style. It was right there on the back office.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

I missed it. I totally missed it. That's great, though. But yeah, so uh so that's the gist of the movie. So for acting, I think that this movie was really well acted. Like Ryan said, the people who were meant to be dicks, they did a really good job of making them fucking hateable, and they did a really good job of relating to the embarrassment of being crushed by corporate America. Rachel McAdams did a really excellent job in like showing how crushing that was for her, and then like rising to the occasion and showing how what happens when power roles are reversed and how how like cold and calculating she ended up being. I thought she ended up doing a really good, a really amazing job. Oh, yeah. Uh, I really thought that Dylan O'Brien, maze runner boy, as a as a sniveling, you know, um sycophant who's like whose self who's always trying to uh get an advantage as soon as the opportunity opens up, you can see in his little mind the wheels turning to how he's gonna get an advantage and always thinking of himself first and seeing it as once learning his fucking lesson. No, um I I had a boss just like him.

Raimi Camera Work And Gore

SPEAKER_03 13:31

I'll get I'll dive into that on the part two, but I know the guy, they're they're real people. Like the only fantasy in this whole movie was that Rachel McAdams was supposed to be frumpy.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

I uh I thought that the acting was really good. I never once disbelieved, I was never once like that didn't make any sense, or that was poorly acted or anything. I thought it was all really good. Um, I don't know if it's like Oscar worthy or not. I'd I so I'm gonna go like 4.5. I think 4.5 is about as high as you could get without being like, man, I was blown away by the acting. Yeah. Cinematography, you know, like I said, this is a Sam Raimi flick, so we get a lot of really interesting perspective shots in the boar, you know, like during the boar fight, we get we get the rainy. We get the Raimi cam from the boar's point of view where it's like flying like uh like a uh necromancer. Like a friggin' uh deadite, yeah, like a deadite through the woods. That's how the boar's running across the ground.

SPEAKER_03 14:39

But I appreciated the the visceralness. Like at the end of the day, you're killing this pig that wants to kill you. It's not going to be a pleasant experience.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

Yeah, there's a lot of eye shit. Oh my god. Sammy loves eye shit.

SPEAKER_03 14:53

He loves eye shit. Oh yeah. I love uh buff. Yep. Yes, he did. Even Rachel got her eye fucking bulged.

Score Shrug And Trope Talk

SPEAKER_01 15:03

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, thumb in her eye bulged out. Uh I really loved when she was throwing up into Dylan's face, and then he did up into his eye over and over. It's like 30 seconds. We're vomiting into his mouth. It was pretty funny. Um, but yeah, I think the cinematography was really good in that it ran Raimi uses the camera to show the emotions of the characters, which like feel like it should be bare minimum, right? We're talking about like how movies we always talk about how movies have advanced over like a hundred years, and it's like it should be really obvious or the camera, you use the camera to convey the emotions that matches the emotions of the character. Like when someone is like losing their fucking mind, you do a Dutch angle, when someone is like uh, you know, rethinking their if someone is like moving toward the edge of like their of of betraying their their morality and their boundaries, you view them from underneath, like looking down and horrified. He does all that, and it's really excellent.

SPEAKER_03 16:15

Uh no, he's got his fundamentals down.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

Yeah. So I'm gonna give that uh 4.5 also for cinematography. You know, it's it's it's really it's just so important. It's such an important part of filmmaking though that we we're so lazy about it nowadays. Uh and a lot of filmmakers just don't do it. Score. I always say I'm gonna listen to the score, I never do. Uh three. That's all.

SPEAKER_03 16:44

Yep, it did its job. It did its job. It did not give us the new Star Wars theme. You know, we're not gonna be sitting here listening to send help.

Plot Twists And Moral Turns

SPEAKER_01 16:53

You whistle and send help. You know it. Uh plot, you know, here's where I think there were so many tropes. It was it was a lot of tropes, and I'm not against using tropes. The thing about it is, you know, the other parts of the movie are what cover the ground, the acting covers the ground, the cinematography covers the ground. That's what makes it a better movie when you use all these tropes.

