Don't Say a Word

You may be used to seeing mean Sean Bean act ugly and beat people up, treating violence as a standard operating method. But you have got to see him as a cowardly thug in "Rowin", a shy schoolteacher in "My Kingdom for a Horse" and a bi-sexual in "Carnavaggio" to know how resourceful this he-man is. He is 43, but knows how to act and how to make violent scenes very realistic. Although he says that the superfluity of dirt in this film almost got him.

The suspense is well played up with Michael Douglas doing his concerned father/prof/drug czar with druggie daughter role as well as he usually does it. He has had enough practice to get that down pat by now. You get a real good feel for bank robbers who are almost without conscience, who love the thrill of the 'hit'.

Brittany Murphy does the crazed abused daughter so realistically that you wonder how she knew to play a mad person without hamming it up too much. I'll be looking for more from this young woman.

Yes, it's just an adventure yarn without little background given for why Bean is such a bastard, but it's a great escape yarn. See it, just don't expect 'MacBeth' (which Bean is supposed to be doing in London this summer).

My 11 year old nephew said it was the scariest movie he's ever seen. I can't quite agree with that, but the level of intensity and the fast moving plot really impressed me, even if it all didn't quite add up in the end. I can't remember a movie that I've seen in awhile that just MOVED along so well and had so little downtime. Given the 'deadline', it felt like it was in real-time for the second half of the movie.

I was a little bothered by Michael Douglas having a wife the age of Famke. I love her and its not a knock against her but there was no need to keep up Douglas' legacy of attracting wives under 35 for him. Gwyneth Paltrow, Demi Moore and Daryl Hannah have all been love interests for him - why? Because its the male fantasy? Reeks of insecurity to me. Plus I don't see Dame Judi Dench romancing Leo, do I? Meryl Streep and James Franco? Anyway, this is not important, just slightly annoying.

There are questions I'd like to ask the screenwriter because there are inconsistencies along the way and about one or two things that are totally out of the question.

However, as I mentioned, the movie moves along so fast that you might not have time to dwell on anything for too long. I don't think it was speeded up to cover anything up either.

The best part is the acting, especially by Brittany Murphy. I didn't enjoy her in "Clueless" but really loved her in "Girl Interupted" and thought she was the best thing about that movie. Here she gives it all, in a part that could have been laughed off the screen if it weren't played exactly right. Jennifer Esposito is also very believable as a cop, Sean Bean as a kidnapper and, as mentioned, Famke as a trophy wife.

Worth watching, for sure. 7/10.

This movie provides in the thrills department. It stars Michael Douglas in the lead role (and he IS well cast) as a psychiatrist whose daughter is kidnapped by a bunch of men who want him to extract a six-digit number from a mentally disturbed young lady. Both parties then proceed to match wits en route to a great climax towards the end of the movie.

This was based on the book by the same name. The book was quite good, too. I rank this movie as your typical thriller with good twists.

*** out of ****

Here's another interesting kidnap story. Sean Bean always plays a believable villain and Michael Douglas usually plays roles that keep the audience's attention....so the almost- two hours go by pretty quickly. The whole cast, actually, pretty good with no one person standing out.

The story loses points because the ending goes on too long and has the standard villain-holds-the-gun-and-doesn't shoot-too long cliché which drives critics, me included crazy. That, and a bit too many f-words in here by the female cop (Jennifer Esposito) which simply aren't necessary, and a few other holes all reduce this from a sure 9-star to an "8.....but don't misunderstand: it's worth a look.

A sad, unfortunate fact about this movie is that the 2 young female stars Brittany Murphy and Skye McCole Bartusiak (who plays the daughter of Michael Douglas) both died in a young age.

Anyway, this is a conventional thriller, nothing extraordinary. Although the critics hated it, it manage to become a commercial success doubling its budget in box office.

The plot is flimsy and fragile: The daughter of a psychiatrist is kidnapped, and her kidnappers want from his to "extract" a secret from a young woman who is imprisoned in a mental institution, that could lead them to a valuable object they tried to stole some years ago.

It starts slow but soon some action picks-up but it becomes exaggerated and coincidental maybe even absurd.

Michael Douglas does what he cans to save the movie but doesn't seem enough.

Overall: If you can catch it on TV watch it, but never think of paying a single dollar/euro/whatever for it.