Director: Roland Joffé
Writers: Larry Cohen (screenplay/story), Joseph Tura (screenplay)
Running time: 85 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 18
Genre: Horror/Thriller/Crime
UK Release date: 22nd June 2007
Watched on Sky+ Saturday 8th September 2012.
PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.
I really didn’t know too much about this film before pressing the PLAY button on my Sky+ box. I guess I was intrigued by the way the film was set-up; I hadn’t seen any trailers and so went into it more or less blind with only the TV guide write-up as a lead. Having seen it (& having decided on the score I would give it) I had a quick look online to see how it was received. Pretty badly by all accounts although there were a few who, surprisingly, really liked it! But it’s my opinion we’re here for and I’ll give you that after this very brief summary.
Jennifer is a model; a very famous model who works hard to keep herself at the top of her game. What she doesn’t know is she is being stalked and that this stalker is about to kidnap and terrify her. Having been stood up at a club she gets up to leave only to find her drink had been drugged. She wakes up in a basement that seemingly has no exits. She screams and shouts but to no avail. Eventually her captor makes contact and she is now subjected to all kinds of psychological torture. She eventually discovers she is not alone in the basement; there is an adjoining room and in there is a young man, Gary… I will leave it there or the Spoiler Police (scary kidnap movie division) will be paying me a call (again).
There are some nice visual effects used, particularly at the beginning of the film, that I found quite effective. Sadly I didn’t really notice much evidence of them after that. The performances were all pretty good; particularly Elisha Cuthbert as Jennifer; much of the film relied on a strong performance from her and I couldn’t see that she put a foot wrong here. Daniel Gillies as Gary was adequate without really being stretched, as was Pruitt Taylor Vince as Ben.
A film with a very small cast that has a very claustrophobic feel to much of the action. I have seen it described as just another ‘torture porn’ movie, but I felt it had a little more depth to it than that. The trouble is, it tries to be a little too clever and as a result I found it ended up being a little bit too predictable. The filmmakers also failed to allow the audience to connect with the victim and as a result they cannot really sympathise with her situation. It’s a shame because I quite liked Elisha Cuthbert’s performance. Over all though, a little too predictable and without enough guile to hold the audience.
SteelMonster’s verdict: NOT RECOMMENDED
My score: 4.7/10
IMDb Score: 4.6/10 (based on 15,662 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0374563/
MetaScore: 24/100: (Based on 17 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).
Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 7/100 (based on 74 reviews counted at the time of going to press).
Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 34/100 ‘Liked It’ (based on 327,384 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/captivity/
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FAVOURITE QUOTES:
None available that don’t give too much away (sorry).
LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Trailer:
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