Customer Reviews

Secuestro Express

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is an awesome suspense and action movie, representing the reality of venezuela, when you see it you will be amazed and everybody I know that actually lives here (my friends and family went out of the cinema shocked of the country we are living in), the sad part IS ALL TRUE and it's one of those movies you can't leave the cinema to go to the bathroom you will be hypnotized and wondering in EVERY PART what's going to happen next. It's so realistic that Venezuelan government has forbidden the movie to be played on cinemas other than the capital, and the film will not be released for the national market

There's so much to say when seeing this movie, specially because I live in Caracas - Venezuela and have been a victim of the cotidianity of this place.
This movie pictures a reality often ignored by people that don't confront it day by day. Poverty can become an influence, envy can become a lifestyle and hate its just a reality among us. Its a hard critic to the differences in society, of the degradation in our lives, and just so makes you thing about the importance we often give to being wealthy or poor, to have possesions or to be bare...
This movie its completelly different from previous Venezuelan productions, shows the young vision of a new filmaker and brings new blood into a genre that in our country is not well placed... Films that is...
The actors, many well trained and some amateurs, like Budú, Niga & Trece, show perfect characterizations, and the camera work, even when inspired in many new time movies, shows a different proposal.
In the country of Telenovelas, with movies like Secuestro Express, that make such a critic & studied composition of reality, one might think, maybe its time to forget about the narrow little box and expand to the big screen.

This film was very well made and I would reccomend it most people. However, that is not the purpose of this review. Many people suggest in the other reviews that this film is a accurate repesentation of Venezuelan life. While this is accurate and does happen, one should not take away the impression that all Venezuelans have been kidnapped- or that anyone visiting Venezuela will be a target. True, it is necessary to take precautions that some cultures (specifically Americans) are not accustomed to. Yet, remember this is a film about crime set in Venezuela, not a film about the entire culture of Venezuela.

Excelente película. Retrata vividamente la realidad que se vive en las grandes ciudades Latinoamericanas , llamese Ciudad de México, Bogotá o Caracas. Bravo por el director

Its a great as a movie that tries to portray all Latin American reality in less than 2 hours. Its nice to see some new Latin American talent trying to breakthrough in a filmmakers world. Its a little exaggerative but a very nice film, a thrilling ride.

But I got to admit that this movie brought a lot of controversy into my house, at first I was shocked I didnt believe that my city, the city where I lived most of my life was like that , then it came anger to the movie makers for making such an exaggerated film like that and finally it came acceptance that it truly represents Latin America in a sense that the corruption, drugs, injustice, poverty is all there.

The movie gets unrealistic when all the situations that the characters live occur in a period of a couple of hours and in the same day and to the same people. Its true that kidnappings in Venezuela occurs, its true that drugs occurs, its also true that carjacking, robbery occurs daily and thorugout the city but its also an exageration to say that if you go there it will occur all to you and only in a day.

Dont make assupmtions about it, I lived in Caracas over 10 years ans nothing ever happened to me. GREAT MOVIE!!!

When I decided to watch this movie; I did not expected anything new from it; Usually this type of films are violent but with not messages· Secuestro Express is an intelligent movie; funny; tenebrous; surprising;realistic and gripping!!!
At the end you really have to think about it!

An X-ray of the Venezuelan way of living. Only after seeing this movie, which might seem like fiction but it is not, one can understand what it is to live in a Latin American city like Caracas: a city packed with drugs, violence and corruption - where regular citizens are on their own with no protection whatsoever.
The sad part is that for us, venezuelans, watching this film feels "TOO CLOSE TO HOME". I know at least 8 people who have gone thru similar experiences.

Secuestro express (2005) is a movie definitely rooted in the
today's hip hop and pop/MTV-like culture, which is remarkable
for a movie with action centering in Venezuela.

The story tells of a kidnapping by gangsters in Caracas, on a
Friday or a Saturday night, after a 28-ish couple has gone out
clubbing.

The movie is extremely articulate in detailing the dynamics of
such an event, the greed in getting money, jewelery, narcotics,
sex by those perpetrating it, the anarchy, split-second
decision making by those involved in what to do next, who
lives, who dies, how much random is required, and so on.

The gangster actors chosen, are very street-like, in terms of
how down to earth they are, in their appearance.

But the film's exceptional presence, is Mia Maestro, who
astonishingly, and naturally expresses a spectrum of emotions,
tailor-made for the visual medium, such as despair, fear, drug
induced incoherence, joy, and other sentiments. Her style is
reminescent of Nathalie Portman (Where the Heart Is), in terms
of a remarkable presence, or even, Gloria Darpino (West New
York, for example.)

The movie moralizes about the disparity in living standards,
between the rich and the professional classes vs. everyone
else, and how feelings of jealousy, frustration, and hurt in
personal pride often is the case, when the first group flaunts
their status symbols and possessions to the latter group. It
suggests this is a sufficient enough motive to carry out
kidnappings.

