Carjacked

I like realistic dramas/thrillers; I like to imagine that the movies that I watch could really happen in real life. This movie was so far-fetched that I found myself yelling at the television due to the lead's stupidity. "Just call the police, lady!, Just call the damn police" Without going into detail, I got sick of the movie about 45 minutes into it... The characters were very weak, and the plot was horrible.

I could have written myself if someone had asked me...I really can't imagine why people can rate this movie higher than a two or three star...Highly NOT recommended.

This one of those rare gems that does almost everything right in a very straight forward manner. The beginning is underscored with a sublime intensity and continues to surprise throughout with twists and turns you can't see coming. Nothing is "Over-the-top". It's a simple film with a good yarn, and since I was expecting less that I was rewarded with, I am grateful for all the professional effort and talent that went into making this film. Honestly, I rate it at 5.8 overall. But with what I wasn't expecting to have happen, I would give it a 6.1. I believe it will end up averaging 4.9 to 5.2 or so. Hope I'm wrong. Directing, acting and dialog (often editing) is usually what kills a movie. This one did all of them rather well. Worth a watch I believe!

Right from the time I read the title my expectations were low considering the length and the long term action ,or lack of, that can come from an eighty minute carjacking. The good part was that it was much more of a kidnapping of mother & son than any carjacking style. The film relied highly on it's actors considering there was only three people involved most of the time, Maria Bello was in her usual form, tough and gritty, doing whatever it took to get her & her young son to safety. Stephen Dorff's character as the "car jacker" worked well with Bello's, good enough to burn up 80 minutes of screen time and keep the viewer interested for the better part the film. I recommend it as a decent time killer, the acting is very good, and I didn't once check on the run time(something I do a lot when a film starts to drag).I give it a 8 on acting and overall a 6.

Carjacked is a rather good film if you're in the mood for an easy watch, it's obviously not the greatest film this year but it's far from the worst. The story is quite simple, a woman and her son are Carjacked by a bank robber on the run from the police, the usual kinda stuff ensues, however this film has Maria Bello and Stephen Dorff, two actors who work extremely well together and they save what is usually a boring type of story.

Stephen Dorff is a great actor who is always very nice to watch and he always chooses interesting roles and he is great here by being the charming but also terrifying villain, and Maria Bello is awesome as ever as a woman whose day goes from bad to worse to horrible, she is definitely an actress who is consistent with her greatness.

The positive thing in this movie Is that she fights back , towards the end is a great scene where you can see the anger in her face and she decides to take control of the situation and get payback, it's great to see someone who is a pretty weak and vulnerable character become strong and get payback. This is really just an enjoyable thriller that is easy to watch, has great acting and will not leave you angry at wasted money.

Give it a go. :)

There is a reason why some films get a direct to video release. As it is the case here with "Carjacked", this is the kind of film that was destined to fall into mediocrity. It seems that the people behind it never believed that they could come up with something good so they didn't care that much about the final result.

I really wasn't expecting anything groundbreaking with this movie, but I still felt disappointed after seeing it. Not only that the film doesn't bring anything new, but it also incorporates some of the most annoying elements present in kidnapping movies. For an instance, the two main characters are incredibly generic. They really could have been taken out from any similar movie and put in here. On top of that you get the usual clichés of the genre and there are also some cheap thrills along the way to provide the entertainment. The film lacks suspense and can be very predictable at times not to mention the fact that some of the decisions that the characters took along the way really defied logic. Also, the directing really felt amateurish at times, especially towards the end of the movie.

Stephen Dorff is a really good actor and so is Maria Bello, but they alone cannot save this movie. Here, the script and direction doesn't allow them to put their acting skills to good use and the final result doesn't do them justice. They manage to bring some depth into their characters, but overall this is a waste of their acting talents.

In the end, "Carjacked" is not a completely bad film, but it suffers from a lack of originality and some bad directing. A below average film that should be watched with diminished expectations.

My rating: 4,5/10