Send Help review: Rachel McAdams anchors this survival thriller with wit and grit

Send Help is a survival thriller that places Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien in a tense, often darkly funny battle against nature and each other. Directed by Sam Raimi, the film uses survival to explore power, entitlement and quiet personal transformation.

Sam Raimi’s Send Help is a ‘wild’ survival thriller featuring Rachel McAdams in her action era, a first for her as well. The film balances tension and humour and understands that sometimes the sharpest thrills come from watching two deeply mismatched people endure the same impossible situation.

The story centres on Linda, played by Rachel McAdams, an undervalued employee who survives a plane crash during a corporate trip, only to find herself stranded on a remote island with her boss, Bradley (played by Dylan O’Brien). What unfolds is not just a fight against nature, but a slow unravelling of power, entitlement and long-simmering resentment.

McAdams brings a natural earnestness to Linda, as she explores her most complex role. For someone who's earned herself the reputation of Hollywood’s sweetheart through her emotional sincerity of The Notebook and About Time, Linda is every bit an antithesis. She taps into the character with an emotional clarity, making her both relatable and quietly formidable. This is her most grey role that flips and simmers under her almost demure first impression.

The film smartly foreshadows Linda’s survival instincts. Her love for the reality show Survivor (she has even auditioned for it) never feels like a throwaway detail. Instead, it becomes an intelligent narrative choice, reinforcing her preparedness and mental resilience. McAdams makes this transformation feel organic.

Bradley, meanwhile, is written without the safety net of a redemption arc. Dylan O’Brien plays him as an entitled, superficial man whose arrogance doesn’t dissolve even when stripped of comfort and control. Yet O’Brien infuses Bradley with such offbeat humour and flashes of vulnerability that he becomes oddly compelling. He’s difficult to like, but even harder to fully hate.

One of the film’s strongest themes lies in its treatment of nature. Out in the wild, hierarchy collapses. Titles mean nothing. Survival doesn’t care about corporate power structure, or friends in power or inflated egos. Nature offers everything needed to endure, but only to those willing to adapt. The contrast between Bradley’s entitlement and Linda’s ability to adapt becomes increasingly sharp.