SPEAKER_03 17:25

Tropes have a purpose. It's to like if it's when you see a trope happening, your audience's like, cool, I'm caught up. I don't need to spend you know, it's like every time we see a fucking movie where they re-explain the origin of Batman. It's like we don't need to do that, just let's get down to business. We know the trope, let's go.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

Yeah, montage it. Like, show show us that, and we've got the trope. Um, but yeah, exactly. It's a shorthand for storytelling. Now, if you don't do more past the shorthand, then it kind of, you know, is uh kind of falls short. Yeah, there were a lot of things in this movie that were tropes. The trapped on an island, uh, the power imbalance already, that's well-worn territory.

SPEAKER_03 18:07

I loved when she said that he should try to smile more.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

Yes. Yeah, lots of good quippy callbacks, yep, uh good dialogue. But like the trapped on an island, the power imbalance, you know, you could look back to I mean, there's all kinds of movies. Like Desert Island movies have been around for 50, 60 years. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:29

For as long as there's been movies in Desert Islands.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

Another recent one would be Triangle of Sadness, which was less of a, you know, it was a horror, it was less of a comedy. Like this had way more comedic elements, I feel. Um, but that was another one that's been recent. The as soon as as soon as she pointed to the crossed rocks and was like, don't go over there, I was like, Oh, there's fucking civilization. There's something, there's some kind of civilization right there.

Rewatchability And Iconic Scenes

SPEAKER_03 18:57

We knew right away. I thought when she was dealing with an idiot, we were dealing with a Nepo. It's like they don't have that, like, okay, I my entire life shit has been fed to me. And if you're not feeding me, that means it's just not there because otherwise you would feed me. Yeah, so yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

So I'm trying to think of the plot. So there were a few things in the plot that I felt were turnarounds that I wasn't expecting, like in the end, where she ended up uh well, not well, toward the climax where she ended up fucking they try to they leave us with an unclear whether she killed Dylan's uh fiance and the boat driver. Like she we we assumed she let them fall, and then later, after like their confrontation, they flash back and she fucking killed them with a rock.

SPEAKER_03 19:49

Yeah, and fucking not uh watch them fall, it was straight up fucking murder.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

Yeah, yeah, and that's where that's where it kind of turns for her character, where before we were like, you know, that's it's not it's really bad that she like lied about the boat and that she let them die, like oof. But then but then we're like, oh, she took agency and fucking straight up murdered them. And then that's like where the rest of the movie takes off is like, oh, she's like the she's like a slasher now.

SPEAKER_03 20:19

Well I feel like that right there is where we're gonna find like most of our golden path, and as far as thematics and what that meant. Yeah, because I immediately heard a bunch of arguments about like oh women are always crazy, like nonsense, and things like that. It's like you you guys are looking at her from the wrong lens. Um that's not but we'll get we'll get onto that.

Tally: A Four‑Star Verdict

SPEAKER_01 20:39

So yeah. So I wasn't expecting that, and then and then it betrayed the slasher trope where she survived, and then she went off into the world, and uh and then and and yeah, I liked that. I like that that switched it up a little bit uh at the end there, and so I'm gonna give plot a four. Solid, solid. And then for rewatchability, uh I'm gonna watch this movie when it comes out again. The scene just to see Bruce Campbell, yeah. You gotta see the Bruce Campbell, but the scene where uh Rachel McAdams is like glowing when she's like she's like, I'm in my element on this island. She gets the waterfall, and she's like she catches a glimpse of herself and just like holy shit, here I'm beautiful, here I'm like a goddess, you know. It was very calypso, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was a good scene. That was a good scene. That was a great scene. Like the the movie was really well shot, yeah. Uh so yeah, so I'm gonna give this a rewatch villa, I'm gonna give it a four. I could see myself watching this a couple more times, definitely, without a doubt. Uh, so my average, so the average of that is four for me.

Theater Reactions And Group Energy

SPEAKER_03 22:02

Okay, all right. All right. Um well, let's see. Uh on my side, so honestly, I just overall, I thought this was a fantastic film. Yeah, well, I also Appreciate that all that he did was be a picture, but I'm looking right now at um the cast of Send Help just on the Google page, and Bruce Campbell is number five before uh like all the the frat bros before like yeah I see that uh I love it uh I love it and uh so Sam Raimi won. The dude's fucking loyal and and like you're saying, the dude he's got his fucking fundamentals down. Um he's the WNBA of filmmaking, he's got the fundamentals. Um he uh he because look just from his background, him and Bruce Campbell rolled in with a couple thousand bucks in a cabin and uh created a fucking franchise.

