Customer Reviews

Trapped

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I found the story chilling and original. It could happen to anybody. My mom was asking me, doesn't this just encourage criminals/kidnappers to try this sort of thing? A kidnap-ransom that happens in a completely planned out environment and only lasts exactly 24 hours. No one gets hurt, the ransom is a reasonable ($50,000) amount (for a wealthy family). The child is abducted and taken to a faraway location. Joe (played by Kevin Bacon) stays with the mother and explains the house rules. Cheryl (Courtney Love) babysits the husband, and Marvin (Pruitt Vince) watches the child. The house rules are simple. Every 30-minutes the kidnappers contact each other via cellphone to let each other know things are going according to plan. The next morning, the wife is to make arrangements to transfer the money for the husband to pick up. The husband picks up the money and hands it to Cheryl. Marvin brings the child to a rendezvous point where Joe will leave the mother to reunite with her child. Kidnappers disappear. Crime over.

But what if things don't go according to plan? What if there's more to it than a simple kidnapping? What if the mother attacks, the father gets feisty and the child has asthma? Will the plan change? You betcha. That's what makes this film so suspenseful, and I will guarantee that it leaves you on the edge of your seats. Wonderful performances by Charlize Theron, Kevin Bacon, and Dakota Fanning.

This movie left me feeling as if everyone is vulnerable and never truly safe, especially with the amount of information available out there on any individual. Fictional crimes such as the one described in this film become more and more plausible. Watch it as an eye opener.

LEAP rating (each out of 5):
============================
L (Language) - 3 (Chilling performances. Completely suspenseful that it leaves you at the edge of your seat.)
E (Erotica) - 2 (We see some of Theron's behind. Kevin Bacon is naked in the film. Is there a film where he isn't?)
A (Action) - 4 (Airplane landing on a highway, crazy doctor taking advantage of his knowledge on paralytic drugs, private parts almost getting cut off...)
P (Plot) - 4 (Highly believable, and well conceived kidnap-ransom plan.)

Recently, I bought Trapped on DVD and enjoyed it. The film featured some strong performances and intensity, but as some of you know did horribly in the box-office. I was really eager to see this film because I almost had a chance of seeing it in theatres, but you know there was a huge difficulty with that.
Anyway, Trapped is based on the novel: 24 Hours, by Greg Iles. To be honest, I didn't read the book so I can't give you a great comparison but from seeing the movie, which was good I can bet the book would be even better.
The plot of the film is excellent, with a well conceived/concocted plan, devised by Kevin Bacon and Courtney Love, who are the villans so to speak in the film. Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend are a happily married couple and have a daughter. Soon, Kevin Bacon's plan goes into action and he kidnaps her daughter but there's much more to the kidnapping than you think, for it's a kidnapping for ransom. Over a 24 hour
period the couple's money is being extorted into Bacon's and Love's hands. After that period is over the child will be relinquished back into the family's hands. So, the film had a great plot, just perhaps there needs to be a few more developments.
The press didn't screen the movie for reviews, and the film duration in theatres was only for about two weeks, which is sorry
to say very pitiful, but all in all I liked this film and reading
the book would be something I'd like to try. Trapped is rated R for Violence, Language and Sexual Content. There is a thrilling action sequence at the end of the film, which I personally enjoyed. There is actually some excessive profanity, not throughout the film but at some certain parts, as for the sexuality it's fairly brief and not explicit. There isn't any nudity.
Trapped, an interesting thriller, with a plot but just didn't do well enough to be a great film in the eyes of many. Own it today on Video and DVD.

Smart casting, fast paced direction, and a few surprising twists enhance this rather typical kidnapping film that you've seen before.

Real-life couple Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend have a sickly child, Dakota Fanning, that is kidnapped by a psychotic man, played with great relish by Kevin Bacon, and his wife, nicely played by Courtney Love. Of course, like all good kidnapping films, the plan goes rather awry and the victims strike back. The films soars in the acting, directing, and pacing departments, but falters in the script which has the actors behave in such a way at times that even our willingness to suspend our disbelief is impossible. The same could be said for several "coincidences" that occur within the film that creak like the worn out cliches that they are.

Nevertheless, the film is suspenseful and is an overall exciting experience as long as you can accept all they throw at you without question.

