R-Rated Thriller On Netflix Holds You Hostage With No Escape

By Robert Scucci
| Published 13 seconds ago

2018’s 10×10 is such a frustrating movie because, if you’re really into psychological thrillers, you’re going to think, “Oh god, here we go again.” I felt the same way when I first started watching it, but for every setup that feels stock, generic, and done to death over the decades, there’s an unexpected, deeply satisfying payoff waiting around the corner. It’s your typical guy-kidnaps-girl premise that you fully expect to go a certain way. It doesn’t. There are so many moving parts that the whole thing becomes a masterclass in misdirection.

Clocking in at just 88 minutes, not a moment is wasted in 10×10 because it simply doesn’t have time to meander. What you get is a tense, claustrophobic thriller that constantly subverts your expectations, never fully letting you know who’s the good guy and who’s the bad guy. Lesser films (The Glass House is currently streaming on Netflix) lay all their cards on the table and soften their own impact. 10×10 plays everything close to the chest, more often than not pulling a wildcard that changes the entire dynamic the second it’s revealed.

Guy Kidnaps Girl, So It Should Be Obvious What’s Going On … Right?

10×10 does Robert Lewis (Luke Evans) no favors because he immediately comes off like an unhinged maniac. He kidnaps Cathy Noland (Kelly Reilly) in broad daylight, shoves her in the trunk of his car, and drives to his remote luxury house, where he has a padded, soundproofed room hidden behind a false wall. Cathy will spend most of her time here while Robert goes about his life as if nothing is out of the ordinary, with the added caveat that he’s recording everything happening inside her new prison cell.

Cathy, rightfully terrified, proves she’s resourceful by breaking out of her zip ties and eventually overpowering Robert, who promises he won’t kill her if she gives him one piece of information: her real name. Cathy repeatedly insists she is who she says she is, but Robert refuses to believe her, suggesting he knows more about her than he initially let on. It becomes clear he’s been following her for months, waiting for the right moment to capture her for reasons that aren’t fully revealed until they absolutely have to be.

Here’s Where It Messes With You

One thing that initially rubbed me the wrong way about 10×10 was how inconsistent Robert seems at the outset. He’s fastidious to a fault, but doesn’t fix his garage door. He’s careful about covering his tracks, yet dumps his firearm into a kitchen drawer alongside extra zip ties and other incriminating accessories. He’s calculating, but he’s sloppy. I had a tough time reconciling those contradictions until I realized what was actually going on.

As 10×10 pushes further into its kidnapping plot, we learn not everything is what it seems, and maybe Robert isn’t necessarily in the wrong here. Don’t get it twisted. If you’re kidnapping women and holding them hostage inside your home, something is clearly broken upstairs. The issue is Robert’s motive, and whatever secret he’s trying to force out of Cathy, who by now has fought back savagely more than once, can certainly take a beating, and is definitely hiding a horrible secret.

Within the first 10 minutes of 10×10, I considered turning it off. Five minutes later, I reconsidered. By the second act, I was hooked. Every time I felt absolutely certain in my assessment of the movie, the rug got yanked out from under me. It gave me that sick feeling in my stomach that I only get when I’m genuinely glad to be bamboozled so many times in rapid succession.

10×10 is the kind of movie you have to earn enjoyment from, especially if you love a solid psychological thriller. It starts out looking predictable, and if you’re not patient enough to see it through, you’ll miss some legitimately sharp twists that keep landing well into the third act.

As of this writing, 10×10 is streaming on Netflix.