Shift To Deeper Meanings

SPEAKER_01 23:13

He's a dude who loves the he's directed some he's directed a lot of like really well-loved movies, a lot of them cult, sure. But he also directed like the Toby McGuire Spider-Man, which was like a fucking like a national, it's a national treasure. Like people are like, that was one of the best superhero fucking movies of our lifetime, you know.

SPEAKER_03 23:35

I mean, and Toby Maguire's going on to try and tarnish that right now, but um Is he? I don't know what's going on, what's happening?

SPEAKER_01 23:42

Oh he's all he's only like 25, right?

Is It “Women Are Crazy”? No

SPEAKER_03 23:46

He was a left like Spider-Man. He has a haircut like that, yeah. Um, but no, no, he's uh yeah, yeah, yeah, he's 30 years older than her. But um yeah, I don't know. I I I think uh I I think like consenting adults and all that, but but at the same time. Exactly, exactly. I mean, unless I I feel I don't know, if you're like 35. No! If you're 35 and you, as the 35-year-old, go out there and prowl on an 85-year-old person because you know their time's coming and that's on you, then all right, whatever. Uh, you know, and I I I don't hold it against Cher. Yeah, and I don't hold it against Cher. Um, Cher's allowed to date whoever the fuck she wants to date. But uh, yeah, no, Toby. But anyway, anyway, um, as I was saying, this film uh and Sam Ramey, uh fantastic. Um, and I appreciate that every time you see a movie of his, regardless, you see hallmarks of his film. Right. And even just going into this, he he never plays to um trying to catch the widest fucking audience. He goes in there with a vision and he wants to make a thing, he makes a thing, and he makes it well, and he brings people to the table who have that same sort of heart and spirit with it, and that's what we saw here with the actor. Uh acting across the board, everyone got their assignment and did it well. And thinking of uh Rachel McAdams' uh character, there was a scene where she admits that she was married once.

SPEAKER_00 25:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:30

Where she kind of has a like she's trying to smile. Um like you could see that it's affected the character.

SPEAKER_01 25:38

Right.

SPEAKER_03 25:38

I thought it was fantastic the way it was done. She didn't fucking just dump it.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

Right.

Ideology On An Island

SPEAKER_03 25:44

Um, it was more of just like a uh and it was like an admittance, like a very careful admittance, and she just she navigated that complex set of feelings so well. Um, and in such a way where you realize that we had started like taking assumptions about this human being because of her go-gettingness. We didn't realize that it didn't come from any sort of social awkwardness. I mean, that was there, but it came from trauma.

unknown 26:15

Right.

SPEAKER_03 26:15

You know, real, you know, hard trauma. Um I thought she she navigated that role expertly.

SPEAKER_01 26:23

Well, the tagline is monsters aren't born, they're created.

SPEAKER_03 26:27

Yeah. And so I nailed it.

unknown 26:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:30

Fucking nailed it.

SPEAKER_01 26:31

And I think Dylan did a really good job in that scene too, with that vulnerability scene. I think they both did a really good job. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:38

So especially because he was giving vulnerability back as a manipulation tactic.

SPEAKER_04 26:44

Right.

SPEAKER_03 26:45

You know, so yeah, killed it. So I'm trying to think if there was like a you know, an Oscar-worthy performance here.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. I wasn't like blown away. I thought it was really good.

The Final Look: Audience On Trial

SPEAKER_03 27:02

I was not blown out of the fucking water, but uh, I don't blame the actors for that. Not every piece of work is going to take human beings to the cusp of thesbianism. So I'm with you on that one. I'm gonna give that a 4.5 um on the acting. Um cinematography. Uh, I love Raimi's work. I loved how um every shot, first he does it, he does it competently, he's got his uh everything down, he knows his way around the art of filmmaking. And every scene though still manages to have his signature on it, so to speak. So uh for that uh I'm actually gonna give it a five because it's the best cinematography there is, but I think relatively speaking, it hits every frickin' thing. And I mean, well, yeah, so I think he killed. Yeah. So he killed it. He killed it. Uh score, I don't remember a note. Not a single one. Um, but not once was I pulled out of it. There's some sound editor out there who's like, motherfucker. He's the guy from Queens. Oh yeah, he's the listener from Queens.

