Trapped

I suppose I should have known right from the start. I mean, how much can you really expect from a movie that stars (he's the star, remember, not a supporting actor or bit player, but the star) Parker Stevenson? Surely, that's a dead giveaway.

What we have here in this movie about a group of people trapped in the upper floors of a burning building is an unoriginal story (kind of a poor man's version of "The Towering Inferno") with uninspired acting. It's ridiculous. There's absolutely no attempt at character development (mind you, from what we see there's not really any of the characters you'd want to know better anyway) and the plot contains so many outrageous holes in it that the only part of the movie that was any fun was waiting to identify the next inconsistency. Then there's the news reporter and camera man who just happened by happy coincidence to be trapped with everyone else. They, of course, insist on beaming out live pictures because "it's the only way anyone will know where we are" (except for Parker's cell phone!) So, the whole thing gets broadcast live on TV so that folks in a bar can watch it like it's a reality TV show and cheer as if it were a football game when Parker punches out one of his trapped companions whose name I mercifully forget. (And then there's the old lady at the bar continually talking about how hunky some of the men in the building are.)

I said that I saw nothing good about this movie. Actually there was one thing - it was only 89 minutes long, although it seemed a lot more than that.

1/10

Hey. This ain't Hamlet so we can overlook some of its shortcomings. So they haven't yet invented a TV camera that works without a cable and has batteries that run forever. So people couldn't possibly survive with flames like that so close (the heat and the lack of oxygen would have done them in long before the movie spools itself out.) And of course we all just know a)they're going to get out (well, most of them) and b)how they'll get out. Then theres the cast of characters who are just a little too contrived. So as serious drama it rates a zilch. But as a nifty little nailbiter for an otherwise unnotable night, it's not bad. The effects are well done. The editing and production are excellent. And theres lots of scary suspense.

This made-for-TV (USA Network) film follows a group of Las Vegas hotel guests trying to escape a raging fire on the floors below. Among them is a TV cameraman who broadcasts a live feed to his station, as bar patrons around town watch the action -- cheering as though it's just the latest episode of a 'reality' TV series.

This movie is a mixed bag. At its best, you'll see some amazingly realistic footage of what it's like to be trapped in a fire. Especially gripping are the scenes captured by the cameraman (in a jumpy 'Blair Witch' hand-held style). Other scenes are intense to the extreme and downright scary -- with convincing special effects.

Unfortunately, though, the plot has major flaws and often reverts to a storyline that's typical of the average run-of-the-mill 'disaster film'. Credibility is frequently lost, and the ending is a joke.

This underrated ghst of a film cant be found ANYWHERE and is never shown on tv, nor was it ever even on vhs to begine with anyway. Good effects, good cast, likeable and nonlikeable characters as well. well shot too even though I saw itand had to stair up..

This movie provided a bit of entertainment, but was fairly predictable. I found it fascinating that every time a scene was shown from the ground level, you'd hear sirens and air horns from the rigs en-route. Seems to me that at a certain point, all the necessary equipment would be there, and you'd not have any more en-route. Also, the effects and explosions were ok - some appeared to have no rhyme or reason as to why an explosion occurred. For example, glass is broken in a window you can see thru. There is no fire behind the window, however suddenly the window shatters, and the room explodes. No ignition source was shown, and although spontaneous combustion is a possibility, I've only seen a similar situation with an already pre-existing flame. The smoke effects were nice, but if you really wanted to go for realism, the smoke shouldn't be gray or white, it should be black and thick. Outside shots of the hotel showed black smoke, inside shots showed gray and white smoke. Outside shots of the hotel also showed smoke rising straight up, when in fact, the story claimed 50mph winds.

I also found it interesting that although you had a major incident at a high-rise hotel in Las Vegas, I didn't see many, if any, police officers. Crowd control was non-existent, which allowed the reporters to trample thru the fireground, and somehow, ordinary citizens were allowed into the incident commander's area, to hear everything that was going on. This was obviously done for dramatic effect, and would NEVER happen in real life.

A few notes about the firefighters as well. The main shots of the firefighters in action were showing them running around on stairs with a charged line. I do find it hard to believe that they took a single charged line up 30 floors... hoses just aren't that long. If in fact they were using the standpipes to connect to, they would have a length of hose to connect up to the standpipe, and be bringing with them an uncharged line. Most of the firefighting it seemed was being done with CO2 extinguishers. Also, it seemed like most of the time, they were running past a free burning fire, stopping once in a while to spray a little water. For as much water that was supposively coming off the building onto the press reporter, I didn't see any firefighting happening.

Overall, the movie was ok... the effects were pretty, if not well placed, and the factual items of the firefighting were a little scarce on the details. I'd say watch it if nothing else is on.