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Trapped

Trapped

List Price: $14.94
Your Price: $13.45
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Watch it!
Review: Okay, If you are confused by all these reviews, I'll tell you this: you can find this movie absolutely fantastic or just have a good time with it. For me, it was the second option. It is a well-aimed Friday night thriller which manages to keep you on your seat until the end. However, It's very predictable, but the performances are very effective, mainly Theron's and Love's..
Courtney Love succeded with her role but Kevin Bacon was kind of annoying at times.
Overall I'd say it was a very entertaining movie, not something I would watch twice, but it deserves some more attention, as it is far better than many of those extremely commercial thrillers out there.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: great
Review: this is a ultra suspenseful and entertaining movie. i rented it over at my grandmas and even my grandma loved it. i've seen it twice since and it still never gets old.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: watch on cable
Review: This is still entertaining despite its predictability. A family of three are held hostage in three separate places under the gun of three different criminals. See it for the performances.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: BRINGING HOME THE BACON
Review: TRAPPED is based on Greg Iles' incredibly suspenseful novel, 24 HOURS. Iles himself did the screenplay, so at least the movie tries to stick the book as much as possible. There are significant alterations Iles did in bringing this book to the screen, and there are significant absences such as the involvement of other kidnap victims, that would have made the film a lot more exciting, I think. But overall, its a commendable translation to the big screen.
Kevin Bacon as Joe starts out well in his role, but the time the movie comes to its exciting climax, he seems uninvolved, and uses a jittery nervous exterior that seemingly comes from nowhere.
Charlize Theron who has wonderful expressive eyes also starts out very strong; there are moments though when she seems lost in direction; she underplays key scenes and overplays some, too. It's a good performance overall; but I think more would have been better.
Dakota Fanning as Abby is remarkable. She really seems to be a frightened little girl, without all the posturing and cutesiness that could have sabotaged her character.
When I read the book, I could just see someone like Courtney Love playing Cheryl. Unfortunately, in the transition to screen, her character lost a great deal. In the book, she's much more "fleshed out" (no pun intended), and she gets lost in the finale, whereas in the book she was a pivotal figure. Love's performance is restrained and effective, however.
Tyler Pruitt Vance's Marvin is well done, although he telegraphs his "mental state" too heavily.
The film's biggest weakness is Stuart Townsend. His performance is so wooden and staged, he seems like a high schooler in a senior class play. A stronger actor here would have made the family's plight a little more emotional.
The director has a strange attachment to mirrors, and although it is initially interesting, its overuse diminishes Bacon and Theron's intensity.
But, TRAPPED is a well-paced and involving thriller, and the finale on the interstate is impressive and very close to the finale in the book.
As for the extras, the deleted scenes are ephemeral; I can see why they took them out. The alternate ending is laughable, because we don't know what in the world is really going on.

RECOMMENDED.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The film makers seemingly lacked courage
Review: Trapped is a quintessential example of why so many films fail. The casting is near perfect and the dialogue is riveting. Kevin Bacon has mastered the art of portraying purely evil men that make your skin crawl. The other actors including Charlize Theron admirably perform their assigned roles. It captures your attention and you will care about the characters. Any normal person, needless to add, should easily relate to the parents whose child has been kidnapped for ransom. Trapped effectively begins as a psychological thriller---but regretfully ends with insane car chases and exhausting special effects. The last half hour is difficult to endure and one may be tempted to simply walk out of the screening room.