SPEAKER_02 28:27

Love you guys. I put it, I put it in there just for your subliminal messages saying how good Hyandra was.

SPEAKER_03 28:33

You didn't hear that. And it again, it was not a Jurassic World. Right. Um, terrible.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

There was where it pulled us out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:43

Yeah, no sudden keyboard solo that was just so out of fucking place that I forgot where I was for a moment. So terrible. So for that, uh three. Um on the uh that's fair. Plot. I I feel that the plot uh took a backseat to what they were trying to say.

unknown 29:08

Right.

SPEAKER_03 29:08

So the plot was simple. Uh the plot did its job.

SPEAKER_04 29:13

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:14

Uh so for the plot, uh, I'm gonna give it a um four. I'm gonna give the plot a four. And rewatchability? Yeah, I'm gonna re-watch this as soon as it becomes available. Am I going to purchase it or am I gonna wait for it to come out on streaming? Is the question. I'm trying to yeah, it was what it because if I'm gonna purchase it the second it comes out, my rewatchability shoots through the roof. And I don't know if that's what I'm gonna do. Um but I am.

SPEAKER_01 29:44

You gotta get it in Dolby. I gotta try to. It's not streaming in Dolby, you gotta buy it in Dolby.

SPEAKER_03 29:52

So I'm definitely gonna rewatch it, and I'm probably gonna re-watch it again after that. Um, so for that I'm giving rewatchability a four.

Verhoeven, Lynch, And Dune Detour

SPEAKER_01 30:01

Wow. So let me tabulate. So the average comes out a little over four, so it's four total, four stars. The high and dry score, four.

SPEAKER_03 30:15

Four. Congratulations, Sunhelp. That is it's a good movie. Solid movie, solid film, solid film.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

Very good movie.

SPEAKER_03 30:25

We have movies that I love to watch that come in at a three.

SPEAKER_00 30:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:30

Congratulations, uh, Mr. Raimi, Bruce. You guys did it again.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

It's a big thumbs up. Go see this movie if it's still in theaters near you. Enjoy it.

SPEAKER_03 30:42

Yeah, I just looked it up. I'm still getting viewings out here in the talking shithole Midwest, so it's out.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

Go see it. It's a really great experience in the theater with other people because there's like there's specifically one jump scare where everyone, what, you know, and uh and then all the uh all the fluids spraying around, you had people cringing and there's gone, oh like uh the the group reactions to the movie are excellent. It's a it's a it's a movie to watch in a group for sure.

SPEAKER_03 31:13

Definitely, definitely. Well, um, it's time now to get onto the golden path. It's time to dive into the deeper meanings of this particular piece of cinema.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

This just a movie about people traveling on an island. There's there's nothing here.

SPEAKER_03 31:27

Yes, nothing at all, nothing at all. Nothing. Well, we'll see if that's the case. Let's dive on in. So uh that being said, we gotta get a little more drunk, we gotta get a little more high. So uh here's to a solid score, four out of five. Cheers. Lovely.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

If the plot was more you know, the thing is, they wanted to tell a plot that had already been told, essentially, and they wanted to tell it a little harder, and it wasn't revolutionary or anything with the plot. There were there weren't enough turns that were unexpected. If it had done that, I could see it being a 4.5.

Power Reversal And Belief Systems

SPEAKER_03 32:09

Yeah. Well, the thing, so what I appreciated about it, and one of the things that I thought that um well, because my movie theater has a bar, and so obviously I'm rolling out there, I'm chatting up the other movie goers. Um the bartender knows me when I roll in. And uh well, she was a- Everybody knows you. Look, I am the drunken host of high and dry at a movie theater with a bar.

SPEAKER_01 32:41

Everybody knows.

SPEAKER_02 32:43

Everybody's like, oh, high and dry is an emotion! Shit!

SPEAKER_03 32:47

And I'm getting pictures taken and shit, I'm handing out shot glasses. Um, it's wild. But I'm gonna be listening from Helsinki. I know you are, I know you are. Uh, because you don't have an ID, and that's how you watch porno.

SPEAKER_02 33:01

I'm 12.

