Calibre - A Film Review

Calibre is a 101minute film that was released on Netflix during June 2018. Described as a British Thriller film, the setting is in Northern Scotland. Two friends go hunting and everything goes wrong.

Spoiler Alert: I'm going to discuss the plot, please stop reading if this bothers you. You can skip to the line break and "My Thoughts & Opinions" if you don't want plot spoilers

Wikipedia is the source for facts and the movie poster

Marcus and Vaughan are two old friends from boarding school. Marcus is a successful businessman and Vaughan has a pregnant fiancee. They are headed from Edinborough to the Scottish Highlands to have one final blowout before Vaughan's life gets boring. They will go hunting and are staying in a quite hunting lodge.

The night before they go hunting, they drink a lot and meet some girls. Vaughan just drinks with his girl because he is a nice guy. He also finds out that her mom is the pub owner. Marcus does coke and also give coke to the girl he met. Needless to say, the townfolk aren't too pleased. In anycase, they head off hunting and they refuse to hire a local guide.

Vaughan finds out Marcus did coke but doesn't really care. Marcus was really hungover and forgot his bullets so he borrows Vaughan's spare rifle. Borrowing guns is illegal in the UK. They drink some scotch then go into the woods drunk and hungover.

Vaughan sees a deer and fires. Unfortunately, the deer moves and the bullet flies past into the head of a boy. No one knew they were behind the deer, probably because they weren't in a proper state to go hunting. This, unfortunately, the event sets the plot for the movie.

The boy's father is understandably upset with Vaughan and Marcus. Marcus decides to kill the father because he doesn't want to explain to the police that they were drunk and high and it was his gun. Then they return to the village.

The villagers don't know what is up, but they are upset at the two hunters from the night before. Marcus' girl told everyone she did coke I guess. In any case, some of the town people are nice to them and they have dinner.

Later on, they go back to the woods to bury the bodies. When they return a different boy sees them pull in to their hunting lodge.

They spend another awkward day in town because one of the locals smashed up their car. By that time the villagers notice the boy and father who went camping didn't return. It turns out they are relatives. It also turns out the car will take a couple more days to repair.

After another day they villagers organize a search party to look for the missing campers. The hunters are asked to go as well. Eventually, the dogs find the hole where the bodies are and two and two are put together.

They interrogate the hunters. Marcus and Vaughan both have an awful story to tell. In Vaughan's case, this was an accident. Also, he wasn't doing coke. In Marcus' case, the shooting of the father to protect himself and Vaughan was murder and not an accident.

The townsfolk who are all related know if the police will get involved the village will have a lot of hardships because no one will want to go there. It is time for vigilante justice.

They decided the correct thing to do was point a gun at Vaughan's head, give him a rifle and tell him to kill Marcus. He does this with some hesitation, but less hesitation than one would expect.

Then the movie ends with his pregnant fiancee picking him up. She seems pissed off, but probably uncertain with what exactly happened.

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My Thoughts & Opinions

I can't imagine being in this situation, can you? I don't even like hunting, to begin with. Also, I would definitely not do it because two wrongs don't make a right. It really made me think a lot about the outcome and what is right vs. what is wrong. I cannot imagine a village having to make a tough situation between justice and possible economic ruin, vigilante justice, and a dark secret. I guess they want to keep it in the clan/family.

I thought the movie was well filmed. There was a lot of thrill and suspense but it wasn't horror or anything. It was definitely tormenting the mind at points. I had a difficult time sleeping after, so I drank some red wine. Actually, I was drinking my wine during the entire movie.