The story is perhaps inclined and too rushed in its alleging of
bribe taking among patrol officers, as a city cop takes 1/2 Kg
of coke in exchange for letting the gang pass a checkpoint, or
even, towards the end, a group of officers locks up the girl,
perhaps with malicious intentions.

Incredibly, actual taking out of 2 or more victims in the
actual kidnapping is shown, when paradoxically, at first the
gang requires the victim to not look at their faces, but
shortly after, forgets to emphasize that same request again,
thereafter, and allow the girl to go free.

The psychology of selecting a car-jacking victim is explained,
as the elderly is frowned up due to their more fragile system,
or the poor, who will fail to cobble up the required random.

A detailing of expectations is laid out by the gang including
forcing an ATM withdrawal, purchasing multiple Rolex watches at
the jewelry outlet, a ransom required from family members.

Weapons seem to be on hand, without difficulty, including shot
guns, Uzi, pistols, knives, etc.

The narco-trafficking and narco-consumption aspect is
underlined greatly, as ecstasy, coke, ganja is suggested as
commonplace by all social classes in the country, no matter
their wealth or status.

A fair bit of street voyeurism, is indulged by the director, to
emphasize its street credibility and hip hop style soundtrack.

Realistically, the movie suggests that, even in gangs, there
may not be unanimity in terms of bad deeds, but the less
desperate one may be out-voted by the other members, and may
have to deal with that.

Overall, the movie is successful, in showing the total fear
experienced by victims in such an order, over a short period of
time. A keeper, with subtitles as it's Spanish.

Secuestro Express came to my attention through the recommendation of friends from South America. Many North Americans are aware of the huge problem with kidnappings in Mexico City and in parts of Colombia, but few are aware that it is a big problem in Caracas as well. Secuestro Express is a harrowing film that highlights the problem there, hints at its causes, and rhetorically proposes a solution.
Caracas is a big, modern city bursting with entrepreneurial energy. But it is also a place where tightly packed barrios of the poor crowd the hillsides in a rabbit's warren of poverty and despair. One of the things some of the idle of the barrios do is to kidnap middle-class and wealthy people in hopes of getting a lot of money with little effort. Secuestro Express is the fictionalized story of one couple who was kidnapped and the hate-fueled brutality of their kidnappers.
I won't recount the film, but the kidnappers not only extort money, they use the threat of murder (actual murder as well), rape (including homosexual sodomy), and physical torture to degrade and dehumanize both the victims and those who will pay the ransom. Two of the kidnappers seem to get as big thrill out of the physical and psychological brutality as they do out of the prospect of easy money. The third kidnapper shows a few shreds of human feeling and does his best to thwart his fellows' basest urges.
I would give this five stars, but there are a few scenes which are not really believable. One is where the kidnapped fiance is sodomizing rather than being sodomized by the gay drug dealer who is a friend of the kidnappers. Another is where Carla joins the kidnappers in ridiculing her fiance, although her disgust with having seen her boyfriend buggering the drug dealer is understandable.
Otherwise, the film imparts an overall feeling of menace, dread, and loathing. The almost non-stop electrifying action will keep you on the edge of your seat especially the "release scene" toward the end, the anti-climactic "rescue" and the re-release. Though, as some reviewers suggest, the movie often becomes Tarantino-esque, there are elements of reality throughout. The seeming intractability of the city's problems, from the drug-fueled violence of the barrios to the endemic police corruption, makes the viewer wonder about the city's future.
Secuestro Express is in Spanish with English subtitles. The value of this DVD is enhanced by the inclusion of some worthwhile extras. If you enjoy a well-made action film and have a high tolerance for extreme violence and the filthiest language, then this is a film that should be on your list.

Martin and Carla are a couple of rich kids out for a night of coke fueled partying at the country club. They are abducted by three street thugs - Budu, Niga and Trece. From here the film proceeds through a series of wild events involving sex, drugs and violence, as the three kidnappers attempt to extort money from the wealthy families of their victims.

This movie is both more intelligent than your typical gangster movie and more terrifying than your typical horror movie. The three kidnappers, for example, are shown to be capable of brutal violence. But there is more to them than only this. For example, Budu is also a loving father with an interest in painting. The victims are shown to have a dark side as well. Martin, probably the most disgusting character in the movie, is willing to leave his girlfriend to be murdered in order to achieve his own escape.

Some reviewers have complained this movie presents a negative image of Venezuela. But Venzuela, just like the United States, is a country with many aspects to it. Of course, most Venezuelans are honest, hard working, family people. Unfortunately, poverty, crime and corruption also exist in Venezuela and this is a movie willing to ask the tough questions about race, class and social justice.

At the end an epilogue is presented concerning poverty induced crime and violence - should we "confront the monster or invite it to dinner". This is a very series question being raised in countries around the world. But perhaps has a particular importance in Venezuela with Chavez now in power. Hopefully other Latin American nations are able to adress their social and economic problems before more tyrants, like Chavez, are able to seize control.