Trapped
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Movie Reviews of Trapped
Movie Review: Starts Promisingly But ... Film Is Trapped in Contrivance
Summary: 3 Stars
Is there any perfect kidnapping plan? Greg Iles's bestselling thriller starts with this intiriguing (and very unnerving) premise. Our chief villain Joe Hickey (Kevin Bacon, again a bad guy, huh?) thinks so, and has succeeded four times so far, with his "team" including Pruitt Taylor Vince and Courtney Love. But when Joe kidnapped lovely little girl Abby Jennings (incredibly talented Dakota Fanning, "I Am Sam"), he forgot to check one thing, which leads him and Abby's mother (Charlize Theron) into the complications. The would-be perfect crime (which effectively uses cell phones) spins out of control, and bring out more and more suspence.
The story about kidnapping always worries people because it has a ring of truth. What if that happens to my family? The film starts with such kind of intense moments, so it will make some of you certainly uncomfortable.
But soon you realize that the script (done by the original author himself) needs more polishing. I don't know anything about the book, but the film has too many coincidences and situations too good to be true, How many fathers in USA does happen to own an airplane? Or how many of them happen to have a friend in phone company? Somebody, guess it.
The actors are not to be blamed, considering the sometimes corny dialogues and unbelievable finale. Kevin Bacon, adding another film to his CV to make the game of 'six steps' easier than before, again throws away his shirt on bed (is this compulsory or something?). Charlize Theron is credible as tormented mother ... at least so before she does THAT to Kevin Bacon's character, and Stuwart Townsend is passable as her husband, but they all pale away before Dakota Fanning. Actually, in Japan, "Trapped" is advertized as the film starring Dakota Fanning. The fact is a little different, but certainly the film distributor's decision can be justified.
Better than the same director Luis Mandoki's "Angel Eyes," "Trapped" still appears meandering at some points. Ignore the plot holes and many contrived situations, and you might find it pretty thrilling ... at least, the opening 30 minutes.
Movie Review: [3.5] Better than average "been there, done that" kind of film.
Summary: 3 Stars
Smart casting, fast paced direction, and a few surprising twists enhance this rather typical kidnapping film that you've seen before.
Real-life couple Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend have a sickly child, Dakota Fanning, that is kidnapped by a psychotic man, played with great relish by Kevin Bacon, and his wife, nicely played by Courtney Love. Of course, like all good kidnapping films, the plan goes rather awry and the victims strike back. The films soars in the acting, directing, and pacing departments, but falters in the script which has the actors behave in such a way at times that even our willingness to suspend our disbelief is impossible. The same could be said for several "coincidences" that occur within the film that creak like the worn out cliches that they are.
Nevertheless, the film is suspenseful and is an overall exciting experience as long as you can accept all they throw at you without question.
Spoiler Alert:
I have to note the specifics for the problems within this film, but, unfortunately, that also means giving away some plot twists to do so. Read ahead if you don't mind that.
Problem #1: The kidnappers are supposed to be grief-stricken parents striking back after the loss of their own child's death. Why then the obsession with getting money? How then do they enjoy torturing a little child? How then does Bacon also become a rapist during the revenge kidnapping? None of this really fits with grieving parents striking back at those they think are responsible for their child's death.
Problem #2: How in the world did they all happen to meet up on the highway in the end climax scene? It is all just too impossible to believe or accept. It's the worse contrivance I've seen in years.
Problem #3: Why the unnecessary action sequences in a film where it really doesn't fit? It comes across as "Hey, the producers found some extra money, so we thought we'd throw this in."
Again, the problems are serious in this flawed film, however, it is still an overall decent flick with a great cast.
Movie Review: Camera work puts you in the action, but = sick feeling.
Summary: 3 Stars
The story takes place in three different locations. In the family home of Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend's characters where Theron is held captive by Kevin Bacon. The second is a in a hotel room where Townsend is being held by Courtney Love, and the third is a cabin in the woods where the daughter is held by a slightly slow man. All are separated for 24 Hours. (Which was the shooting title of the film and the title of the book by Greg Iles.) One of the weeker points in the film is how imformation travels between Theron and Townsends characters. How Townsend ends up with some information is not explained to the fullest unless you already know the story from reading the book.