SPEAKER_03 33:06

One of the things that the so the bartender, she had not seen the film yet. Um, and she had brought up that some people came out of it and were disappointed that at the end it turned into a women are crazy film. And I then went in. Yeah, I went in, I watched the film, and no, that's not what that film turned into. No, I didn't think so at all. That wasn't it at all. And but when I first left uh the film with my girlfriend, one of the things that she mentioned was that uh Rachel McAdams' character was not a good person. And like that's true, yeah, for sure. But the film was not about whether she was a good or bad person. The film, right? She, in my opinion, was the actualization of this douchebag's um come up is.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

You know, look out for number one, always fend for yourself, always get the advantage. She was just better at it every turn.

Cooperation Versus Exploitation

SPEAKER_03 34:12

No, so it was not about her becoming a better person or her learning this, that, that. It was about, well, this is what your ideology looks like, you know, and in your little bubble, you win because you have everything given to you by Bruce Campbell.

SPEAKER_02 34:28

Right.

SPEAKER_03 34:29

But when all of you all do, right. As we all um, but when it's just you and an island, it's other people who are going to be more proficient at it. And right, what's wild is that they're gonna keep giving you chances.

unknown 34:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:46

And you're just you the main difference is is that you're um also you're bad at your ideology and you're a piece of shit. Yeah. And so you're going, you're gonna fuck, you're gonna lose. And so this was not about her becoming a better person. This was about his comeuppance and just and the the wrongs about this system and how fucked up it was. And um, I do appreciate that Bruce Campbell wanted to make her vice president. He understood. Uh she's gonna kill her fucking instinct. Uh-huh. Yeah. Um, so and and that's what I saw. And that's what I want to say to you know, people who are gonna see it and just you know, immediately dive into you know, oh, women are crazy and this and that, and like people are crazy.

SPEAKER_01 35:36

Right. That dude was crazy too. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:41

But so like I was listening to people who wanted to see it more as her winning by her rules versus her winning by his rules.

Nepo Culture And Competence

SPEAKER_01 35:49

Of course, that's what you want to see. Of course. But that's what her right at the end of the movie, like five seconds before the movie ends, she's in she's in her car driving along, and then she stops and she turns her head 45 degrees and she looks directly at the camera, and she holds her gaze at the camera for like three or four seconds, and then she turns back to what she's doing and puts her sunglasses on and keeps driving. And I'm interested, you know, what do you think that meant? Because I have my ideas about what that meant, but that's like hilariously, that's like the most subtle Sam Raimi has ever been. Someone looking directly at the camera.

SPEAKER_03 36:36

A third break. So I I think there's a few things there. You know, I think there's like the obvious nod of I got away with murder. Right. But I don't think I don't think that's where her character really was. Right. I think that's that's the obvious answer. But I don't think that's what it was. I I think uh maybe it was more of a a more of a warning.

unknown 36:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:58

More of a look further into this, look at yourself. Like she looks more judging at that point.

SPEAKER_01 37:05

Yes, she does. She does look like she's criticizing the audience. Yeah, it's like, did you cheer for me? Are you cheering for me now? Is this what you want to see?

Insert Ourselves: Island What‑Ifs

SPEAKER_03 37:18

Is I mean, this is a good-for-her film of 2026.

SPEAKER_01 37:23

Is this I'm here? This is how people who think ahead end up in situations, even though they're terrible, they turn it into something positable for them. Look where I am now. Yeah, it carries all those things, and I think that might have been lost on a lot of people in the audience. It reminded me kind of my favorite filmmaker, Paul Verhoven, you know, the way he turns the camera toward the audience a lot of times, uh, to make you think about what's happening, uh, and think about yourself and your own reaction to it. That was the only time in the whole movie where I was like, oh shit, this is a movie. Because that's that's what looking at the camera is meant to do. It stops everything and says, remember, this is a movie. This is that's not the character, that's the actress looking at the camera. You're sitting on the other side, and now you're connected because that's the theater with which we view this media. Is it's a movie. You're sitting, something is being shown to you, you're interpreting it. And uh, and yeah, so great filmmaking. I felt like that had a lot to say, and I feel like a lot of people probably missed it.

