A rehash of 1996's Ransom with younger, prettier parents fighting back against their child's kidnappers, this cheaply manipulative thriller stars the luscious Charlize Theron and darkly charming Stuart Townsend as a rich, happy young couple whose pretty six-year-old daughter (Dakota Fanning, I Am Sam) is snatched in an allegedly foolproof scheme. Kevin Bacon (in cocky scumbag mode) and ex-rocker Courtney Love (in one-step-above cue card mode) are semi-professional criminals who watch each parent until the ransom is paid while Pruitt Taylor Vince (in "duh, George is my friend" mode) holds the kid in a remote cabin in the woods. These jokers start giving away their highly-telegraphed weaknesses so early on it's hard to believe they're supposed to have pulled off four similar kidnappings before. Bacon's smarmy, menacing performance and Theron's emotional resourcefulness provide plenty of tension as mom and dad take the upper hand. But the film falls apart completely in the farfetched last act, which depends on a villain's change of heart and an airplane stunt sequence, among other laughable turns of events. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD extras include commentaries by director Luis Mandoki and by writer Greg Iles, the 20-minute making-of featurette “Trapped From Within,” five deleted scenes, a one-minute alternate ending, cast and crew filmographies, and trailers. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a run of the mill thriller.] (R. Blackwelder)
Trapped
Columbia TriStar, 105 min., R, VHS: $108.99, DVD: $27.95, Dec. 24 Volume 17, Issue 6
Trapped
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