Trapped (I) (2002) User Reviews (153)

How to ruin a good idea...

[buiger · 5/10 · 4 June 2007]

Average. The movie is full of clichés and most of all, the ending is totally unrealistic and overblown.

Otherwise, if they had stuck to the basic plot, this could have been a nice little thriller, especially because on average, the acting was pretty good (especially Charlize Theron and Kevin Bacon). As usual, for some reason Hollywood producers (or Directors) feel it necessary to cram movies with tons of unnecessary subplots most of the time, as well as add minutes of ridiculous 'action scenes' which usually make the films look unreal and unbelievable to the audience. Do they really think the average moviegoer is a moron? In this case, the ending definitely ruined what could have been a good thriller...

Not bad at all.

[gridoon · 6/10 · 17 December 2003]

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)

It was the perfect plan...to get your money.

[=G= · 6/10 · 24 December 2002]

"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 solid, fast-paced thriller.

[Li-1 · 24 December 2002]

Rating: *** out of ****

One of the more pleasant surprises of the year, Trapped stars Kevin Bacon as a clever kidnapper who gets more than he bargained for when he and his partners (Courtney Love and Pruit Taylor Vance) hold a rich couple's (Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend) daughter for ransom. Director Luis Mandoki knows how to pile on the tension to this chilling premise, delivering genuine suspense and thrills every minute without losing momentum. The story even holds a few decent surprises that caught me slightly off-guard, if not necessarily shocked.

As well-tuned as the direction was, what impressed me the most were the performances. The central story focuses on Theron and Bacon, and both make for one of the more effective protagonist/antagonist duos in recent memory. Dakota Fanning also shines as the kidnapped daughter; this is one of the best performances from a child actor all year (the other is from Fanning herself in the miniseries Taken). Stuart Townsend and Courtney Love aren't as effective as Theron and Bacon, but come through with solid performances.

Trapped is still a very flawed movie, considering the script is hardly original and the subject matter itself is a little unsavory and disturbing. The tit-for-tat matches between kidnapper and hostage can get a little repetitive, but the fact that it revolves around three pairings does add more tension to the proceedings. Still, the movie nicely builds to its thrilling conclusion, a climactic sequence that is a bit overdone but nonetheless exciting. It's a pity Trapped was ignored at the box office, since it's easily far superior to recent similarly plotted kidnapped thrillers such as Don't Say a Word or Along Came a Spider.

Good thriller with some banal dialogue

[brendonm · 7/10 · 21 September 2002]

It's unfortunate that Columbia/Sony is not pushing this movie -- there's some convincing acting here (Theron does the woman-in-jeopardy thing well; doesn't hurt that she's easy on the eyes too!) and three different storylines interwoven by the writer quite nicely. Some good setups and payoffs as well (though one involving the waggling of a plane's wings is kinda corny, but it worked). My only criticism is that some of the dialogue is predictable (the bad guys says exactly what we expect him to say in certain scenes). Courtney Love plays a white trash wench pretty well, but that's not surprising given her vagabond background.

BOTTOMLINE: If you like thrillers, go see this on a matinee -- worth seeing on the big screen for some beautiful cinematography of the Pacific Northwest and the climax. IMHO a big step above ALONG CAME A SPIDER and HIGH CRIMES. I haven't seen Mandoki's other flicks, but I plan to rent them now. I just hope Charlize Theron chooses some more challenging dramatic roles, or her career will probably suffer for it.

Never Really Caught Fire!

[JockStein · 6/10 · 26 May 2013]

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.

Good Kidnapping thriller

[Luigi Di Pilla · 7/10 · 21 February 2003]

I discovered this thriller in the US-Charts and when I watched the trailer I thought it couldn´t be bad. And really it worked! It has many twists and turns and a portion of suspense. My expectations were fulfilled. Kevin Bacon, Charlize Theron and especially the little girl Dakota Fanning were great. The soundtrack was good too. If you liked this film I highly recommend "DON´T SAY A WORD" that is a little bit better than this or "RANSOM". I will add the DVD in my best of collection. My wife and me give 7/10.