SPEAKER_03 38:38

Oh, yeah, yeah. No, and uh my favorite filmmaker, obviously, David Lynch, for his work on 1984 Dune.

SPEAKER_04 38:45

He is and I feel that that uh really came up in this film.

SPEAKER_03 38:53

Uh you know, uh uh Rachel McAdams' character was definitely the Paul Atreides of this film.

SPEAKER_01 39:02

Comparing me to Paul's.

SPEAKER_03 39:06

She went into the island, she came back with a knowledge, she gave the place a chance to correct itself, she killed Sting, and then yeah, the boar was fader.

Hunt The Nepo: Dark Fantasia

SPEAKER_02 39:18

That's what I was about to say.

SPEAKER_03 39:22

Sting got stung, and uh, you know, we all have something to learn about it.

SPEAKER_01 39:27

Is uh is who's uh uh Dylan O'Brien? Is he he he is uh Jessica? Oh, there you go, yeah. Okay. He's Jessica. Uh obviously this fiance was Duncan. There to rescue, ended up getting killed.

SPEAKER_03 39:48

Yeah, so in Send Help 2, we'll have the clone.

SPEAKER_00 39:52

Clone, clone fiancé.

SPEAKER_03 39:54

Clone fiance, and she will make someone come via climbing a mountainside. Uh I'm very excited for it. I'm very excited for that film. Right now, people at home are going, what the fuck are they talking about?

SPEAKER_01 40:07

You gotta check out God Emperor of Dune.

SPEAKER_03 40:11

Yeah, uh, you gotta be on, you know, we're on the golden path, and you too, you too have to get on the golden path. If you want to understand any movie ever made ever.

SPEAKER_01 40:19

If they if they end up getting to the point where they make God Emperor of Dune, I'll shit my pants. There's no way, there's no way that that the audience is there for that movie as written. There's no, there's no way. I I I would be so excited for God Emperor of Dune. It's got it's got it, it's the best story of all of the Dune stories.

SPEAKER_03 40:47

It is it's a thrill, right? It's a thrill, right?

SPEAKER_01 40:50

It's insanity. It's the insane mind of an immortal fascist. It's so interesting because the Dune movie is like that kind of like political blah blah blah. Like we've seen it all before. No one has done a movie with like an insane mind of an immortal fascist, like just I want it, I want it so badly.

SPEAKER_03 41:10

And I want us to bring back James McAvoy who played uh you know Leto II and stuff his ass into a worm suit. Sew him into the worm suit. I don't care.

Closing Bits And Sign‑Off

SPEAKER_02 41:28

Yeah, become the worm.

SPEAKER_01 41:33

We'll have Sam Raimi direct and oh, so many juices and like slime when he has her touching his worm body, it's the fucking goo. That would be and James James Macfly's fucking biting his lip and gives her to zoom right in on it.

SPEAKER_03 41:57

No one is able to finish the movie.

SPEAKER_00 42:03

Uh what were we talking about? Oh yeah, send help.

SPEAKER_03 42:06

You know how you know how they had the worm popcorn buckets? They're gonna have the worm vomit bucket. Uh but yeah, uh send help. Fantastic film.

SPEAKER_01 42:21

Yeah, so the reversal of power, the whole reversal of power dynamic, like they wanted, of course, audiences wanted have this uh story where she wins on her own terms because a lot of the audience truly believes that by any means necessary, you should get what you want from other people and your environment. And they believe that survival of the fittest should happen. And of course, they want to believe that it is somehow bound by honor instead of corruptive. They want to see that in that in their media, but that's not the truth of their media, and I can understand how that would feel like an attack on their beliefs.

SPEAKER_03 43:06

Yeah, no, it's like here this is what your entire ideology here, this is what it looks like unfiltered between man and woman on an island. This is what that looks like, right? And if you have problems with her walking away like she did, because you're dealing now with some sort of cognitive dissonance, um things aren't you might need to rewire yourself, you know. Yeah, i if you can't look at this from a unoffended perspective, uh something's going on in your brain.

SPEAKER_01 43:42

Yeah. Yeah, it's the it's the rugged individuum, every man for himself. A lot of people truly believe that. And uh and uh they have a hard time dealing with with something that approaches it blatantly and says it's not good.

