24 ore

"Trapped", the top-of-the-heap video release for this week, tells of a a well to do couple whose daughter is kidnapped by a man who wants more than just money. What begins as a stylish thriller with good psychodramatic potential abandons the mind games at the half way point, trades nuances for sledge hammer blows, and disintegrates in a ball of Hollywoodish convoluted anything-for-the-thrill fire. Nonetheless, "Trapped" is probably worth a look for those who aren't too analytical and just want some no brainer excesses. (B-)

A trio of kidnappers pick the wrong couple to mess with. One of the kidnappers takes the kid, another, Courtney Love, stays with the dad, while the other, Kevin Bacon, watches the mom. Of course they tell the parents just to go along and it will all be over with in 24 hours. So of course, the mom, Charlize Theron, doesn't do what she's told, putting her daughter in more danger. Some of the scenes between the kidnappers and the parents are pretty good. This isn't a boring movie. So, things eventually go wrong and the kidnappers start changing their plans. And eventually, the dad, Stuart Townsend, gets Courtney Love to tell him where the kid is. She does because she believes her partner plans to kill the child any ways.

So, we get a few good chase scenes involving a plane and the interstate. My big complaint is the dad decides to land his plane on the road, not seeming to care how many people he might kill from causing car wrecks. Well, there are a bunch of wrecks, but apparently no one gets killed. But, that was just too out of character since he is supposed to be a doctor and all. The ending also fails any a way because it reverts to the old, the bad guy must be killed "multiple times" to actually die.

FINAL VERDICT: It is semi-entertaining. And Kevin Bacon does make a good bad guy. It's worth watching if you see it on cable some night.

The storyline of "Trapped" is broken down into three parts, which are set in three different locations (the house, the cabin in the woods, the hotel room). The first two work better, thanks to the smashing performances of Kevin Bacon and the perpetually underrated Charlize Theron, and the outstanding one by Pruitt Taylor Vince (I'm talking about the kind of performance that, in a higher-profile film, would surely have gotten him an Academy Award nomination). The third part is not as good, because Courtney Love is rather poor in her role and Stuart Townsend is too young and too bland for his. The film never succeeds at being anything more than a formulaic kidnapping thriller, but the director, Luis Mandoki, knows how to handle the formula and which buttons to push to keep it reasonably taut....until the overblown climax. (**1/2)

A decent thriller with superb performances from the major players, but it just fizzled in the end. An amazing performance from Dakota Fanning and the surprising Courtney Love could not elevate this movie into the top notch category. Kevin Bacon as usual plays the disturbed, sicko bad guy and does it as well as anyone. Charlize Theron also did a great job and she is maybe one of the most photogenic actresses of her time. Everything was there for this to be a memorable and unforgettable movie, but unfortunately, the director missed too many opportunities to create and build the tension to a level where you could not wait for the bad guy to meet his end. It never reached boiling point, the intensity just was not there, and you are left wondering what could have been.

Love the beginning. The premise of the movie is set up beautifully, tightly, but a garbled ending with too many plot lines begun in the last third of the movie dooms the project. It dissipates interest when a director arbitrarily introduces motives that had not been foreshadowed. Competent actors in what is eventually a lifeless vehicle, despite the chase, collisions, smoke and noise.