Kept me interested, but...........

[tastyhotdogs · 6/10 · 22 December 2006]

Caught this on TV and thought was worth a look.

Another kidnapping movie, but this time there are 3 kidnappers kidnapping 3 different people at 3 different locations. At the centre of the demands of the kidnappers (Bacon and Love) is a $250,000 ransom. We discover these kidnappers have done this before and are very well organised, until the little girl (Fanning) starts having an asthma attack. From here things go haywire and everyone must ensure they K.I.T.

Kept me interested, but a few too many frustrating scenes plus a rubbish ending soured what could have been a real winner.

Great beginning but movie fails to deliver.

[natcabanilla · 4/10 · 4 January 2003]

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.

What is there to say?

[sol-kay · 6/10 · 17 March 2004]

******SPOILERS****** The movie "Trapped" is supposed to be both dramatic and suspenseful but comes across like the Three Stooges of kidnapping. whom the "Brains of the outfit" Joe Hickey, Kevin Bacon, brags at the beginning of the film about how smart and successful he is in his ground-breaking innovations in the Art of Kidnapping. As well as how they worked to perfection the last four times in getting not only the loot from his victims but with them not even reporting his crimes to the police.

But here in the movie HIckey and his two fumbling cohorts come across as the biggest bunch of misfits in criminal history. Which makes you wonder as you watch his moronic plan unfold before your eyes what kind of incompetent and brain-dead people, police as well as victims, they were dealing with in their previous four kidnappings?

Hickey the big mastermind gets slashed by the mother of the kidnapped girl Karen Jennings, Charlize Theron, before having a gun pulled on him when he was too stupid to check out the house after he crashed it for weapons. He then lets Karen out of his sight as he was looking through the pages of a fashion magazine.

Joe's wife Cheyrl, Countery Love, and cohort in the crime holds the father William Jennings, Stuart Townsend, of the kidnapped girl hostage in a hotel room only to fall asleep and have him grab her gun and turn the tables on her. The third member of the bumbling trio the simple-minded Marvin, Pruitt Taylor, who's holding the kidnapped girl Abigail Jennings, Dakota Fenning, hostage in a cabin in the forest is always screwing up Joe's mater-plan. Marvin lets the girl escape and then having to re-capture her as he goes around the cabin doing his daily chores like popping popcorn in the micro and watching the funnies on the TV.

There's also a sub-plot to the story about the father, a doctor, of the kidnapped girl being held responsible for the death of Joe and Cheryl's little girl Kathy which makes the movie, if it's wasn't already enough, more confusing then it is.

You start to realize later in the movie that Joe's hair-brained scheme was really to have Abigail replace Kathy as his and his wives daughter and at the same time punish Dr. Jennings for Kathy's death.The ending of the film on a highway cluttered with exploded cars and trucks as well as a plane that Dr. Jennings and Cheryl crashed to stop both Joe and Marvin from getting away with little Abigail as well as her mother Karen. With the sight of everybody in the movie mindlessly hobbling around waiting for the movie to finally end left those of us watching the film in a state of total daze.

Unbelievably dense movie

[yojimbo999 · 1/10 · 19 June 2003]

Stupid criminals meet Wonder Woman and Steven Seagal, who are in disguised as a mild mannered interior designer and doctor, respectively. While the criminals have their daughter locked away in a cabin with orders to kill her if they don't call every 30 minutes, our hero wife and husband does everything in their power to get the poor little girl killed. This includes fighting the criminals at every single turn. I mean, geez, if your daughter was kidnapped, would you really be this DIFFICULT? The movie tries to throw a curveball with a superfluous subplot, supposedly to "explain" why the husband and wife are so combative to their daughter's detriment, but it reeks of stupid writing anyhow. Seeing how everyone has reacted, I was tempted to root for the sexual deviant played by Kevin Bacon. How bad is that?

