u/Able-Source-8275

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Last attempt to find this movie and forget about it forever. Sorry for the overly long text.

It is an American action movie, super commercial, that did not have much media buzz. I saw it approximately in the decade of 2010 and it looked like a movie filmed around that time. Modern, without much pretension, straight to the point, almost low budget, and the only known actor was the protagonist (I remember it was a relatively well-known action actor worldwide), white, about 35 years old. Modern dad, with a nice modern car, in a nice house, in a quiet middle-class residential area with a common and ordinary job, and a wife and children (I think).

The plot begins, I suppose, presenting the scenario of what would be a normal life of a dad leaving home very early to go to work and returning late at night to rest with his happy family, content with life as it should be on any weekday. But suddenly and out of nowhere he receives a mysterious call on his cell phone from a completely anonymous unknown number. One of those calls that are scary to answer. I remember vividly the image of the protagonist being in his car with the cell phone parked on some street in the United States very late at night receiving this suspicious call. It was the call of the typical psychopathic extortionist from an action movie who asks you to do something because otherwise your life is in danger. This villain blackmails him, extorts him, asks him for something, maybe a lot of money or perhaps asks him to fulfill some malicious objective, I don’t know exactly what he asks for but what I do remember is that the protagonist complies with what is required immediately and just to get rid of it once and for all he provides what the guy is asking for and then after an extreme succession of scenes in which the protagonist is dealing with the threat trying to comply with the villain’s demands; and when it already seemed that everything was resolved—the assailant appears satisfied and the protagonist is breathing relieved—it doesn’t even take 1 day and the extortionist calls again to the same number and this time he answers with a sensation of unimaginable horror on a day he thought everything had returned to normal.

And this is where the real terror begins, and it is impossible that no one can identify this movie that I have been searching for approximately 10 years and no one has been able to help me. The plot revolves around this simple premise: a psychopathic extortionist somewhat powerful who doesn’t seem to be motivated mainly by money but rather by playing with his victim like a cat would with a dying bird, his main interest is to destroy someone’s life or maybe it was some kind of revenge, I don’t know… (It is not 12 Rounds). After the first call as I said and when the whole matter already seemed completely settled, the protagonist receives a second surprising call from the same perpetrator requesting a new impossible demand that puts the viewer on edge, since from there is when the movie begins in all its splendor: cars flying and falling to pieces, bank accounts reduced to zero, houses burned down, relatives kidnapped, lives hanging by a thread, etc etc etc. It seems that the blackmail and extortion are only beginning and it gives the feeling that the matter will only escalate to unsuspected levels of cruelty and destruction for the main actor.

And all this happens as I remember only between 2 people during almost the entire movie—the extortionist and the extorted, nothing else. It almost always happens with the protagonist acting alone in his car around the city and his cell phone at hand. The police never intervene or at least that’s what I remember, since everything happens so fast and the threats become reality so immediately that it would be a mistake to go to the police or the FBI since not only is it a demand of the villain, but it would be very foolish to do so in front of such a criminal who seems to know everything, see everything and is almost omnipresent. He seems to have cameras everywhere and in any case has an army of thugs willing to carry out any order asked of them—install explosives, leave notes, kidnap people, etc.

After this I don’t remember anything else, I don’t know how the movie continues or how it ends, I only remember that it was time very well spent and I would like to see it again. I hope for help from some cinephile out there, thank you very much.

The movie is not:

Getaway

13 Sins

12 Rounds

Vehicle 19

Eagle Eye

Firewall

Butterfly on the Wheel

Wheelman

Cellular

Phone Booth

The Caller

The Call

Extortion

It's a highly commercial American action movie that didn't generate much media buzz. I watched it around the 2010s, and it looked like a movie made back then. Modern, unpretentious, simple, to the point, almost low-budget, and the only well-known actor was the lead—a white guy in his mid-30s, a modern dad with a nice modern car, living in a nice house in a quiet middle-class neighborhood, with an ordinary job, a wife, and kids.

The plot begins, I suppose, by setting the scene for what would be a normal dad’s life: leaving home very early to go to work in his modern car and returning late at night to rest with his family, happy and content with life as it should be on any given weekday—but suddenly, out of the blue, he receives a mysterious, suspicious call on his cell phone from a completely anonymous, unknown number. One of those calls that are scary to answer. I remember the vivid image of the protagonist sitting in his car, parked on some street in the United States late at night, receiving this suspicious call. It was a call from a terrifying criminal who tells him something, explains something to him, asks him for something, blackmails him, extorts him, and demands a lot of money. He might also ask him to carry out some malicious task—I don’t remember exactly, but I do recall that the protagonist does what’s asked of him just so the criminal will finally leave him alone and he can put this whole nightmare behind him once and for all: I suppose a very large sum of money. But the criminal calls back immediately after a few hours, demanding more and more and more...

And this is where the real terror begins, and it’s impossible for anyone to find this movie—I’ve been looking for it for about 10 years, and no one has been able to help me. The plot revolves around this simple premise: an incredibly terrifying psychopathic blackmailer for whom money doesn’t seem to be the main motivation, but rather the desire to sadistically toy with his victim like a cat would with a dying bird; his main interest is destroying someone’s life at any cost, or something along those lines...

After the first call, as I mentioned earlier, and just when the whole situation seemed to have been completely resolved, our protagonist receives a second diabolical call from the same perpetrator, demanding a new, hellish demand—one even more impossible to fulfill—that sends chills down the viewer’s spine and keeps their eyes glued to the screen, because that’s when the movie truly begins in all its glory. Cars flying through the air and falling to pieces, bank accounts drained to zero, houses set on fire, family members kidnapped, his own life hanging by a thread, etc., etc., etc. It seems the blackmail and extortion were only just beginning, and it feels as though the situation will only escalate to unimaginable levels of cruelty and misery for our protagonist, who is terrified by it all.

The police never get involved—or at least that’s what I remember—since everything happens so fast and the threats come so thick and fast that it would be a terrible mistake to go to the police or the FBI, since not only is that included in the perpetrator’s demands, but it would be foolish to do so in the face of such a monster from hell who seems to know everything, see everything, and is almost omnipresent. After that, I don’t remember anything else; I don’t know how the movie continues or how it ends. I only remember that it was precious time very well wasted, and that I’d like to relive that sense of terror and action one more time before I die.

That said, I’d appreciate some help from a film-loving Good Samaritan who can help me track down the movie, but I’m willing to bet that no one here has the faintest idea what on earth I’m talking about, since it’s most likely a memory from another life, another dimension, or something along those lines. Thanks in advance.