Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Survivor’

Written by Scott Edwards

​It can be difficult to make new friends, especially in a job that you have been thrown into. Having people in your department that are looking up to you to be perfect at your higher level, they may never see you for who you really are. What's worse, if you happen to do something wrong, well, you are doomed, so you must never show any signs of weakness, and try to endure and at worst...either you, or the employee that lost faith in you is gone and the process starts over again. 

Kate Abbott has just been transferred to the American Embassy in London to help bolster the security around passports falling into the wrong hands. Her new boss Sam Parker knows that she is one of the best and extremely driven to stop anything from happening on American soil, especially after she lost all of her friends during a terrorist strike. Asking her team to alert her if anything suspicious shows up in their lines, Kate is looking for anyone that has a medical background trying to make their way to the United States as a new threat is looming.

Being called up when Doctor Emil Balan tries to get his passport, Kate asks the right questions and finds that the research doctor is trying to go to America to attend a conference on children’s health. Thinking that something about his request is out of the ordinary, Kate takes the background check further than most, and finds out that the good doctor has friends in high places. Standing beside his employee, Sam Parker knows that she is doing her job, but Kate’s boss on the floor, Bill Talbot, goes ahead an approves the passport. After being overridden, Kate tries to question Bill about his motives, but before she is able to get him alone, he is pulled away for a phone call.

Walking to dinner with her co-workers to celebrate Bill’s birthday, Kate finds out that nobody picked up his gift. Leaving the restaurant for a moment to pick up something, Kate turns back to see an explosion behind her. Trying to find her friends, she is greeted by a man pointing a gun at her and trying to complete his job. The Watchmaker has been appointed to relieve Kate of her duties and while she tries to get to safety, he is tracking her the same way the embassy is. Needing help, Kate is able to contact her boss Sam, but with all of London searching for her, she will have to try and outsmart the local police and find a way back into the embassy to find out what the grand plan is and why a research doctor is worth so much trouble to get to the United States. 

When the movie started, I thought it was all going to be about politics, and even though there was plenty of that in the script, this film delivered so much more. With plenty of action, Kate is running for her life when the Watchmaker is able to quickly find her and attempts to dispose of her. Knowing that one man knows why this is happening to her, she gets accused of his murder and then must call back on her training to escape the police and the assassin assigned to kill her. I liked this movie better than I thought I would and with plenty of action to keep your eyes glued to the screen, the storyline takes a darker turn to see how easy it is for a terrorist to get into the United States.  

---