Spoiler Alert:

I have to note the specifics for the problems within this film, but, unfortunately, that also means giving away some plot twists to do so. Read ahead if you don't mind that.

Problem #1: The kidnappers are supposed to be grief-stricken parents striking back after the loss of their own child's death. Why then the obsession with getting money? How then do they enjoy torturing a little child? How then does Bacon also become a rapist during the revenge kidnapping? None of this really fits with grieving parents striking back at those they think are responsible for their child's death.

Problem #2: How in the world did they all happen to meet up on the highway in the end climax scene? It is all just too impossible to believe or accept. It's the worse contrivance I've seen in years.

Problem #3: Why the unnecessary action sequences in a film where it really doesn't fit? It comes across as "Hey, the producers found some extra money, so we thought we'd throw this in."

Again, the problems are serious in this flawed film, however, it is still an overall decent flick with a great cast.

Although it has a gripping plot, and a spectacular ending, the film tended to drag at points. It has a really great cast, with Kevin Bacon looking actually really good for his age, and Courtney Love being a surprisingly believeable actress, despite suffering a miscarriage during filming.

Thankfully, Charlize Theron & Stuart Townsend, a couple in real life, don't appear on screen together enough, but just enough to show us they have zero chemistry together.

What really surprised me about this movie, was Dakota Fanning's performance. In recent movies I've seen her in, I really didn't like her that much, as she always comes across as a little brat. But in this, she played the part really well, playing an asthmatic little girl, despite being only 8 - although she looks younger. The casting people also did really well choosing her as Charlize Theron's daughter in this, as they could be mother & daughter. And she acts traumatized perfectly.

Kevin Bacon shoved away all my thoughts of Hollow Man (which previously scared the hell out of me), and although not your conventionally handsome actor, he's easy on the eye. Although he has a slightly dodgy looking tattoo of a spider's web on his stomach, there appears to be one on his back too, but I couldn't see it closely enough. Boo.

The ending is fantastic, and definitely makes up for any doubts other viewers may have had during the rest of the movie. The ending is really sad, and I won't ruin anything for anyone who hasn't seen it, but what I do want to know is what happened to Marvin, played by Pruitt Taylor Vince? It's shown what happens to the family, and Courtney Love's character, but I loved Marvin in this, and I desperately wanted to know what happened to him. Maybe it shows in the alternate ending.

The movie has slight feelings of the TV series '24' and also the Johnny Depp film, Nick Of Time. I've never seen '24', but Nick Of Time is also based over a 24-hour period, but is more fast paced than this. Disappointing that this isn't the same.

See this movie if you're a fan of any of the stars (or Stuart Townsend & his gorgeous Irish accent), but don't see if you're a fan of fast paced thrillers. You'll end up bored.

Trapped, while not the best example of acting by Kevin Bacon, it proves to be the opposite for Charlize Theron. A kidnapping for ransom that has a bit more going on. Once again I am very impressed with young actress Dakota Fanning. There are some suspenseful and clever moments and a few ridiculous ones. But the emotion is what does it for me.

A not so typical family responding to a terribe situation in a less than typical way. They don't just take it even though the circumstances require their submission to the events taking place. Sure, there's a happy ending, and I like those, but for a while you're not really sure if that's how it's going to work out. Some mystery. Some time to wonder and worry. I like that too.

I thought Trapped was excellent. It was very suspenseful. The acting was excellent. And the directing was great. Everything about it satsfied me. I really enjoyed it.
I bet you would like it to.
...

Rating: 5/5

This had the potential to be an excellent thriller. I mean to say that you have the acting talents of Kevin Bacon and Charlize Theron and Dakota Fanning. You don't get much better acting than that. However, the story line was bizzare, and the ending was over the top. In the middle though, there are some great tense moments and some good acting. My big question is what the heck is Courtney Love doing in this? She's shocking. Dakota Fanning does another excellent job as the kidnapped asthmatic child of Charlize and her real life boyfriend Stewart Townsend.
Good movie. You should definately see this if you enjoy a good thriller, but trust that it's not going to be the absolute best one out there.

