Captured

A stressed out business man turns the tables on a pair of professional car boosters. After getting the upper hand on one of them, things get out of hand as the executive's occupational problems make him more and more unstable. Torture turns to thoughts of murder as the scene becomes too complex for the man to deal with and he begins to lose touch with reality. Very exciting, well made film with loads of nail biting tension.

I did not expect this movie to be good. I figured it would be another dumb B movie. Turned out to be a very good dramatic well written film. It of course is not movie theater quality but it is worthy of watching if you are looking for a little entertainment.

Now, suppose you walked to your parking garage after a particularly bad day at work, facing the possibility of losing everything you've worked for, and you catch a car thief in the process of stealing your prized new Porsche? You'd probably want to beat the living snot out of him! Well, that's how the movie starts, and that's exactly what Holden Downs does, with the help of a tire iron. Of course, big brother wants to get revenge, and that starts "the rest of the story."

In a very interesting premise, the big businessman manages to hold captive the car thief, caught in the act the second time too! We can all identify with the desire to see justice, but the story gets a bit gory. I must admit that it kept me watching the whole 95 minutes. This movie is much more terrifying than that bad movie, "Blair Witch Project", because it gets you thinking what you would do if someone broke into your house after dark and you were alone!

Although much of the movie was inventive, the ending was not particularly clever nor satisfying. There were no winners, all losers. Still, I give it 5 of 10 for such an interesting premise, and macabre entertainment value.

When Holden Downs (Nick Mancuso) takes his pent-up frustrations, due to a business venture going south, out on a car-thief, breaking his arm in the process, the sad sap's brother/partner-in-crime swears vengeance making getting Downs' car top priority. Little realizing that Holden has turned his vehicle into an inescapable prison.

The interaction between Mancuso and Divoff as captor and captive respectively is where this film shines. However the flip side is that everything else just feels lackluster. All the scenes dealing with the failing business deal, are sadly pedestrian stuff. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the film overall and was pleasantly surprised.

My Grade: B-

Nick Mancuso is highly amusing (and scary!) as the jittery, stressed out, paranoid, @$$hole head honcho at Millennium Investments, who snaps when one of those pesky environmental groups threatens to halt his newest endeavor and destroy his business. After a pair of car thieves try to break into his cherished Porsche, Mancuso has his brother install a high-tech, radio-controlled security system with bulletproof glass and steel reinforcement. He manages to trap one of them (Andrew Divoff) inside the car in the garage of his mansion home, really loses it and takes out his psychotic rage on the poor sap; torturing him with loud heavy metal music, refusing to give him food or water, rolling up his arm in the window, chopping off his fingers with hedge clippers and more!

It's a little too similar to MISERY at times but a good nasty thriller all the same. Mancuso (also the associate producer) pulls out all the stops here--crying, screaming, ranting, snarling, cringing and gloriously overacting and Divoff is equally effective in the less-showy role.

Impressive writing/directing debut from actor Peter Liapis!