Acorralada

A decent thriller with superb performances from the major players, but it just fizzled in the end. An amazing performance from Dakota Fanning and the surprising Courtney Love could not elevate this movie into the top notch category. Kevin Bacon as usual plays the disturbed, sicko bad guy and does it as well as anyone. Charlize Theron also did a great job and she is maybe one of the most photogenic actresses of her time. Everything was there for this to be a memorable and unforgettable movie, but unfortunately, the director missed too many opportunities to create and build the tension to a level where you could not wait for the bad guy to meet his end. It never reached boiling point, the intensity just was not there, and you are left wondering what could have been.

I hadn't even heard of this movie and was surprised to find not one or two but 5 great actors in this movie. And I can see why. This is a smart thriller about a kidnapping. This sort of starts off as a typical Hollywood blockbuster and it certainly ends like one but the story and the way it unfolds is very good.

This was a strong script with beautiful cinematography (again, in Vancouver), great acting. Theron proves here once more that she is a strong actress with much skill and much more potential. To boot, this has a really great action sequence near the end. A good, entertaining movie, this is a definite watch.

8/10

It's unfortunate that Columbia/Sony is not pushing this movie -- there's some convincing acting here (Theron does the woman-in-jeopardy thing well; doesn't hurt that she's easy on the eyes too!) and three different storylines interwoven by the writer quite nicely. Some good setups and payoffs as well (though one involving the waggling of a plane's wings is kinda corny, but it worked). My only criticism is that some of the dialogue is predictable (the bad guys says exactly what we expect him to say in certain scenes). Courtney Love plays a white trash wench pretty well, but that's not surprising given her vagabond background.

BOTTOMLINE: If you like thrillers, go see this on a matinee -- worth seeing on the big screen for some beautiful cinematography of the Pacific Northwest and the climax. IMHO a big step above ALONG CAME A SPIDER and HIGH CRIMES. I haven't seen Mandoki's other flicks, but I plan to rent them now. I just hope Charlize Theron chooses some more challenging dramatic roles, or her career will probably suffer for it.

A trio of kidnappers pick the wrong couple to mess with. One of the kidnappers takes the kid, another, Courtney Love, stays with the dad, while the other, Kevin Bacon, watches the mom. Of course they tell the parents just to go along and it will all be over with in 24 hours. So of course, the mom, Charlize Theron, doesn't do what she's told, putting her daughter in more danger. Some of the scenes between the kidnappers and the parents are pretty good. This isn't a boring movie. So, things eventually go wrong and the kidnappers start changing their plans. And eventually, the dad, Stuart Townsend, gets Courtney Love to tell him where the kid is. She does because she believes her partner plans to kill the child any ways.

So, we get a few good chase scenes involving a plane and the interstate. My big complaint is the dad decides to land his plane on the road, not seeming to care how many people he might kill from causing car wrecks. Well, there are a bunch of wrecks, but apparently no one gets killed. But, that was just too out of character since he is supposed to be a doctor and all. The ending also fails any a way because it reverts to the old, the bad guy must be killed "multiple times" to actually die.

FINAL VERDICT: It is semi-entertaining. And Kevin Bacon does make a good bad guy. It's worth watching if you see it on cable some night.

Average. The movie is full of clichés and most of all, the ending is totally unrealistic and overblown.

Otherwise, if they had stuck to the basic plot, this could have been a nice little thriller, especially because on average, the acting was pretty good (especially Charlize Theron and Kevin Bacon). As usual, for some reason Hollywood producers (or Directors) feel it necessary to cram movies with tons of unnecessary subplots most of the time, as well as add minutes of ridiculous 'action scenes' which usually make the films look unreal and unbelievable to the audience. Do they really think the average moviegoer is a moron? In this case, the ending definitely ruined what could have been a good thriller...