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Don't Say a Word

Don't Say a Word

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $11.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: WORST MOVIE EVER!
Review: Very rarely do I review movies here but I just saw this movie and I couldn't have been more disappointed. By the trailer and commercials I thought this movie was going to be on the level of Sixth Sense, but it was no where near it. Bad acting, bad directing and the could have been written by a 3 year old. How do the people who make these movies sleep at night!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Typical Thriller
Review: Ok, I'll admit, I went and saw this because Sean Bean was in it. I was disappionted by Sean's acting in the least, he was the perfect evil villian. The rest of the movie was not as good. A typical plot with the typical ending was well done, but nothing spectacular. Brittany Murphy was excellent in her role as the phsyco patient whose past is haunting her. Michael Douglas was definatly not outstanding. But all in all, the movie was not that bad.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: BANG!
Review: I was far more impressed by this movie than I expected to be. At first glance, it seems like your typical plotless, characterless, crime-glorifying action film. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

Everyone who's seen the ad knows the plot: A deranged girl has "a six digit number hidden away somewhere in her troubled mind," and in order to save his kidnapped daughter, a fancy psychiatrist has to get the girl to reveal that number. I was pleasantly surprised when they finally discovered what sort of number it was, as it turned out to be much more interesting than just a bank code... But what struck me most were the characters. Alright, they were a little stereotyped. Still, though, they were very likable. I found myself deeply concerned about what would happen to the little girl who was kidnapped and her parents. Even the psychotic girl, Elisabeth Burrows, becomes a real person rather than just a tool to get the kidnapped daughter back. And, even though I've seen many movies with ruthless criminals, the sheer cruelty of the one in this movie kept startling me.

Perhaps, in retrospect, the plot was a little... dumb. After all, they hardly go into important details such as how the criminals even know Elisabeth has a number, why she is faking illness, how sick she really is, how the heck the baddies got cameras everywhere, etc. But while watching, all those things seem unimportant. Don't Say A Word, while certainly not the acme of filming, is a very enjoyable and exciting movie.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: No Wonder She 'Won't Say A Word'
Review: Usually when a movie that's supposed to be a suspense film generates no suspense, it means that either the director has no flair for the genre or the material is lacking.

"Don't Say A Word" based on the novel by Andrew Klavan ("True Crime") has all the suspense of an afternoon canasta game.

And in another stunning example of art imitating life, aging swordsman Michael Douglas is given a young, hot wife and a precocious 8 year old daughter.

Douglas is expert at playing men who are victimized ("Fatal Attraction" "The Game" "Disclosure")..but this time the screenplay gives him nothing to work with...and do we really need ANOTHER movie where an affluent man's child is kidnapped?? By the time the movie climaxes with sophisticated psychiatrist Douglas turning into "Dirty Harry" in Potter's Field, the audience is either giggling or exhausted.

At least when Hitchcock did this sort of thing, as in "The Man Who Knew Too Much," the direction crackled and the screenplay was hip and witty.

"Don't Say A Word" emerges as flat as a Kansas prairie.

