Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Detective seeks answers to old mystery; language, violence.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
24 Hours with Gaspar
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
24 HOURS WITH GASPAR is set in an apocalyptic, fascist police state where drones watch for underground subversives and kill anyone who has evidence that the state is corrupt. Gaspar (Reza Rahadian) is a detective. He has an unusual heart condition that is acting up now just as he thinks he may be able to locate Kirana (Shofia Shireen), his childhood best friend who disappeared mysteriously. A doctor gives him 24 hours to live, but it lights a fire under Gaspar and he plunges into avenging mode. There is talk of human trafficking and an illegal organ theft racket. When he believes his friend's father sold her, he targets the dad, a criminal who killed his partner and stole all his money. The criminal seems to also have a miraculous magical black box described to Gaspar by the grandfather who raised him. What is the black box, and could it be the answer to all of Gaspar's problems?
Is It Any Good?
Everyone is in a hurry in 24 Hours with Gaspar because the doctor predicts Gaspar and his weak heart have only 24 hours left, but, c'mon, they can't possibly know. So, under the tiniest bit of scrutiny, the premise that Gaspar must hastily accomplish his mission evaporates as does all the tension that scenario is supposed to create. Why can't he get cardiac treatment first and then go after the mysterious black box? He waited until he was 34 to find his childhood friend. What's a few more weeks?
Flashbacks to the childhood in question just serve to muddy the chronology and much of this is just unintentionally hilarious. Someone or something may be possessed by a cheetah spirit and whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is left to the imagination. Poor people slug it out in an underground fight club as Gaspar and his friend Agnes (Shenina Cinnamon) discuss the scourge of social media and the way it has ruined the world. Gaspar, who looks like he's been in a few fights himself, seems to suggest that the overarching problem is that people just don't read enough books. There's a ton of exposition, as if long, wandering explanations might help (they don't). The ending is impenetrable, couched in phrases that sound like gibberish and evoke the suffering of poverty and the uselessness of believing that good can defeat evil. None of it is profound and most of it's painfully trite.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the stereotype of the cynical tough guy detective made popular in many American movies of the 1940s. In what ways does this movie aspire to reproduce that character and the familiar atmosphere of that era's movies?
Why does Gaspar not get his heart condition treated? Does the movie explain? Does it matter?
What do you think the black box is? Does the movie explain it?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : March 14, 2024
- Cast : Reza Rahadian , Shenina Cinnamon , Shofia Shireen
- Director : Yosep Anggi Noen
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Drama
- Run time : 98 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : March 22, 2024
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