Well acted, interesting movie

[themarina1 · 8/10 · 22 May 2004]

I hadn't even heard of this movie and was surprised to find not one or two but 5 great actors in this movie. And I can see why. This is a smart thriller about a kidnapping. This sort of starts off as a typical Hollywood blockbuster and it certainly ends like one but the story and the way it unfolds is very good.

This was a strong script with beautiful cinematography (again, in Vancouver), great acting. Theron proves here once more that she is a strong actress with much skill and much more potential. To boot, this has a really great action sequence near the end. A good, entertaining movie, this is a definite watch.

8/10

Total Exaggeration

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 30 April 2004]

The daughter of Dr. William Jennings (Stuart Townsend) and Karen Jennings (Charlize Therron), the asthmatic Abigail (Dakota Fanning), is kidnapped by an experienced and well-organized gang. The leader Joe Hickey (Kevin Bacon) stays with Karen in the house of the family; his wife Cheryl Hickey (Courtney Love) stays with Dr. Jennings, in a hotel room, after his speech in a medical conference; and the third member, Marvin (Pruitt Taylor Vince), stays with the little girl in an isolated house until the ransom of US$ 250,000.00 is paid by her parents. The criminals contact each other every thirty minutes, to confirm that everything is working in accordance with their planning. The premise of this movie is scary, specially for persons like me, who live in a Third World country, where kidnappings frequently happen. The plan of the outlaws is original and very well organized, and may give new bad ideas for bandits. However, in a certain point of the story, the plot is so exaggerated and incredible that becomes near to ridiculous. The American film industry does not have enough courage to make a movie violent like the amazing `Funny Games', just as an example. Therefore, the end of this type of story is very predictable. We know that in the end the child will return to the parents etc. It is very difficult to have an amoral, violent and non-commercial end. In this film, the behavior of the characters, the car / airplane chase and accident on the road are so predictable, so full of cliches, so silly, that disappointed me a lot. The beginning was good, but the conclusion was terrible. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): ‘Encurralada' (`Trapped')

No wonder why people don't go to the cinema anymore

[vocklabruck · 3/10 · 13 July 2017]

When it comes to bad movies I really don't know how to start a review. I wish I could be more forgiving about plot holes, storytelling, writing, cinematography, etc. but I can't forgive when they have this big fat budget and still come up with crap! Many but MANY old movies didn't have budget, special effects, known actors, but still they were great! Is it that writers and directors from this century are just lazy because they have too much money to spend in their projects?

The problem with this movie is basically the plot, the story, the script, which is the heart of a movie. Here it's not plausible at all. It starts nicely but then you find mistakes and inconsistencies here, there and everywhere. You can see the plot holes a mile away and the story is so predictable and absurd that makes you cringe. Why are the parents so rebel if their little doll is in peril totally helpless? Some of their reactions make you think they don't even care if she dies. The kidnappers are in control, you can NOT threat or torture them with a gun, a knife, a syringe, nothing. They die your child die, because their cellphone communication is interrupted. That's it. If the baby was so asthmatic why didn't she die from the handkerchief they put in her little mouth with sedative, or from so many scare shocks she has throughout or from all that smoke and dust at the highway? Oh my! Don't make me talk about that highway scene. Didn't that dad realize he produced a crash that could have killed his daughter instantly? I was wondering if the bad guys were actually the parents. And the scene also involved other cars and people who strangely didn't do anything at all even though the scene took several minutes with the parents and kidnappers running around, fighting each other, stealing cars, etc. Were all those other people in the highway just dummies or what? I will tell you, I re-watched that scene a couple times because it was unrealistic and confusing as hell, starting with the dad becoming James Bond. The movie drags on and on and nothing happens. The kidnapper assigned to guard the little girl is too sweet and kind with her so you are sure she will always be OK. There are no thrills, therefore this is not a thriller! The only moment you got some chills is when Dakota is having that asthma attack.

