The Tie That Binds

Awfully familiar thriller stuff that takes longer to play out than it should and ends with a particularly overdone, overextended climax. The performances are generally good and there are a few bits of imaginative camerawork, but the familiarity of the material proves to be overwhelming. The film has no personality, and most of the scenes seem to be just copies of similar events in other thrillers. (*1/2)

A good film, well acted with a good storyline - until the end that is! In the final 20 minutes or so, the scriptwriters obviously suspended logical actions of the characters in favour of a more dramatic and visual finale. Too bad, because this would have been an otherwise excellent film. Also, the inclusion of a real version of "Mr. Flip Flop" leading the little girl to the villain was unnecessarily cruel.

Thoroughly repugnant and wretched melodrama has the foster couple to a little girl terrorized by the child's psychopathic biological parents, who are on the lam from the police. Warped, irresponsible picture with thriller aspirations is more stupid than suspenseful. Director Wesley Strick seems to have fallen asleep at the wheel, how else to explain the piling up of one ludicrous situation atop another? Stars Daryl Hannah and Keith Carradine can't even scrape together the semblance of believability within this context, and both are at a loss (as the "innocents", Moira Kelly and Vincent Spano don't have it quite as bad, but their general lack of charisma puts them at a disadvantage regardless). Tiresome, unsubtle junk. NO STARS from ****

To fully savor this movie, you have to realize that it attempts to compete with iconic early-90s thrillers like "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle" (1992), "Sleeping with the Enemy" (1991), "Cape Fear" (1991) and the 80s flick that jump started the whole family-centered-crime-thriller genre, "Fatal Attraction" (1987).

Released in 1995, "The Tie That Binds", is a bit late to the party, and for that reason sometimes it feels like a contrived rehash of what we've already seen, but it still delivers an entertaining ride. The plot centers around a young girl who gets in the middle of a sort of custody battle between two couples. But this custody battle is not fought with legalities, it's fought with sharp metal objects and things that tend to make people bleed through the head. It's a clearcut battle of good vs. evil, so there's no moral ambiguity. Unless King Solomon was drunk on mevushal, he wouldn't need to debate more than 2 seconds on who deserves the kid. So the movie is more like a "run from the bad guys" sort of thing, linear, sometimes predictable, but fun.

Daryl Hannah and Keith Carradine play a psychotic Bonnie & Clyde while Moira Kelly and Vincent Spano play the most ideal yuppie parents anyone could ever dream up. Thus the stage is set. Good performances all around make this entertaining, although more cynical audiences may not buy how extremely stereotypical each character is. But hey, we're on the heels of the 80s where everything was clearcut black & white. Like I said above, don't expect any heavy issues of morality or any question of who is right and wrong. Just expect a straightforward game of "keep away" but with a bunch of blood. As others have mentioned, the ending chain of events is a little over the top, but heck. "Over the top" is what this movie delivers.

After robbing a house, the criminals Leann Netherwood (Daryl Hannah) and John Netherwood (Keith Carradine) stumble with the police and they need to flee, leaving their six year-old daughter Janie (Julia Devin) behind. Janie is sent for adoption and the photographer Dana Clifton (Moira Kelly) and husband, the architect Russell Clifton (Vincent Spano), adopt her and give love to the traumatized girl. Meanwhile Leann and John begin a crime spree trying to find their daughter to take her back.

"The Tie that Binds" is an effective low-budget thriller with a good story. The screenplay is well developed and builds tension, but unfortunately the conclusion is very poor. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Laços Diabólicos" ("Diabolic Ties")