“Time for me to do the heavy lifting. Gotta put in my hours. I’m on the clock now.” ~ Nolan

Paul Walker is practically a one-man show in the movie Hours. The backdrop of the movie is New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. At the onset of the movie, Nolan Hayes (Paul Walker) and his wife arrive at the hospital to give birth to their baby. After sitting for hours in the waiting room, the doctor finally arrives to tell him that he has a beautiful baby girl, but his wife passed away during delivery. Distraught from grief, he also learns, to live, his new baby girl must stay in a non-mobile ventilator crib for at least 48 hours. Initially assured that everything will be alright, the hospital is suddenly evacuated as the damns break and flood New Orleans. Unfortunately, he is unable to move the ventilator crib. As if things couldn’t get any worse, the battery goes bad requiring him to use a portable crank recharge on an ever diminishing battery. Unable to hold a charge longer than 2.5 minutes for each crank, suddenly each crank only provides the batter with 1.47 minutes of power. With less and less time provided with each crank, he must find a way to keep the ventilator going for 48 hours until his daughter is out of danger. He passes the time alternating scavenging for food, looking for power sources and protecting his daughter from looters.

Hours is not your typical action movie. It is a race against time – battling the elements, exhaustion, and lack of food to find a way to stay alive and protect his daughter. Hours was one of two final movies released a month after the star, Paul Walker, died in a horrific car crash.

Great movie moments:

Paul Walker delivers one of his finest performances. Limited gun play, no women (except for images of his time with his wife) …just him and his wide range of emotions. Watching him transform from a grieving husband to a loving, tender father trying to save his child will bring tears to even the staunchest of action movie lovers.

There are some tense-filled moments when shots are fired from other people stranded on neighboring roof tops. Foiling their own rescue by shooting at the rescue helicopters and destroying any chance of rescue. He also faces scavenging intruders entering the hospital with guns.

Be sure to catch the Reach Out World Wide segment in the Extras portion to learn about Paul Walker’s organization providing assistance to those in need from devastation worldwide.

Not-so-great movie moments:

Not your typical action movie, but it is a portrayal of new father’s struggle during Hurricane Katrina.

We know that he is only allotted about 1.5 minutes per charge, but some of the scenes when he is out in the other portions of the hospital clearly last more than 1.5 minutes.

Not to be picky, but the baby does look like a doll rather than an actual baby.
Regardless of any flaws, I give Hours 4 out of 5 stars.

Details:

Director: Eric Heisserer
Rating: Pg-13 – Some violence, some drug use
Run time: 1 hour 37 minutes

Want to check out Hours ? Catch it on Amazon.

This move is part of my own DVD arsenal. I have not been compensated for this review.