****

The DVD is well packaged and special features include a "Making of" featurette (except, after I finished watching the film, I didn't really care a whit HOW they made it), and some deleted scenes.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Clever premise poorly executed
Review: Don't Say A Word starts off very nicely but lets you know the first time someone pops out of a closet, exactly what you're in for the rest of the way. Michael Douglas is a great actor and does his best to redeem a film that turns into a rehash of Hitchcock's Frantic crossed with Johnny Depp's Nick of Time. But in the end the film resorts to every silly hollywood convention possible. My personal favorite being the one legged mom that miraculously manages to beat up a professional assasin. But sadly thats not the end of the implausible plot points. Three quarters of the way through this movie you'll be telling the person next to you whats going to happen next, even if you're not normally inclined to this sort of annoying behavior.
If you just want something to watch on HBO some night then go for it, but if you buy this DVD and find yourself putting it up on ebay the next day, don't say I didn't warn you.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: decent thirller, but very dark dvd transfer
Review: I had seen this movie on the opening weekend back in Septemember along with Hearts in Atlantis and thought that it was a deccent if not great hitchcock style thriller although I liked Kiss The Girls and Along Came A Spider better then this one. I was at a large music,dvd and book chain store and saw the movie on sale and bought it a few days ago. I have to say the extras are great lots of cool featurettes, cast and crew scene spefic commentries, a full legeth commentery by the gary felder and a few very breif deleted scenes amounting to little more then three total minutes. So last night after watching almost all the extras I thoght I would watch the movie again and on my tv even when its dark and there is no light the transfer is really dark and difciult to see I know it was somewhat dark in the theather. But I dont remember it being almost unwatchable. I took it out at chapter six and have put the disc up on a shelf. One day if I have nothing else to watch I might watch it. This is not a good transfer fox and if you are buying this for that reason you will be very sorry.Extras great, tranfer Horrbile, Movie deccent averge 3 stars.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Strong Performances, Weak Script
Review: I must first way that I did enjoy this movie overall. The highlight would have to be the performances in this movie, especially that of Brittany Murphy. However, I found the script to be a bit predictable or far-fetched at times. Overall, I would recommend this film, especially if you like thrillers, which I generally do not. There are also plenty of extras on the DVD.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Scary, but flawed
Review: Don't Say a Word is another slick Hollywood production, starring Michael Douglas. He portrays a psychiatrist who has a magic touch with teenage patients. His daughter is kidnapped and the price for her return is 6 numbers which are locked into the unconscious mind of an apparently psychotic patient. Douglas's character has 7 hours in which to deliver the numbers to the kidnapper. Basically, the plot is fast-moving and suspenseful, but there are serious flaws in the film. The psychiatric patient becomes coherant in a very convenient manner for the Doctor. Also, the supposedly pivotal female detective in the picture is very superficially developed through no fault of the actress who portrays her. There is some real suspense, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the ending.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Fast Paced and Exciting
Review: This is a great film that was very exciting to watch. The movie draws you in from the very beginning and doesn't let go leading up to exciting finale. The movie is well paced and is has great performances from its talented cast. Michael Douglas is very convincing as the father of a daughter who gets kidnapped. The movie, however, belongs to Brittany Murphy. It is her sensational heartbreaking performance as a psychiatric patient with a number that Douglas must get to save his daughter that holds the film together. She is one talented actress that gets better and better in every movie she is in. Highly recommended.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Disappointing, unoriginal and predictable thriller
Review: The movie started out promising enough, but completely unraveled after that. Michael Douglas's character is completely flat. The whole plot is predictable, stealing from just about every thriller made in the past 5 years, melding them together into an unworkable film. The relationship between Douglas and his daughter really tries hard to pull on your heartsrtings, you just know she going to be kidnapped (in an outlandish and unrealistic way). Douglas's wife, who through most of the movie is bedridden with a severly broken leg, still puts a tremondous beating on one of the kidnappers. Of course, after knocking him unconscious, she leaves him on the floor assuming the problem is taken care of (guess what happens next). This was so outlandish, I found myself laughing out loud. In a subplot that actually detracts from the film instead of complementing it, there is a female cop who is so unlikeable you almost hope something bad happens to her. It's a wonder anyone helped her at all with such a menacing attitude. I rarely do this, but I had to fast forward through some of it where the plot justs bogs down to a halt, and didn't miss anything.
I wish the group of kidnappers could have been more clever and evil, instead they came across as a group of baffoons. By the way, not to be outdone by his wife, Douglas also puts a pretty good licking in hand to hand combat on a kidnapper at least twice his size (the kidnapper had a shovel too, Douglas just had his two hands).
The one shining star in this movie, is the 'psychotic' girl (I don't recall the name of the actress). She gives a good performance, but as in all poor plots, she is won over by Douglas way too easy. So much so, that she goes from a 'I'll never tell' attitude to completely submissive and agreeable in a span of one scene. Also in her flashbacks, her face as a little girl are laden with freckles, I was wondering what happened to them all when she got older. And why did the hair and eye color change? Usually, they try to have the younger person at least try to resemble the older person as they age in movies. My guess is that this girl was probably one of the producers daughters.
Oliver Platt's character is severely underdeveloped, and his motives for his actions just seem to come out of left field at times. For instance, Douglas doesn't want Platt to know his daughter has been kidnapped. Platt is watching Douglas through a one-way mirror as he interviews a disturbed girl who holds the secret to his daughter's freedom. Platt walks out (for no apparant reason) of the observation room right when Douglas talks about his kidnapped girl, and back in again right after he stops and changes the subject. This doesn't happen once but twice! What timing! Can Douglas see him going in and out of the room through the one way mirror? Who knows? And who cares. The movie is full of little things like this that just add up to a big disappointment at the end.


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