Secuestrados

excerpt - How many times can a familiar plot be rehashed and remade before audiences tire of it? Formulaic retreads of stories we've seen a thousand times before clutter the cinema listings, and lack of originality is something we lament. With that in mind, Manuel Angel Vivas has charged himself with the task of breathing new life into the age-old idea of a family being held hostage in their own home. But does his conceptual staging and technical expertise make for a compelling picture or a triumph of style over substance?

Kidnapped is an easy film to admire, but a difficult one to like. All the gimmicks and trickery in the world can't disguise the fact that once the technical wizardry has been stripped away it is a pretty standard thriller. As an experience, it is unforgettable. Sadly, that experience as akin to being relentlessly bludgeoned. Hopefully, Vivas will return next time with a story which matches his undoubted skill.

This is a riveting watch with some of the most excruciating violence and savagery; Hollywood could never make anything even close resembling this as it is so close to the brutal truth of the violence that is so prevalent in the world today, it will leave the viewer with morbid thoughts well after the film has finished; days after even. As one reviewer has already said, i would never let my girlfriend watch this, its definitely not a film for women, the rape scene in particular is excruciating to watch and the acting is top notch making it so realistic it made me feel a bit queasy and that is not an easy thing for me!

The problem I have however , is that there is not enough characterization and the story is your basic run of the mill home invasion; although made with a brutal reality rarely seen these days and that is what I love about Spanish/Italian/French movie making scene, they do not sanitize anything and give us something that hollywood cannot!

The closest the UK comes to this kind of movie is something like Eden Lake in its depiction of real violence on the streets and what is really going on in the world today and having been a police officer myself it is very close to the truth and mirrors what I have seen personally. Too many of us now live in leafy suburbs miles away from the violence and trouble that is destroying the world and it is a good thing to watch a movie like this to bring home the truth of things sometimes, so its an above average 6/10 from me for its pure brutal authentic style but sadly without anything else I could not justify giving it any more than that!

I consider a home invasion to be one of the most paralyzing fears existing in the dark recesses of our minds. I'm not the quiet family type either, but the mere idea of it has always made me deeply uncomfortable.

In "Kidnapped," director Miguel Angel Vivas has succeeded in bringing the horror, confusion, and chaos into full lens view of what this may look like for a well-to-do and quiet family unit. Once the stage is set and hell breaks loose, the underlying theme of this film is head-spinningly chaotic.

The film follows the archetype of many of its genre predecessors: a perfectly normal (if not mundane) opening, initial chaos, breakdown of the plan amongst its instigators, and a fitting climax. If you've already seen a bunch of similar movies and are sick to death of the formula, you can skip "Kidnapped." I'm comfortable saying you wouldn't enjoy it.

But if you are like me, and are overcome at the deeply horrifying notion of the home invasion, and you are intrigued at the ways artists bring this to the screen -- you will find something much deeper, genuine, and unsettling about this movie than in your previous pursuits.

The winning ingredient is Vivas's seamless direction, weaving an excessively intense story over twelve long cuts (no "A" and "B" cam here, folks). It contributes to an almost voyeuristic nature that the film harbors, in which you are attracted to something horrifying you are seeing with your own eyes, and cannot look away. Because of these long shots, the acting is often sustained over periods of several minutes, delivering what true and uninterrupted fear and shock may look like in this scenario. Action sometimes happens only intermittently; for example, scenes of extended quiet sobbing are ferociously punctuated by a gunshot or a threat, in a way that constantly demands the audience's attention. The cinematography, editing, and score are up to par with Vivas's vision, and rope everything together to create scenes of unbearable tension.

As far as home invasion films go, "Kidnapped" may be the most flawlessly produced film in its genre.

Unfortunately, I found the final fifteen minutes of the film to descend into a level of violence and absurdity that does not match with the rest of the film's style. The false ending and subsequent conclusion ended the film on a gimmicky platform that left a bad taste in my mouth. To explain fully, I would need to give away the ending -- but hopefully you'll see what I mean.

To the genre fan, the sloppy ending should not deter you from seeing "Kidnapped." This is an overall captivating movie, and should absolutely be on your radar.

A quick note -- seek out the Spanish-language version of this film. In order for the director's vision to shine through, you need the original dialogue. The English-version dub is awful and will take away from your viewing experience.

Three hooded Eastern-European criminals burst into a home in a Madrid gated community, holding the family hostage in its own home, and forcing the father to empty his credit cards.

The opening scene is creepy and disturbing, with visuals somehow reminiscent of "Timecrimes". While the two films are worlds apart, this just sets the tone for how disturbing everything will be. And "disturbing" is the operative word, as home invasion is the most disturbing horror subgenre because of its realism.

A successful home invasion film feels real, feels like something that could really happen to any of us at any time. It is not a killer in the woods or an alien, but real criminals that can beat, kill or rape us on a whim. Such situations are rare (thankfully), but all too possible. This is, by the way, a successful one, right up there with the best (such as "Funny Games").

The biggest complaint is that there is some poor dubbing at times, especially on the daughter. But if the film is watched in Spanish with subtitles, such a nuisance can be avoided.

The home invasion film is a well worn thriller trope, so well worn that any new entry really needs to bring something new to the table or make a harsh mark to leave any kind of a lasting effect. Miguel Angel Vivas' Kidnapped does both of these, and I can see it being a big hit for those who like their thriller cinema to really punch them out. First the something new, Kidnapped is filmed entirely in long takes, apparently 12 in all, capturing action with unblinking intensity and sometimes moving to split screen to show both sides of a particularly intense event. From the start its a great idea, leaving no room for escape or distraction, the focus is as tight as can be. And when the luckless family at the heart of the film are settling into their first day at a new home, unpacking, going through standard family arguments the camera weaves amongst them, we explore their house as they do, we become in these parts a part of their lives, things have the feel of a documentary. Performances are happily spot on, Fernando Cayo the consummate family man trying to keep everything cool and under control, Ana Wagener the stressed, more tired out mother and Manuela Veles standard issue daughter trying to go her own way. These are stock characters through and through, yet they work in echoing a timeless reality to evoke our sympathy. When vicious thieves break in, their hell becomes ours just as their earlier peace became ours and the intensity is genuinely gruelling, both actresses get put through the ringer in effectively harsh fashion and all their screams and crying become after a while really quite emotionally draining. I think the film loses a little bit for its predictability, the villains have a standard loose cannon, the hostages make various efforts to escape of varying success, there are certainly bits where we wish they would do something different, the film goes through standard motions for the typical, albeit very much heightened response. And thats why the film works so much, its incredibly intense, towards the end near heartbreakingly so, and for all that I can say I wish it was gorier (it does have nasty violence though) or more exploitative or weirder, fact is I found it an absolutely astounding ride. Highly recommended, one of the best films I've seen in a while.