On the bright side of the movie I can say there are some really good actors involved here! And that is why I don't rate it 1. Bacon, Theron, Fanning and Vince were incredible with the poor script they were given. They are not the ones to blame. The rest of the cast is just forgettable.

The movie is still entertaining but not a good movie nevertheless. And this subject is already present in other movies with great results: Don't Say a Word (2001) and Ransom (1996) just to mention two. As a side note: Why directors insist on the shaky camera and sudden fast panning? It makes you feel sick for Christ sake!

"Trapped" is the perfect word for it

[Buddy-51 · 22 September 2002]

I sometimes wonder if the actors who agree to appear in movies featuring Kevin Bacon do so because they have a secret desire to become a primary link in that ever-popular parlor game known as Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, a move destined to assure them of at least some chance at screenland immortality. The actors co-starring with him in `Trapped' - an aptly named film that is little more than a 99-minute wallow in pointless, unadulterated sadism - include Charlize Theron, Courtney Love and Stuart Townsend, not exactly no-name nobodies but not quite Hollywood A-list players either. But selling your soul for eternal fame often comes with a hefty price tag, and I have the rather sneaking suspicion that these latter-day Mephistopheles' would be just as happy if we forgot that they were ever associated with this perfectly dreadful, would-be thriller - Kevin Bacon and all. Even a chance at cinematic immortality can't be worth appearing in a movie this awful.

Is there a more sensitive subject these days than child endangerment and kidnapping? And can any filmmaker, daring or foolish enough to take it on, really do so without calling into question his own personal aims and motives? Do we really want to see traumatized children torn away from their parents or threatened with strangulation all in the guise of `popular entertainment'? It has been done successfully in the past, of course. One of the greatest thrillers of all time - the 1964 British film `Séance on a Wet Afternoon' - used the subject of child abduction as the source for its drama, but that film was a work of art, a poignant, psychologically compelling study of a woman on the verge of insanity. It takes a fine sensibility and a steady hand to keep a touchy issue like child endangerment from turning into an exercise in cheap exploitation, and, I'm sorry to say, neither of these qualities appears with much abundance in `Trapped,' the latest variation on the theme. Indeed, `Trapped' is about as far from being a work of art as it is possible for a film to get.

Bacon plays the leader of a trio of child kidnappers whose modus operandi is to target wealthy couples, hold their children for ransom, then release them when the parents have coughed up the demanded sums of money. The threesome claims to have `successfully' pulled off this little trick four times already - in each case ending with the parents being reunited with their children, no questions asked. The fifth and current abduction involves little Abby Jennings, the young daughter of Will and Karen Jennings, he a high-priced, seemingly world-renowned anesthesiologist, and she a doting mother with a few self-defense tricks up her sleeve (or in her panties to be more exact). And as if being forced to watch this poor little girl being threatened by a bunch of third-rate bullies weren't bad enough, we also have to witness her gasping for breath in any number of asthma attacks brought on by the stress of the experience. Well, what with `Signs' earlier and now this film, I guess asthma has become the childhood ailment of choice this movie season.

All throughout the film we keep being told how brilliant these kidnappers are supposed to be - yet they seem to do everything in their power to afford their victims ample opportunity to turn the tables on them. One, Bacon's wife, conveniently falls asleep so that the good doctor can casually remove all the bullets from her gun; another, Bacon's dull-witted, oafish cousin, a-kidnapper-with-a-heart-of-gold, goes into the kitchen to warm up some soup so that the unrestrained little girl can walk out the front door, cell phone in hand, to look for help; even Bacon, the `brains' of the outfit, allows Mrs. Jennings to go unaccompanied into the bathroom where she proceeds to rummage through the medicine cabinet for what seems like ten minutes until she finds a scalpel which she then proceeds to hold to his private parts after he has made himself thoroughly vulnerable by completely disrobing in anticipation of getting a little nooky on the side. One wonders how these world-class bumblers ever managed to pull off even one successful kidnapping, let alone four. The film even includes that oldest of all kidnap-scenario clichés - the obligatory nosey neighbor who drops by at the most inopportune moment and has to be fobbed off by the desperate victim without arousing suspicion. And, of course, we must have Ms. Theron strip down to her undies (and Mr. Bacon strip down to his birthday suit) just to up the sleaze quotient a bit.

