Flammenhölle Las Vegas

If your into or not into disaster movies, you would probably like Trapped then. I think all who read this would know what the plot was about. Decent effects, very good acting, I feel, a good story over all. Of course, if you see a movie with high expectations, your always going to be disappointed. If you have the time, you should see trapped.

Stir together (a) a bunch of people, each with their own trite story, forced together when their escape routes are cut off in a burning high-rise Las Vegas hotel; (b) everything going wrong; (c) lots of smoke and fireballs; (d) lots of screaming, crying, and fear; (e) the obligatory true confessions; (f) confrontations and recriminations; (g) elevators; and (h) lots and lots of pulse-pounding music, and you've got "Trapped" --- or any of numerous slapped-together potboilers that you've already seen.

Did someone say "plot"? Who needs a plot when you've got pervasive bedlam? The few original touches make minimal difference in the end result. Also, with your powers of recall, you can be first on your block to know how these people will escape, Las Vegas style!

Competently put together, with lots of effort spent on special effects, stunts, firemen, and the score, but not much on a good story.

Hey. This ain't Hamlet so we can overlook some of its shortcomings. So they haven't yet invented a TV camera that works without a cable and has batteries that run forever. So people couldn't possibly survive with flames like that so close (the heat and the lack of oxygen would have done them in long before the movie spools itself out.) And of course we all just know a)they're going to get out (well, most of them) and b)how they'll get out. Then theres the cast of characters who are just a little too contrived. So as serious drama it rates a zilch. But as a nifty little nailbiter for an otherwise unnotable night, it's not bad. The effects are well done. The editing and production are excellent. And theres lots of scary suspense.

I suppose I should have known right from the start. I mean, how much can you really expect from a movie that stars (he's the star, remember, not a supporting actor or bit player, but the star) Parker Stevenson? Surely, that's a dead giveaway.

What we have here in this movie about a group of people trapped in the upper floors of a burning building is an unoriginal story (kind of a poor man's version of "The Towering Inferno") with uninspired acting. It's ridiculous. There's absolutely no attempt at character development (mind you, from what we see there's not really any of the characters you'd want to know better anyway) and the plot contains so many outrageous holes in it that the only part of the movie that was any fun was waiting to identify the next inconsistency. Then there's the news reporter and camera man who just happened by happy coincidence to be trapped with everyone else. They, of course, insist on beaming out live pictures because "it's the only way anyone will know where we are" (except for Parker's cell phone!) So, the whole thing gets broadcast live on TV so that folks in a bar can watch it like it's a reality TV show and cheer as if it were a football game when Parker punches out one of his trapped companions whose name I mercifully forget. (And then there's the old lady at the bar continually talking about how hunky some of the men in the building are.)

I said that I saw nothing good about this movie. Actually there was one thing - it was only 89 minutes long, although it seemed a lot more than that.

1/10

This underrated ghst of a film cant be found ANYWHERE and is never shown on tv, nor was it ever even on vhs to begine with anyway. Good effects, good cast, likeable and nonlikeable characters as well. well shot too even though I saw itand had to stair up..