Oxygen

Roaming around Hollywood Video's New Releases, passing through theatre hits and theatre flops, and the the unending list of direct-to-video releases, I found this. The story seemed like a good one, and I was in a hurry for something, so I decided to give it a whirl.

The story is interesting. A middle-aged woman, Frances, is walking her dog when she is approached by what seems like a mild-mannered man. Before she knows it, he flashes a gun, dazes her by hitting her on the temple with it, and smuggles her into a car with a friend. They drive out to the woods somewhere, where she is terrified at the realization that they plan to bury her alive, holding her hostage for her rich husband's money. They put her in the box, the man's accomplice mercifully slipping her the flashlight, and bury her, leaving her to scream in terror.

Move to New York City, where a cop, Madeline, is made aware of the predicament. After witnessing a horrifying tape of Frances begging for help in the woods, the police must plot to catch the kidnappers and find the woman, all in twenty-four hours, or Frances will run out of oxygen and die.

I won't elaborate any more on the plot, only that this movie was surprisingly good. When I noticed it was from A-Pix, I groaned and figured I was in for an hour and a half of trash. But then I saw the breathtaking first few minutes, and I was shocked. If anything, those first three to five minutes are terrifying. As Frances is being buried, she is screaming and begging, struggling to survive, lying in that wooden box as the cover is being slipped on, with only a flashlight to depend upon. And even though the cops-pursuing-the-antagonist plotline is overused, it was quite tense, especially when you realize that there are only twenty-four hours to solve the mystery of where Frances is, and the kidnapper is not interested in talking, while his accomplice is nowhere to be found.

Yes, there are flaws. The script is quite bad, with some lines that I can't believe they wrote in. For some reason, I liked the FBI agent's monologue on the death penalty a la lethal injection, but a lot was pretty bad. Maura Tierney was somewhat convincing as the main cop, playing a B-movie's Clarice Starling. The actor who played Francis's husband was a bit campy. Adrian Brody, the kidnapper, was pretty good, if not a little tough to believe. The one who out-acted them all was Laila Robins, who played Francis. Her role is quite small, only because there's a lot of restrictions with laying in a box underground for the most of the movie. But she was so convincing. My favorite scene is when the flashlight is dying, and she is screaming and begging for it to live a little longer, because, as we learn early on, she is afraid of the dark. I swear, I felt like I was her, and I couldn't believe how empathetic I was of her. Her acting reminded me of Marylin Burn's stellar performance as Sally in "Texas Chainsaw Massacre." She conveyed the emotions of the situation very well. I think that's why I felt so bad for her.

Overall, I recommend finding this. No, it's not the best thing ever made, but it is very good, and quite intense. Check it out!

This made for TV psychological crime thriller exceeded my expectations. The story begins with the abduction of a rich wife for ransom. She is buried alive and her abductor sets about collecting the ransom for the location of her grave. However, this is really not the story but only the set up. The real story is about what happens after he is caught as the police and the FBI race against time to get him to reveal where she's buried.

Our sociopathic villain, known to us only as Harry (after his idol Harry Houdini) is well prepared for the psychological cat and mouse game that follows as he had planned what he would do if he were caught. The result is an effective (though often superficial) contest of psychological one upsmanship between Harry (Adrien Brody) and our heroine police detective, Madeline (Maura Tierney).

The story has some noticeable plot flaws for a film that is attempting to be a serious crime drama. Certain elements of Harry's escape attempts are implausible. Much of the dialogue between the police officers and FBI agents was inane drivel that made them look like idiots. There are other problems later in the story involving the buried wife that are also troubling. These are not enough, however, to mar an otherwise well crafted plot.

I was most impressed by the photography, not just the look of the film, but the way the images presented themselves. Director Richard Shepard used the camera very creatively, using objects in foreground and background to dramatize certain images. There was an excellent shot of Madeline's reflection seen in extreme close-up in Harry's eye. The handheld chase scenes made you feel like you were running behind the action. This is a level of directing that is not normally seen on TV. The whole film had a very raw, real look. Things were dirty and disorganized, just like in real life rather than being carefully and symmetrically placed.

The acting ranged from fair to excellent. The cops and the husband were generally pretty mediocre with moments of nausea. Maura Tierney was good but didn't have the range to play Madeline effectively. Madeline's character required a combination of tormented, pathetic self abuser and case hardened cop. Tierney was outstanding at the tormented side, but came across as tentative and flaccid as the cop (which was the greater part of the role).

The best performance comes from Adrian Brody as Harry. He was wry and unsophisticated while being just close enough to the edge to keep you guessing if he was cunning or just a psychopath. He played the part with sarcastic disdain, as if the character thought he was smarter than he really was, which indeed was the case.

Terry Kinney's character, Madeline's cop husband Tim, didn't give him much to work with. He was a wimpy whining loser. Kinney did an adequate job at this portrayal.

I rated this movie 7/10. For those who enjoy a psychological crime thriller, it won't disappoint.

I think this is a pretty good movie. Basically, Maura Tierney plays a detective who has some very big personal problems to deal with and gets sucked into a kidnapping case only to become the last hope the victim has.

I especially like the way Maura is cast as the leading role. Refreshingly, she is a real woman with very real problems. Most people probably cannot relate with the specific issues she has to deal with, but the one thing I was left with when the movie was over was that she was 100% believable. She's not some kind of "super" human like every other star in a good-guy vs. bad-guy movie. She's just a smart detective who manages to stay alive.

1st watched 3/31/2002 - 8 out of 10(Dir-Richard Shepard): Well-made thriller that is advertised by it's depiction of being buried alive and is actually much more than this. Tierney & Brody give wonderful performances in each of their roles and the direction is almost spotless. Very overlooked movie which deserves much more attention for how well it was done despite not working for a major movie company. I will be looking for more by Mr. Shepard whose direction really made this movie work as well as it did.

Good performances, especially from Adrien Brody as a psychotic sadistic killer with a Houdini obsession and Maura Tierney as a cop, make this film stand out. The story is good, but would have suffered in the hands of a less competent director and cast. This is a movie that depends a lot on performance to deliver, and it does. Some of the supporting cast could have been played by better actors, but they are serviceable and are mostly meant to occasionally prod the story along another notch. On the whole, the cast stays out of the way of Brody and Tierney, who are the whole show. It's definitely worth seeing, and another one of those films that seemingly came out of nowhere, as I never heard of it before. I like solid B movies, and this stands out as one of the best. Its obscurity helps to conceal its surprises, and it helps to be surprised with this movie. I gave it an 8 out of 10.