The other is the experamentle if not highly erratic camera movements. In the scene where Theron's daughter is taken and she is confronted by Bacon in her house. The camera is everywhere and you are left with a feeling of motion sickness. This is done I beleive to put you right in Theron's shoes and it works you feel at the end just as paniced and confussed as she does. This camerawork continues throughout the film with out the same results and after a while it becomes very annoying.
What Trapped does have going for it though is the acting of Theron, Bacon, and Townsend(who does his best to hold up his end of the film while Love pulls it under). It also has a relatively good script which was penned by the books author Greg Iles. It has some good action sequences and Dakota Fanning proves herself again as one of one of the top child actors. (Fanning was previously scene in I Am Sam.) Thankfully the movie doesn't stray far from the novel, which is a common problem in Hollywood. However I do not beleive it was wise of the director to leave out the part of Bacon killing the neighbour and to change the motive for his actions, they made his character to soft by doing this and the film would have been served better if it had been not tampered with at all.
All in all the movie is okay. But the of course the book is much better. When will hollywood learn to stop meadling?
Movie Review: Twenty-four hours of tension - 3.5 stars
Summary: 3 Stars
I am usually disappointed with the movie after reading the book, and that is why in several cases I do not even bother to go through the exercise of watching it. I read "24 Hours", the book by Greg Iles on which the movie is based, a couple of years ago and was satisfied with the experience. When the movie came out I did not even give it a second glance, but when Charlize Theron won the Oscar for best actress for her performance in "Monster", I decided that maybe I should give other of her performances a try. The script, written by Iles, is faithful to the book. A team of kidnappers has found a "perfect" modus operandi; they grab a rich kid and at the same time one of the members of the team stays with the mother and another with the father to keep them in check. In this way everything runs smoothly...or maybe not. Now they have chosen the wrong family to mess with, since they will not go down without a fight.
Kevin Bacon plays Joe, the leader of the kidnappers' team, who is in charge of staying with the mother of the victim (Charlize Theron). The movie goes back and forth between this pair and the one formed by Stuart Townsend, who plays the role of the father, and Courtney Love, the female member of the gang. This separation makes the difference in the quality of the acting strikingly obvious, with Bacon and Theron shinning compared to Townsend and Love.
The movie, as the book, presents a thriller with a non-stop pace, which keeps the audience on edge. The sexual tension between the kidnappers and the victims present in the book is well achieved in the movie too. The main weakness of the movie is the ending, which is rushed compared to the novel. Therefore, it does not achieve such a high climax and disappoints those who read the book a little bit towards the end. To sum up, this is a good movie based on a very good book.
Movie Review: The perfect crime? Not quite.
Summary: 3 Stars
Scripted by writer Greg Iles from his novel 24 HOURS, TRAPPED is a rather cliched thriller from director Luis Mandoki (ANGEL EYES). However,in spite of this it's still quite tense and entertaining.Dr. Will Jennings (Stuart Townshend) and his wife Karen (Charlize Theron) are a couple whose idyllic lifestyle takes a turn for the worse when their cute little pixie of a daughter, Abby (Dakota Fanning) is kidnapped and held for ransom by Joe Hickey (Kevin Bacon in ANOTHER bad guy role) and his trashy wife Cheryl Tilly (Courtney Love- who else?). What makes this situation more complicated is the fact that there is a third party involved in the form of Marvin, a balding, pudgy dweeb to help take care of Abby while Joe holds Karen hostage and Cheryl deals to Will. But while for starters the couple play by the rules in order to save their daughter they soon, predictably (That's one word I seem to use a lot) have to in turn manipulate their captors to earn their freedom, save their little girl and return to their normal everyday lives. (In Theron's case that even includes threatening to do a Bobbitt on Bacon's Porksaw when he tries getting fresh with her.) What, you may ask, is the motive for the kidnapping? That would be considered a spoiler; but I will say that the motive is very predictable. In fact, so predictable it makes Tony Blair seem like one of the most interesting men on the planet. This picture is sort of a hybrid of RANSOM and THE TIE THAT BINDS, but strong performances all round and some suspenseful moments all help make TRAPPED a better movie than you'd expect.
DVD extras include a Making Of doco, deleted scenes, commentary by the Director and Screenwriter, an alternate ending for the movie, the film's trailer and bios/filmographies for key cast and crew members.