It was a Thursday night, I was tired, wanted to relax, and didn't want to study for my stupid science test. So I turned on my TV and flipped through the channels, only to find this movie on, a movie I had never heard of before. So I decided to give it a chance. Trapped deals with two extremely smart kidnappers who target rich families and kidnap their children for a $250,000 ransom price. So they target the Jennings: a happy, rich couple with their 6-year-old daughter Abigail. The kidnappers kidnap Abigail and their foolproof plan--which they have executed four times in the past successfully and never been caught--suddenly goes awry as they find out Abigail is highly asthmatic and in addition, the Jennings find out more than the kidnappers want them to know. While one kidnapper forces the mother to act as a prostitute at their house, and the kidnapper's wife holds the father hostage in his hotel room away on a business trip, the Jennings hatch a plan to get Abigail back...but there is more than they perceive to this kidnapping. Trapped is ultimately an EXTREMELY exciting, suspenseful, classic nail-biter flick that is fun to watch on a big screen at night with surround sound. The acting is superb, as well, which is rarely seen these days in a non-popular movie like this one. The one thing I didn't like about this film is the ending, which fell completely flat and was very unsatisfactory. It's a good movie overall, but don't knock yourself out with it.

Meet Joe Hickley, an intense, professional kidnapper played expertly by Kevin Bacon. His plan? Kidnap a child from wealthy parents, hold him or her for ransom, intimidate and control the wife while the husband is away, then force the husband to come up with the ransom money. Joe's plan has been flawless. Until he takes the wrong child. From the wrong parents.

Charlize Theron plays mother to Dakota Fanning in the first film that made me sit up and take notice of this sensational child actress. Dakota's role as an asthmatic child is played to perfection, although her natural pallor I'm sure helped with her role. Charlize plays a mother who is first horrified to find her child missing, terrified of the strange intruder (Bacon) in her house, but then she comes through and begins to fight as we hope most mother's would. You can't help but cheer her on.

Stuart Townsend plays the handsome, floatplane-jetting doctor who is stalked by Bacon's partner in crime, Courtney Love. And while he's fending off Courtney, Bacon's other partner has Dakota stashed away in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. This fragile looking sweetie shows her own smarts and strengths, and holds her own among her peers.

It is the immediate non-stop action of this film that hooked me into watching it three times. And Dakota's stunning performance. That girl has acting in her blood! From the second the movie starts to the chase scene at the end, the tension doesn't let up. Charlize is believable in her mother role and the energy between her and Bacon sizzles just enough to make your skin crawl. Bacon is scarily in his element in this type of role.

All in all, the performances were very good, the plot raced by and rarely slowed, the emotions were well acted and the ending, satisfying. For an action-packed thriller and a smorgasbord of delectable actors, check out Trapped. This is one of my all-time favorites.

~ Cheryl Kaye Tardif
Author of Divine Intervention

After reading "The quiet game" and "24 hours", Greg Iles' books became constant on my "List of books to buy". Iles, to me, is like the earlier John Grisham , the good Grisham, who could write thrillers like "A time to kill" and "The firm".

"Trapped" is a movie based on Iles' "24 hours". It deals with a group of kidnappers who have devised the "perfect kidnapping plan", as Joey, the head of the gang, puts it: by separating the father, the mother, and the child, and by placing phone calls every thirty minutes, the kidnappers have total control of the situation. But this time it's not going to be that easy.

The book is gripping, thrilling and very well written in the sense that all characters' reactions are true to real life. When I knew that there was a movie based on "24 hours", featuring the beautiful Charlize Theron, the competent Kevin Bacon and with a screenplay written by the same author, I wanted to watch it right away. Unfortunately, the result is not the one I expected.

"Trapped" is one of those examples where the transition from print to screen is kind of traumatic. While the text makes the reader turn the pages faster, the movie scenes are rushed and make the viewers role their eyes. While the plot on text is believable, the plot on screen lacks elements so that the viewer fully understands what's going on. While reading the book, I could picture anyone I wanted as Joey, but watching the movie I had to put up with Bacon's worst acting in years. Once again, Charlize Theron is competent, and Pruett Taylor Vince is another good surprise.

Even so, with all these problems, "Trapped" is mildly entertaining and fast-paced, even if somewhat predictable. Greg Iles is an above average author, but needs polishment as a screenplay writer.

Grade 6.5/10