Tödliches Vertrauen

This was a decent thriller with good-guy "Frank Morrison" (John Travolta) trying to save his former family from the dangerous new husband. That's not a new theme in Hollywood movies (the dangerous husband) but this is acted well and presented without heavy-handedness. They were smart to keep the story relatively-short, too, at 89 minutes. As a consequence, nothing dragged.

To me, the film would have been more enjoyable had the 12-year-old boy been a nicer kid, but he's an annoying brat. The mother (Teri Polo) is not that endearing, either. Definitely a movie that will entertain but a one-look film and nothing more, especially with the ending being as predictable as it turned out.

While the reviews I've heard didn't have much good to say about this film I appreciated it for it's straight-forwardness. It is an entertainment. That's all I wanted on the day I saw this film so I was pleased. There are points that seem implausible and ask the audiences' indulgence but they are forgivable and do not detract from the story Travolta and Vaughn give solid performances and for me, Buscemi is always fun to watch. Don't expect the reaffirmation of the virtues of being an involved parent. Expect to finish your popcorn and rasinettes.

The film deals about a divorced father(an agreeable role for John Travolta)named Frank, he's boat builder and shares custody with his ex-spouse(Teri Polo) of their son Danny(a newcomer Matt O'Leary). But she is about to marry again to suspect rich businessman(Vince Vaughn)named Rick. Then, in the little town takes appearance of Ray (a shady Steve Buscemi), a sleazy hood of Rick. Soon Danny is witness to a killing which nobody will believe took place, neither the police sergeant(Ruben Santiago-Hudson), only his daddy believes him.

This enjoyable thriller contains suspense, thriller, tension and straightforward performances. Most of the acting seem excellent with special mention to Vince Vaughn as suave suitor turned to menacing new father and Steven Buscemi in a secondary role as seedy friend.The film is suspenseful though predictable with the final confrontation between good daddy and bad dad. Film displays colorful cinematography by Michael Seresin and appropriate musical score by Mark Mancina. The motion picture is professionally directed by Harold Becker. He's a gritty thrillers expert, charged with dark atmosphere and with famous stars, such as ¨The Onion field(John Woods), Sea of love(Pacino),Malice(Nicole Kidman),City Hall(again Pacino),Mercury rising(Bruce Willis) and this one with John Travolta making a top-notch interpretation. Rating: Passable and well worth watching.

Hollywood movies like this come out all the time. Before Domestic Disturbance came Don't Say A Word. These types of movies have the occasional pretty good lines and familiar Hollywood actors you all know and love. At times, you think to yourself that the movie is really good. But then it just gets so predictable, and by the end of the movie (which you predicted, and were right), you feel warm and happy the good guys one, but still cheated. C+, 6/10

There's nothing that pisses me off more in a movie than when someone fails to put up an adequate argument on their behalf when they're being accused of something.

It's like they either have the character act like a total maniac by flying off the handle when denying what they're being accused of (so obviously the other party will of course not believe them now), or they say the completely wrong things and understate their case, and it is extremely frustrating to watch because you're just sitting there screaming, "WHY DON'T YOU JUST SAY THIS!!"

When that kid was in the interrogation room, his best method of convincing people that a murder took place was by weakly repeating: "look, I know what I saw OK.." Yeah that's gonna convince people. I don't care if you're 12, that's not the way you argue with people, and it's unrealistic.

The other thing that was silly was how the kid and the mother was STILL in the car by the time the father called her cell phone. They should've been gone by then, there was no logical reason why they would've still been in that garage, other than the fact the movie called for them to be there so the stepfather could catch them.

Come on be intelligent when you write, justify your damn script.