Why did Trapped leave much to be desired? My adamant view is that the producers of these big budget movies prefer to play it safe. They likely think that throwing in expensive action sequences, more appropriate to an Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone flick, lessen their economic risk. They have yet to realize that sometimes less is more. I am utterly convinced that Trapped would have been a big hit if only the top level executives had not lost their nerve...Trapped still deserves four stars, but it was so close to five.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Suspense at its best!
Review: Wow!Talk about not wanting to respond to mother nature's calling after watching the first couple of scenes!Wonderful!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent thriller
Review: Excellent thriller, Kevin Bacon plays the same character
as in River Wild. He makes a good-bad guy..
Lots of action, especially with the airplane scene at
the end. Great acting by all characters.
Makes a great Friday night movie.. Loved it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: suspense to the end
Review: charlize theron and kevin bacon are superb in this suspense filled thriller,that will keep you chewing your thumbs till the end.young girl gets kidnapped,and that gets the STORY GOING RIGHTthrough.THE KIDNAPPERS THOUGHT THEY HAD THE PERFECT PLOT,ONLY TO FIND OUT THAT THE GIRL HAS ASTHMA,AND HAS TO TAKE HER MEDICATION OR SHE WILL DIE.IF FORGETTING THE MEDICATION DOES NOT KILL HER ,THE KIDNAPPERS WILL IF A RANSOM IS NOT PAID.CHARLIZE THERON IS GREAT AS THE MOTHER TRYING TO GET HER DAUGHTER BACK.THE SUSPENCE NEVER LETS UP AND YOU WILL SIT RIVETED TO YOUR SEAT.ALL IN ALL ONE OF THE BEST THRILLERS OF THE YEAR HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: nicely done thriller
Review: In the tradition of The Tie that Binds, and ransom, this stylish thriller once again puts a loving and somewhat successful family in the worst of all possible horrors, the kidnapping of their child by a sedistic, greedy criminal who is played perfectly by Keving Bacon, in fact he may be one of the better bad guys in recent memory. There are the usual twists and turns that wont be difficult to keep up with, but still keep the film moving nicely. I have stated before that I totally adore Charlize Theron, and this film is no exception. She delivers an emotional performance as the horrified mother, yet manages to keep and edgy and determined face on it all. Courney Love is slightly missed cast I thought, but still is menacing as ever, when she wants to be. There are times when you wander who is pulling off this kindapping anyway, which is just what the movie intends you to do. A brilliant piece of casting however is the accomplice played by Pruitt Taylor Vince.
He plays the character as a little unbalanced but yet gives the viewer the ease that he wont hurt the girl. It is interesting that both husband and wife find themselves in seperate bedrooms, he with Courney Love, and her with Bacon, They both use thier wits and she her body to get out of this desperate situation. All in all, a pretty good film with some good acting.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The perfect crime? Not quite.
Review: Scripted by writer Greg Iles from his novel 24 HOURS, TRAPPED is a rather cliched thriller from director Luis Mandoki (ANGEL EYES). However,in spite of this it's still quite tense and entertaining.
Dr. Will Jennings (Stuart Townshend) and his wife Karen (Charlize Theron) are a couple whose idyllic lifestyle takes a turn for the worse when their cute little pixie of a daughter, Abby (Dakota Fanning) is kidnapped and held for ransom by Joe Hickey (Kevin Bacon in ANOTHER bad guy role) and his trashy wife Cheryl Tilly (Courtney Love- who else?). What makes this situation more complicated is the fact that there is a third party involved in the form of Marvin, a balding, pudgy dweeb to help take care of Abby while Joe holds Karen hostage and Cheryl deals to Will. But while for starters the couple play by the rules in order to save their daughter they soon, predictably (That's one word I seem to use a lot) have to in turn manipulate their captors to earn their freedom, save their little girl and return to their normal everyday lives. (In Theron's case that even includes threatening to do a Bobbitt on Bacon's Porksaw when he tries getting fresh with her.) What, you may ask, is the motive for the kidnapping? That would be considered a spoiler; but I will say that the motive is very predictable. In fact, so predictable it makes Tony Blair seem like one of the most interesting men on the planet. This picture is sort of a hybrid of RANSOM and THE TIE THAT BINDS, but strong performances all round and some suspenseful moments all help make TRAPPED a better movie than you'd expect.
DVD extras include a Making Of doco, deleted scenes, commentary by the Director and Screenwriter, an alternate ending for the movie, the film's trailer and bios/filmographies for key cast and crew members.


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