The film is not only ugly on a moral level, but on a visual level as well. The cinematography by Frederick Elmes and Piotr Sobocinski is drab, mundane and colorless, and director Luis Mandoki's `style' consists mainly of having the camera jump up and down wildly whenever a character gets excited or the story threatens to undermine the audience's attention span. The finale involves a massive multi-vehicle pile up on an Oregon freeway that is as ludicrous as it is unconvincing.

`Trapped' pretty much says it all - for the actors, the filmmakers and, above all, the audience.

Director provides last laugh to defeat great acting.

[i_am_here · 7/10 · 8 May 2003]

Great acting from Kevin Bacon, Charlize Theron, Dakota Fanning and Pruitt Taylor Vince overcome some awful directing to produce an above average, and at times, very tense thriller..... until the final fifteen minutes.

Luis Mandoki would be well advised to steer clear of all action sequences in future. His apparent lack of understanding of the dynamics of masses allowed all tension built throughout the film to vaporise in the unintentionally comedic farce at the end. Mandoki's naivety is highlighted by his own admission that this is one of his favourite scenes! He should watch "Wacky Races" instead - it's more realistic!

Perhaps we can hope for a special "non-directors" cut on DVD with an ending that the rest of this film deserves.

Far-fetched, but smoothly-done thriller with a most bizarre cast...

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 15 June 2006]

Team of serial kidnappers panic when the victim and the victim's parents turn their own screws. Elaborate chase-ending comes out of nowhere, with plot-points and character motivations increasingly unclear, but an efficient, well-produced suspenser nevertheless, with enough twists to hold interest. Curious, colorful cast is fine and the direction is tight despite some queasy, wayward bits that intermingle sex and violence (too heavy for popcorn material such as this). Hardly did any business in theaters, but it makes for a fun rental. Admirers of all the stars (Kevin Bacon, Charlize Theron, Dakota Fanning and especially Courtney Love) should enjoy it. **1/2 from ****

good cast overcomes silly story

[Spanner-2 · 7/10 · 7 October 2002]

A formulaic thriller that is made more appealing due to solid turns by Kevin Bacon and Courtney Love as kidnappers and Charlize Theron as a victimized mother trying to get her child (Dakota Fanning, who is also good) back. Stuart Townsend as the husband is weak but the rest of the cast is good enough to overcome the plot silliness. GRADE: B-

SPOILER -- Okay for its type -- SPOILER

[[e-mail] · 6/10 · 26 July 2004]

Kevin Bacon and Charlize Theron perform competently in this thriller, though their subsequent roles -- his in Mystic River, hers in Monster --are far more persuasive and take place in far superior films. The plot of this one doesn't hang together at all: the fifth in a series of kidnappings conducted (as we learn) because Bacon and Courtney Love are avenging the death of their daughter at the hands, they think, of Theron's doctor husband (Stuart Townsend). Oh? Then what was the purpose of the other four kidnappings? And if Bacon, the aggrieved father and lead kidnapper, intends to screw Theron, why would he allow her to retreat into the bathroom to undress and why wouldn't he insist on her being naked when she emerges? And why is the third kidnapper involved? What is his relationship to the dead child? Still, the airplane chase down the interstate is a thrilling touch and the performance of the little girl, Dakota Fanning, is possibly the best thing in the movie. Make sure the popcorn is handy.

