Carjacked - Jeder hat seine Grenzen

Carjacked is a rather good film if you're in the mood for an easy watch, it's obviously not the greatest film this year but it's far from the worst. The story is quite simple, a woman and her son are Carjacked by a bank robber on the run from the police, the usual kinda stuff ensues, however this film has Maria Bello and Stephen Dorff, two actors who work extremely well together and they save what is usually a boring type of story.

Stephen Dorff is a great actor who is always very nice to watch and he always chooses interesting roles and he is great here by being the charming but also terrifying villain, and Maria Bello is awesome as ever as a woman whose day goes from bad to worse to horrible, she is definitely an actress who is consistent with her greatness.

The positive thing in this movie Is that she fights back , towards the end is a great scene where you can see the anger in her face and she decides to take control of the situation and get payback, it's great to see someone who is a pretty weak and vulnerable character become strong and get payback. This is really just an enjoyable thriller that is easy to watch, has great acting and will not leave you angry at wasted money.

Give it a go. :)

"I don't want your money, you got a car don't you...drive" Lorraine (Bello) is having a rough time. Her husband left her with her young son and she has no money. Her night begins with group therapy, then she spends the rest of the money she has on Bagel Bites and gas. It gets worse when Roy (Dorff) comes into her life. He wants a ride, and has a gun to make sure he gets one. Lorraine and her son are now forced to help him. This is a movie that could easily have been a cheesy TV drama. The fact that Bello & Dorff are the actors helps make it into a more tense and exciting thriller. This is the kind of movie that has you hooked 5 minutes in and you are tense and on the edge of your seat the entire time. Stuck between doing what you would think you would do, and what you should do keeps you thinking and engrossed the entire time. Nothing really amazing here, but one of the most tense and exciting thrillers I have seen in a while. Overall, a very good movie that won't disappoint and is very much worth watching. I give it a B+.

*Also try - Endure & Firewall

There is a reason why some films get a direct to video release. As it is the case here with "Carjacked", this is the kind of film that was destined to fall into mediocrity. It seems that the people behind it never believed that they could come up with something good so they didn't care that much about the final result.

I really wasn't expecting anything groundbreaking with this movie, but I still felt disappointed after seeing it. Not only that the film doesn't bring anything new, but it also incorporates some of the most annoying elements present in kidnapping movies. For an instance, the two main characters are incredibly generic. They really could have been taken out from any similar movie and put in here. On top of that you get the usual clichés of the genre and there are also some cheap thrills along the way to provide the entertainment. The film lacks suspense and can be very predictable at times not to mention the fact that some of the decisions that the characters took along the way really defied logic. Also, the directing really felt amateurish at times, especially towards the end of the movie.

Stephen Dorff is a really good actor and so is Maria Bello, but they alone cannot save this movie. Here, the script and direction doesn't allow them to put their acting skills to good use and the final result doesn't do them justice. They manage to bring some depth into their characters, but overall this is a waste of their acting talents.

In the end, "Carjacked" is not a completely bad film, but it suffers from a lack of originality and some bad directing. A below average film that should be watched with diminished expectations.

My rating: 4,5/10

I have to say that both the actors have given the best what they could. Stephen Dorff has a class of his own and so does Maria Bello. The Only downside I could point out ,is the script. A new dimension could've been added to the story by introducing another character in the likes of Eric Roberts or Ted Danson or even Mickey Rourke. They held the movie together to the end, however, you always need the edge on a script like this. In one scene where Dorff kills his partner in crime when Bello is dumped in the car trunk watching them, could have been elaborated a further more , which adds more suspense value. Catherine Dent's character was not much explored in the movie ,as she gave a good performance as a Shrink in the flick. Last but not the least , there is no romance at all except for those cheesy conversations between the two of them. I just hope they will collaborate again with another movie and make it much more sharper and eccentric than this very predictable version .

Right from the time I read the title my expectations were low considering the length and the long term action ,or lack of, that can come from an eighty minute carjacking. The good part was that it was much more of a kidnapping of mother & son than any carjacking style. The film relied highly on it's actors considering there was only three people involved most of the time, Maria Bello was in her usual form, tough and gritty, doing whatever it took to get her & her young son to safety. Stephen Dorff's character as the "car jacker" worked well with Bello's, good enough to burn up 80 minutes of screen time and keep the viewer interested for the better part the film. I recommend it as a decent time killer, the acting is very good, and I didn't once check on the run time(something I do a lot when a film starts to drag).I give it a 8 on acting and overall a 6.