SPEAKER_03 43:58

It takes a great deal of what's the word rationalization. Oh, sure. Um, to cling to that sort of belief, especially in a society where not once have you actually had to do that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:14

The dude in the Movie had to he clung to it despite needing another like needing cooperation, he still clung to it and just waited for an opportunity to exploit to get back into the survival of the fittest do or die.

SPEAKER_03 44:33

Well, power structure. Um, I thought that was a really great scene. I thought that was a excellent scene. And we didn't see anything, but holy shit, I was gripping the chair and I thought that was going down. Like, holy shit.

SPEAKER_01 44:50

That was I knew it wasn't I never at any point thought it was real. I always knew it was something else. I never thought it was real. Wow. No, I thought I but looking back on it from the end, I'm surprised it wasn't. Surprised it wasn't.

SPEAKER_03 45:05

Because I had started suspecting that of her. Um, I was starting to feel that she was drifting to that side, that she's being abused by this person, and she's gonna start to really punch back, and she's capable of some shit. Yeah. And yeah, so as are we all.

SPEAKER_01 45:25

So but she understood the need for cooperation. You know, once you maim someone like that, like they need to heal, and also they're gonna be like looking over your shoulder, they're you're gonna have to look over your shoulder all the time for them to kill you out of vengeance and stuff. But instead, she's gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_03 45:46

You think she didn't because of more of a she wasn't forgiving him, she just was thinking in terms of I don't want to have to heal his ass.

SPEAKER_01 45:54

Yeah, I don't want to heal him. I don't want to have to have to have my partner who's you know working toward our survival be maimed, and also I don't want the person who I've who's stuck with me on this island. Well, you know, we don't have to be at this point she knows she doesn't have to be stuck, but she's do she's she wants him there, yeah, uh for whatever reason. Uh so you know, you don't want that person to be like murder have to have for sure murderous intent because you castrated them. You know, she was proving a point, you know. Yeah, yeah. That whatever he whatever he's thinking he could do, she could do better, and he still didn't get the point. You know, she's she's steps ahead, she's always ahead of him uh in her knowledge and skills.

SPEAKER_03 46:44

I mean, and that's that's the case uh of any human being uh versus any Nepo person. Um it's always gonna be the case. Like you just don't have you have uh no instincts, they were never created, you're just trash. And that's where I stand on it. So uh moving into the third portion of this, um, it's time to insert ourselves into the film. How who are you? What happens? How does the film change when the high and dry fellas roll up into this movie? Unless you do, uh I might need some inspiration. I I I could use some inspiration.

SPEAKER_01 47:30

I can go first then.

SPEAKER_03 47:32

Yours are always fucking just hilarious, so all right.

SPEAKER_01 47:36

So uh so as you know, uh my wife is a uh consultant in corporate America. So here's what I think is gonna happen is my wife is Rachel McAdams, the plane crashes. I've been searching everywhere for her, but I never gave up on this one island. And so we're hiking over a ridge. Got my boat man with me, my boat woman. All the all the all the genders are reversed. I got my boat woman's boat woman with me. I I have beautiful black skin. I've got the body of a model. And we're going along this cliff, and some guy who looks like an Adonis is is leading me across this ridge, and uh of course we slip and fall, and uh he hits me with a rock, and then his sheriff finds my glow-in-the-dark Lord of the Rings wedding ring on my hand sticking out sticking out of the beach.

SPEAKER_03 48:53

Obviously.

SPEAKER_01 48:54

Yeah, yeah. Uh, and that's the end of the movie for me. It's just I I showed up looking for my wife and got beaten with a rack.

SPEAKER_03 49:02

Didn't even see her. No.

SPEAKER_02 49:08

Fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 49:10

Yeah. So for me, um, you know, I I I think the cheap shot is just that I do everything Rachel McAdams says, and we live a wonderful life on this paradise. Yeah, yeah. She's glowing. Slowly feeding off of this billionaire who doesn't even see that uh his shit's missing. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:28

She if you had just followed along, she could have done this rise to power afterward together. She had the whole thing planned out, wrote a book, she became like a star.