Great Actors bad Director

[YeahIMonTV · 1/10 · 23 January 2003]

I loved Courtney Love in this mellow drama about a family that is individually torn apart from their happy co-existance and foreced to miss one another. Kevin Bacon is great as the common villian, (i.e. Hollow Man). The movie however needed a better Director,preferably one who uses CUTS in tense scenes and not swish pans from actor to actor to capture their line of dialogue. This sort of rock and roll type camera work and style is very sick to the stomach and brings back bad memories of seeing the Blair Witch Project. The casting for the Father character was badly done as the actor was not believable in ANY form. Other than those two annoying things, the movie is pretty good, glad I didnt blow good theater money seeing this movie, but was an ok renter! OH, one more thing, the ending of this movie is so LAME, so dont expect much......

Hmmmm, I don't know

[Jester69 · 6/10 · 21 March 2003]

I was entertained by this film until the end. I even felt that it was really good at some points. But then I had time to think about it. It is worth a rental but after thinking about it..it's an R rated TV movie. Looks good,acting is good but overall, nothing new.

Same Old Story

[ananias73 · 3/10 · 5 November 2007]

First (1987) "Fatal Attraction" was released, where James Dearden (writer) shows us how to protect ourselves from the fear of HIV: Family. Then other films have to do with the fear of an unknown terror that interrupts the family happiness ("The Hand that Rocks the Cradle", "One Hour Photo", "Ransom", Unlawful Entry" etc.). Same old story in this film. The kidnappers are simply stupid (Bacon in his usual psycho portrait, Courtney Love tries hard to act), "family hug" can save us from every danger and father (another stupid character) decide to land his plane in the middle of the road not seeming to care how many people he might kill only to save his daughter! This disaster scene at the end destroys everything in the movie. Although Theron (unrealistic reactions from her) learn to us where you can hind a knife to save your life!

In the hands of Charlize Theron

[jpschapira · 8/10 · 24 October 2005]

Nowadays everyone talks about Charlize Theron. Her new movie "North Country" claims she'll be nominated for the Oscar next year, and who knows, maybe win it again. The thing is I've known her as an actress for a long time, and have watched most of her films; but after what "Monster" was, and after who she is now, I feel like going back and analyzing, if she's just having luck, or if she's always been a good actress.

With no intention of adulating her, I can declare she's always played interesting roles. Take "Mighty Joe Young", Disney's film, for example. She played the "heroine", an easy role, and I was a kid but she didn't look like the everyday heroine, she had managed to achieve a different approach. Next came joining Johnny Depp in the difficult acting journey that was "The Astronaut's wife", a movie that sucked in content but delivered in performances.

Besides being dimmed by stronger people that same year in "The Cider House Rules", 2000 was her strong year, where she left me breathless with her portrayals in "Men of honor" and "The legend of Bagger Bance"; and showed me her dark and betraying side in "The Yards" and "Reindeer Games" (with the great Gary Sinise). So in my quest of "rediscovery", I found "Trapped", one of her last movies before her Oscar-film.

The movie is very good, and so is her performance. The traumatized look she obtains in some occasions is horrifying. How her whole body moves, quietly and alert, because her character knows the danger she's in, but tries hard to be strong and intelligently fight what awaits her. Never has a woman looked so beautiful in underwear but at the same time so disgusting; because there's no pleasure in her position.

There's no pleasure at all in this movie. Karen's (Theron) daughter is kidnapped (data: she's played by Dakota Fanning two years before she was kidnapped again in "Man on Fire"; if she keeps getting kidnapped in movies she might disappear some day), and no secrets are held. We meet the man who planned the kidnapping, Joe (Kevin Bacon), his partners Marvin (Pruitt Taylor Vince in disturbing mode) and Cheryl (second-billed and unfitted Courtney Love) and their plans; including where they keep the kids, and how and when they take them back to their families.

The group has done the same kidnapping strategy four times, succeeding without being caught; Joe always makes boast of it. What the movie announces is that this time will not be perfect, because Karen is not like the other moms, her husband Will (Stuart Townsend looking as always) is not like the other dads, and more importantly, their daughter Abby is not like the other kids. After the group realizes about this miscalculation, writer Greg Iles' character development starts functioning.

