Based solely on its own merits, “Shortcut” is both an amateurish production and a mindless genre exercise. Its creators show only a cursory interest in their characters, whose water-taffy-thin personalities are stretched out in tortuous dialog and voiceover narration that’s neither worthy nor surmountable for the movie’s game but inexperienced younger cast members. So while you may not think that there should be much to a high-concept creature feature/teen melodrama like “Shortcut,” the movie itself suggests that there ought to be.
Failing that, a higher level of narrative and/or filmmaking craftsmanship would have been appreciated, especially in a movie that begins with aggressively bland voiceover narration—“Every journey has its road. And every road, sooner or later, comes to a crossing.”—and only ends after nice guy Nolan (Jack Kane) observes that “No one believed our story or took us seriously.” I can’t blame ‘em—whoever ‘em are—given that Nolan and his classmates are never really defined or threatened by anything or anybody worth writing home about.
Nolan’s one of five students who, during a routine drive through the British countryside, is beset by unexpected perils, like fallen timber, a serial killer known as “The Tongue Eater” (Daniel Keyes), and oh yeah, a man-sized bat creature. These generic obstacles negligibly obstruct the go-nowhere trajectory of Nolan and his equally unmemorable buddies, all of whom are defined by the sort of creaky clichés that make “The Breakfast Club” seem downright avant garde. There’s Reggie (Zak Sutcliffe), a pouty rebel with a side shave and Doc Martens-looking boots, and Karl (Zander Emlano), the bratty, but good-natured fat kid who day-dreams about “double bacon, french fries … and a large drink”. As for young women: there’s nerdy Queenie (Molly Dew), who’s got baby fat and braces, and shy artiste Bess (Sophie Jane Oliver), whom Nolan inevitably draws the inner beauty out of (“I saw your sketches on the bus, I thought they were amazing”). All five kids must fend for themselves after kindly bus driver Joseph (Terence Anderson) leaves them with some bumper sticker wisdom—be brave, kids!—and little else.