Endure

Overall a good movie that grabs you for the 1st few minutes and then kind of drags a bit. I wish the movie would have explored the psycho killers more so you knew what made them that way... The movie was only 1 1/2 hours so even if they added another 15 minutes, it would have helped. Also, there was no urgency to find the girl. The detectives upon discovering the photo and other evidence in the car should have brought in search dogs and at least made an attempt to find her. They wouldn't have had to go into the woods very far. But then, we wouldn't have had the movie.... But overall a good film. The filmography was beautiful.

Can you find someone in the middle of nowhere with no clues? After an attacker, who kidnaps a woman and ties her to a tree in the middle of a forest, dies in a car accident there are no clues to where she is at. Detective Lane (Nelson) and his partner Arnold (Sawa) are in charge of finding her before it's too late. From the opening shot the movie grabs you and doesn't let go...for 20 minutes. It slows down quite a bit, but does pick up at the end. This was actually a pretty good movie, but it would have been much better as a "Without A Trace" episode. The movie really did drag a lot in the middle, and if it was a 60 min show it would have been great. The extra half hour hurt it a little. The acting was not terrible, but Judd Nelson is past his days of carrying a movie. Tom Arnold, who is in it for about 10 min, is very creepy. I would be interested to see if he takes on more roles like this one. Overall, not a bad movie, just a little too long. As a TV show I would say A-, as a full length movie, I give it a B-.

Would I watch again? - I don't think I will

I see lots of bad movies--usually with an understanding shrug and some appreciation of the difficulties involved in making the film. There are very few films that actually make me angry, but the script and direction of "Endure" were infuriating.

A pregnant girl is chained to a tree by a serial killer, and if the detectives don't find her quickly, she is going to die an agonizing death. And so, you would expect the director to create a sense of urgency. Hurry up and find her before it's too late! But there is no sense of urgency at all. A totally unnecessary subplot involving one detective's seriously ill wife slows the action down to a crawl. When he isn't by her bedside holding hands and exchanging "I love you's" and listening to her complaints, he's answering his cell phone with continual updates on her condition. And when he's sitting by her bedside engaged in these slow sad conversations, there is nary a thought of the pregnant girl out there tied to a tree. The plot is further chained by constant adolescent banter between the veteran detective and the rookie who resents being talked to as a newbie. On and on and on. Frequent flashes to suffering girl, hanging nearly comatose from tree; return to extended scenes with sick wife and boring banter, the detectives in no apparent hurry to do their job. And yet, still I watched, onward and onward, slogging through the cinematic tedium, hoping that these boring and seemingly uncaring slugs would finally get moving and show some signs of urgency about rescuing the poor pregnant girl....Ugh!

I don't know what the other reviewers saw - but I was blown away by the movie particularly the performances by Judd Nelson and Joey Lauren Adams. The rest of the cast were just going through the motions but every scene these 2 were in was mesmerizing. Main story is a girl is brutally kidnapped and left in the woods, her kidnapper dies in a car accident and a photo of the girl is discovered in the car wreck. Meanwhile a seasoned detective who is put on the case has his own story - his wife is dying. Also he gets a new partner - a college kid still wet behind the ears.

I loved the script -especially the scene at the end where Judd Nelson visits the girl they saved and his partner in hospital and then walks past the newborn babies in the hall. Brilliantly filmed, brilliant scene - definitely worth watching again just for Judd Nelsons acting and the final scene. Where has Judd Nelson been hiding?

There is a sub plot in this movie involving the older detective, his sick wife, and her caregiver. I have my theories, but I could not arrive at a pinpoint characterization of essence of the interaction between the caregiver and the husband. Wondered whether there was a metaphysical undertone to it all.

If you are the type who might be interested, the interaction between the detective and his sick wife raises interesting questions about sickness and attitudes towards sickness.

By the way, they did find the girl. But then you probably already guessed that would happen. The path to that outcome also is interesting.

Overall, a decent movie.