I don't know if Iles ever lived it, but the environment seems so real. "How do you pick the families?", Karen asks Joe. "Well; they have to be rich, the children need to have a permitted age and the mother has to be beautiful". Eventually, Karen tries to find out why they do it, and as I said, there's no pleasure, because they don't have fun doing it.

During these scenes, a tense relationship between Karen and Joe emerges, and in terms of performance, they are nothing but moments to make clear the risky actor Kevin Bacon is, and the dedication he gives to his characters. The way he talks to her, the way he resolves the problems with a look; later (you need to pay close attention), the way he moves his hand when he drives, because he hasn't slept and can't control his pulse… The story hidden behind the "why" is very strong, but when the movie decides we should learn it, there's no intention of an emotional impact, which is another remarkable screenplay detail. It is discovered so unexpectedly that there's no time to mediate about it; it wouldn't feel real. Mexican director Luis Mandoki accompanies the environment with a first scene shot in blurry blue, and then creating lots of empty shots of places that are instantly occupied by the characters…Very original.

What is probably not original or mistaken is the resolution. I'm not saying it couldn't end like that; I'm just saying that because of the movie's progress, I was expecting something else. Anyway, the typical wins: but that doesn't diminish the quality of a film.

Not So Trapped

[jlacerra · 6/10 · 31 May 2004]

**SPOILERS FOLLOW**

This movie had a chance with its premise, and sort of blew it within the first half hour. Bacon's grand scheme of pulling off unreported kidnappings is nearly foiled when Theron produces a revolver his research obviously missed. She holds it on him, and he says his being hurt will cause him to miss making the periodic phone call (that the victim's life supposedly depends on). This was Theron's cue to blow off one of his fingers or something (where's Quentin Tarantino when we need him?) and insist that he call and have the kid returned before she continues blowing off body parts. But NO! She gives up the gun only to torture us with another concealed weapon later, in a scene that no doubt had all male viewers clutching their scrotums.

Acting is fairly good: Bacon is convincingly despicable as the self-styled mastermind; Theron is reasonably good as the upset mom; Dakota Fanning is a precision technician as the kidnapped child. The guy who plays Marvin has some difficulty conveying whether he is supposed to be Lenny from "Of Mice and Men", or Albert DeSalvo from "The Boston Strangler".

Poor Stuart Townsend looks like the youngest doctor since Doogie Howser (but Doogie hadn't had time to amass a fortune through drug research AND get his pilot's license).

Courtney Love plays her role with all the aplomb of an off duty counter girl from Macy's thrust into a film role. Fortunately, Townsend has just the right drug in his black bag (research docs still carry black med bags with them?) to neutralize her with paralysis, which Love manages fairly well.

The movie could still have worked if not for the gun scene mentioned above, the annoying obsession of Bacon's character to sex each victim's mom, and the extraneous connection in the past of the kidnappers and these particular victims.

Six stars out of ten!

A stinker

[Mason-12 · 1/10 · 23 September 2002]

If they had really wanted to live up to the title "Trapped", they should have locked the theater doors. If I couldn't have walked out of this mess, there would have been some actual excitement.

It started out all right, but I knew there was trouble ahead when I realized I was rooting for the kidnappers. If you want to see a family trying to rescue their kidnapped daughter, rent "Don't Say a Word".

The dialogue was a joke, almost the entire ensemble was miscast, the directing straight out of made-for-television. It should die a quick death at the theaters -- not even the American public is stupid enough to support this kind of crud. (Which puts me in the bottom 1%, I suppose, LOL, since I actually paid $8 for a ticket.)

The heaven, "One Hour Photo" was playing right next door and started 5 minutes after I walked out of Trapped. (If you want to see a masterwork of suspense, I highly recommend One Hour Photo instead.)