Hours (2013)

Hurricane Katrina has already been pretty thoroughly mined for documentaries and fictional stories, but "Hours" holds your interest nonetheless. Most of the movie elicits tense empathy, which builds to a genuinely nerve-wracking sense of dread. Hours has a great B-movie premise, but at 97 minutes, the strain of keeping the story going, and throwing more obstacles in Nolan's way, starts to show. Here's a hero who's maybe like you, suffering like you might but also scraping through like you hope you could. A lean, palpably tense thriller. Paul Walker gives the best performance of his career. As one of the last completed roles by [Paul Walker]...it feels nice to be able to luxuriate in the actor's presence. In another set of circumstances, Hours could have proved to other filmmakers what the actor was capable of

There's something vexing about the use of a baby as narrative device, and the movie leans too heavily on her inborn potential for heart-tuggery. Called upon to carry almost the entire movie by himself, Walker has a tough time mustering genuine emotion, although he does better in the few legitimately tense scenes. While uneven, the film is uniquely involving - right down to a final shot that will break your heart into a million pieces. For those who wish to see [Walker] at his best, "Hours" is worth the time. Represents a change of pace for the performer, who delivers some of his best work in this odd thriller, which somehow transfers the bomb-on-a-bus concept of "Speed" to an infant-on-a-incubator ride of suspense and heartbreaking stakes.

From the evidence here, Walker's forte may have been not action but stillness-a knack for embodying ordinary Joes without any fussiness. Take away the on-the-nose title and some half-hearted stabs at symbolism, and what's left is a B-thriller of the "they don't make 'em like they used to" variety.