Send Help (2026)- Review
a quick review of a fun and gory popcorn movie!
Send Help is Sam Raimi’s latest movie that brings everyone’s worst nightmare to life: getting stuck on a desert island with your boss. Rachel McAdams plays the meek but hard-working Linda, who is expecting a promotion, promised to her by the former CEO. However, when the CEO's son Bradley takes over, he gives the job to one of his golfing buddies and humiliates Linda in the process, disgusted by her awkwardness and lack of charm. After she storms into his office and demands him to rethink his decision, Bradley relents and allows Linda to come with him and his team on a trip to Bangkok, in an attempt to prove her worth. But during their flight, the plane crashes into the sea and Linda and Bradley are left as the only two survivors.
The initial premise of the film immediately hooked me in and I was so excited to watch the story unfold. As soon as the two characters wash up on the island, Linda immediately takes charge as the “boss” and the roles reverse. As a huge fan of Survivor, she knows how to handle the situation and finds herself thriving in the desert. She leaves behind her weak-willed personality and transforms into someone unrecognisable. Bradley, however, hates it. He becomes an almost damsel in distress that can barely function without her. Their dynamic is brilliant and I love how it shifts and changes throughout the film. It’s so entertaining to see a smug, awful Bradley left helpless, despite all of his talk, whilst the underestimated Linda goes above and beyond and makes her survival look easy. One of my favourite parts of the film was seeing the various things Linda fashions for herself. On a desert island that diva was making water bottles, bags, cups, tables and SO much more, I loved seeing her collection expand.
Dylan O’Brian and Rachel McAdams deliver two wonderful performances and bring these characters to life beyond the stereotypes they could so easily fall into. McAdams in particular, throws everything into her performance, easily going from meek office worker to strong survivor and delivers some of her best work to date. My favourite scene of hers is after she kills a wild boar, despite the chaos that erupts and the blood all over her face, she proclaims that she “really likes hunting”- a dramatic shift from her quiet world of numbers and strategies. Linda also has multiple moments where she refuses the help that comes for them, saying “not yet” when she sees a rescue boat circle the island. This could have easily come across as a poor, unjustified decision but it doesn’t. We don’t find ourselves questioning her decision, or being exasperated by her constant refusal to be rescued, we understand that her life on the island is so much better than her life at home. The filmmakers and McAdams’ performance make that decision feel justified, which is a big feat to pull off, her refusal does become clearer with the films’ final twist, but even without that, it still feels correct.
I also have to mention Dylan O’Brien’s laugh in this film because it is easily one of the best and stupidest laughs ever captured on screen (if you’ve seen the film you will know exactly what I mean).
One of my issues with the film is I do feel like I was slightly misled by the film’s promo (but maybe that was just me) as I was expecting more gore and more tension. Although I was hooked the entire time, I thought I would be on the literal edge of my seat waiting to see what horrors unfolded next. I wish the concept had been pushed further into crazy territory. It shifts genres quite a lot, going from horror to comedy to revenge drama and I wish there was a more consistent tone. There are a few brilliant gore moments, with the killing of the pig, the vomit and the gauging of the eyes but I left craving more. It was less gory horror film and more fun popcorn movie survival film. There’s nothing wrong with that, but when the movie’s poster looks like this (see above), you can understand why I came out of the cinema wishing there had been a bit more horror.
There are also some weaker moments in the dialogue, there’s a scene between Bradley and Linda where they open up to each other and talk about their past and it feels a bit thrown in. It gives some nice context to the characters but I feel that it could have been done in a less “now it’s time for some context!” way. Especially because Bradley hasn’t done much good up until that point, so I struggle to sympathise with the sudden telling of his sad backstory. His one moment of humanity doesn’t feel deserved in that moment, when he has been a literal monster to Linda prior to that day (and becomes one again immediately after!)
The films’ final twists and turns are fine but they’re not particularly mind-blowing by any means. I think the film could have easily shaved off 15 minutes of its runtime and it would have made for a tighter third act. Linda does make a great final girl despite her, at times, questionable morals, though who could blame her, if I was stuck on an island with Bradley I’d do the same!
Overall, Send Help makes for a very fun time at the cinema. It’s not going to change your life by any means, but as far as popcorn movies go, this is definitely one of the better ones- thanks to brilliant performances from McAdams and O’Brien, as well as a well paced script and some crazy moments. You’ll laugh, you’ll occasionally be grossed out and I guarantee you’ll enjoy this wild ride alongside Linda and Bradley. It must be experienced on the big screen!