Brick (2025) Review!!

Synopsis – A couple whose apartment building is suddenly surrounded by a mysterious brick wall and who must work with their neighbors to find a way out.

My Take – Looking for a film that doesn’t deliver on the promise of its intriguing premise? Don’t worry Netflix has you covered.

For his latest feature, writer-director Philip Koch, known for his work on sci-fi German Netflix series Tribes of Europa (2021), employs Army of Thieves (2021) co-stars and real-life partners Matthias Schweighöfer and Ruby O. Fee to play a couple on the verge of emotional collapse who wake up to find their apartment sealed off by a mysterious black wall.

A simple idea that allows the workings of a gripping thriller, mixed in with claustrophobic sci-fi, and psychological drama. However, despite an intriguing build up, the narrative soon loses its way.

Like The Platform (2019) before it, the film aims to be something on the lines of an existential puzzle flick, but it’s too restricted in its approach and simply resigns itself to a generic play-by-play of the format and the eventual attempt to escape. Yes, there are interesting ideas, a few well-done scenes, and a mood that works in some places.

Yet, there is something lacking overall that could have been made better. Even the resolution doesn’t help either, as the reason behind the confinement tries to close things out with symbolic meaning, but it doesn’t quite land. For a story about escaping from forced confinement, that’s a problem.

The story follows Tim (Matthias Schweighöfer) and Olivia (Ruby O. Fee), a couple in Hamburg who have been together for nearly 7 years. But after Olivia suffered a miscarriage, Tim shut himself off completely and buried himself in work as a game designer. While Olivia has been continuously trying to rekindle their relationship and find ways to heal from their loss, including the suggestion of an impromptu road trip to Paris. Tim refuses to move on. Forcing Olivia to finally give up and decide to move on.

But right when she is all packed up to leave in the morning, the two are shocked to find a black metallic wall built with odd-shaped bricks blocking the way outside the door. Since the apartment building was under renovation, at first, they assumed it is some kind of a protective layer to safeguard the inhabitants from harm. But when they realize that the wall is impenetrable and magnetic, they started to suspect that there is more in play here.

The film actually starts off quite well. Especially when the whole building shuts down, and the two realize that there is no signal, no water, and no windows. And you’re are asking the same question: what’s going on?

But the film does not ride on the momentum of that feeling of panic. It transitions from a claustrophobic, mortal experience to a more open scenario that delves far too deeply into the reasons why they are trapped, and this shift in tone somewhat ruins the intensity.

And when more characters show up, each with their own set of clichés like the troubled young couple, the sick old man, the innocent granddaughter and the shady cop, they dilute the earlier tension. The relationships that could have meant something become flat, and the central mystery about the entrapment quickly fades, as the story drifts with scenes that go nowhere.

Here, writer-director Philip Koch clearly wanted to explore grief, emotional isolation, and the inner walls we build upon loss. But while he brief touches upon them, the campy tone of the supporting characters make the whole narrative uneven.

Nevertheless, the film shows some potential in its production design, making the most of its handful of interior locations and the visual approach showcases a dynamic the screenplay lacks. That is until the story in the third act falls back on the wheezy horror-flick template where characters are vague outlines of humans who could fall on either side of the moral line. To make matters worse, the ending doesn’t land.

Performance wise, Matthias Schweighöfer continues to prove that he is a compelling screen presence on screen, even when the script’s limitations block him from transcending thoroughly. Ruby O. Fee is excellent throughout, and absolutely sells her heartbreaking inner turmoil. But in supporting roles, Frederick Lau, Salber Lee Williams, Sira-Anna Faal, Murathan Muslu and Axel Werner are decent, often inching towards going over the top. On the whole, ‘Brick‘ is a watchable sci-fi thriller that doesn’t deliver on its promised potential.