SPEAKER_03 49:37

That would be awesome. Uh but I I do it together. Um I it would more likely be uh I would join, you know, because I'm getting ready to, you know, I'm looking for new employment opportunities these days. I'd join corporate America. I'm gonna work really hard. I see some fucking Nepo guy taking everything like that. Gender reversed. Yeah, it's just a gender reverse. Yeah, um, and I see them taking if they make fun of me on a plane. Um, they're playing high-end dry videos and just fucking ripping them to shreds.

SPEAKER_02 50:09

But I hit the island, this whiskey is less than$75. You pieces of shit.

SPEAKER_03 50:19

Um like I and that's what I yell as I attack them um on the plane.

SPEAKER_02 50:26

You cause the plane to crash.

SPEAKER_03 50:29

I caused the plane to crash. And then when I get down there, now that I have no constraints of society or anything of that nature, I'm going to make uh these nepope shits suffer. There's no trying to redeem them, there's no trying to be better, there's no trying to teach a lesson because I know this human filth can't learn lessons. They weren't raised.

SPEAKER_01 50:58

You play the most dangerous game on this island.

SPEAKER_03 51:02

Yeah. And I'm like, all right, so you're all about uh just fucking brutal selfishness, and you know, you think the strong rise to the top. Well, um, I'm going to hunt you now, okay? Um, I'm going to kill you. I'm going to bury you on this island, and then I'm going to go to that billionaire's house there, call for help after I have a lovely weekend. Um, and that's gonna be some fishing.

SPEAKER_01 51:31

Yeah, I'm gonna probably got a fishing pole in that house.

SPEAKER_03 51:35

Yeah. I I'm gonna I'm gonna enjoy myself on this island. Surfboard, learn to surf.

unknown 51:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:42

Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna uh I'm gonna work on my abs a little bit. Uh I'm gonna you know I'm just gonna I'm gonna have to see that library?

SPEAKER_01 51:49

That was a nice parlor library you could sit and read a nice book in a plus chair. Beautiful. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:55

No, and I'm going to um you know find a way as I'm leaving and being rescued, I'm going to find a way to burn that mansion down.

SPEAKER_01 52:05

Right. Of course, obviously.

SPEAKER_03 52:09

Um, and just wipe my hands that fucking thing, and uh back I go.

SPEAKER_01 52:15

That was a plot hole of the movie, unless she burned, but that's kind of what I thought was maybe she burned it down. Uh, but that was a plot hole.

SPEAKER_03 52:22

How did she title the evidence of the struggle and the murder?

SPEAKER_01 52:26

The murder, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:27

Yeah. Maybe. I don't know. I I think I didn't need the answer. She's smart, she's resourceful, she did something.

SPEAKER_01 52:34

And that's she's like a Moriarty. She like devolved into a Moriarty.

SPEAKER_03 52:39

Yeah, exactly. So I'm sure she found a way to uh you know clean her hands of the guilt of that. So yeah. Right. I'd be like, Oh, you're not learning a lesson, you're just being punished. This island is your punishment, all right? Um, there's no lesson to be learned.

SPEAKER_01 52:55

This is hell, and I'm welcome. I'm your demon.

SPEAKER_03 52:58

Yeah, and I'm your demon. So rest up because uh once that leg is fixed, I'm hunting you like an animal. So buckle up.

SPEAKER_01 53:14

And you go you come back from a hike glowing, glistening, just glowing.

SPEAKER_03 53:22

You got I'm thriving out here.

SPEAKER_01 53:24

Little bleached streaks in your hair now, and you're like, you're smiling.

SPEAKER_03 53:30

I'm having a great time. How's that leg? Is today the day? Okay. We'll try to. Hopefully that helps you get better. I'm gonna do that. Rub it on the wound. Rub that on the wound. Nothing like tilapia for open wounds. Don't worry, it's sushi grade. Uh, so you'll be fine.

SPEAKER_01 54:02

People, tilapia is never sushi grade. Tilapia is a river fish. Don't ever eat it raw.

SPEAKER_03 54:10

He doesn't know that. He's had everything given to him. So they go have some tilapia, you pieces shit. Well, so there you have it, folks. Send help, four out of five, fantastic film. Uh, have some tilapia, you piece of shit. Thank you all for listening. I'm your host, Ryan Barrett North. With me as always, James Crosslin. Um, we'll see the return of Luke after he gets over his bout uh with gout, and uh we will uh see you all next time. Bye.

SPEAKER_02 54:43

Bye.