'The Owners' (2020)

I'll happily admit that most of what I read and watch is totally geared towards me being able to escape from real life for a few minutes here and there. Anything too realistic and I tend not to bother because if I want real life... well, I'll just put my book down and go and live it ;o)

With that in mind then, 'The Owners' isn't the kind of film that I'd normally pick out to watch on a Sunday evening. 'Home invasions gone wrong' fall very much into the 'a little too real for me' camp, especially with some of the people that I see on my street... But I did end up watching 'The Owners' last night, so what happened? I'll tell you what it was, it was the chance to see Sylvester McCoy in a role that wasn't Doctor Who. McCoy was a very underrated Doctor, in my opinion, and I wanted to see if he brought any of that slightly off-key darkness to this role. And he did, he really did... 'The Owners' isn't an easy film to watch but it is worth sticking with...

A group of friends think they find an easy score at an empty house with a safe full of cash. But when the owners, an elderly couple, come home early, the tables are turned and suddenly, it's a struggle to stay alive through the night...

Like I said, 'The Owners' isn't an easy film to watch but I couldn't take my eyes off it all the same. As far as the violence goes, it's a brutal film that doesn't pull any punches. As the situation in the house gets worse, people are thrown back on their baser instincts just to make it through and this makes for a film that grabs you by the throat and sticks you right in the middle of all the nastiness. 'The Owners' is a film that doesn't slow down either; once it slips into gear, you're taken with it as what looked like a film that would just plod instead just purrs along smoothly to a conclusion with a nasty little twist at the end. And it is a nasty film with no real redeeming qualities in any of the characters (except maybe Ellen Huggins whose dementia perhaps excuses some of her excesses, although using that dementia to fuel some of the more tense moments is a bit of a low move). It's also a film that delights in leading you down paths and then completely surprising you with where you end up. You are really kept on your toes throughout and this is in no small part down to Sylvester McCoy's performance as Doctor Huggins; mixing pleasant elderly gentleman with a hint of something far darker. You know he's up to something but you're never sure quite what and that element of uncertainty really drives the film along. Maisie Williams' heroine, Mary, isn't all that promising to start off with but when things kick off, Mary swiftly displays a dark side of her own that keeps her head above water and helps her to be ruthless enough to make some tough choices.

If you're looking for a film where you can cheer on the poor innocent who's landed in this mess through no fault of their own, you might want to consider choosing another film than 'The Owners'. Like I said, there isn't a single likeable character here so you will more than likely be cheering for other, more ominous reasons instead... Having said that though, if you don't mind sitting through just over ninety minutes of unrelenting nastiness, 'The Owners' is very good at what it does and I've give it a watch if you haven't seen it already.