Halle Berry is engaging in The Call

She plays Jordan, a veteran 911 operator who takes a life-altering call from teenager Casey (Abigail Breslin) who has been abducted. She realises that she has to keep the girl on the line and confront a killer in order to save Casey’s life.

The background to Jordan is that she was once a top-tier dispatcher, but left to become a training instructor after botching a rescue call and failing to save the life of a murder victim.

However, while giving recruits a tour of an emergency-response operation, Jordan overhears an operator faltering on Casey’s call and takes over. The story feels familiar because classic plot devices have been scrounged from other films. Anderson, though, has a flair for suspense and jaded viewers may find themselves in a sweat.

The Call also has a social message, albeit one that gets garbled due to sexed-up silliness in the finale.