| Trapped Columbia Pictures Starring Charlize Theron, Kevin Bacon, Dakota Fanning, Stuart Townsend, Pruitt Taylor Vince, and Courtney Love *******May Contain Spoilers******* Directed by Luis Mandoki, Trapped is a stirring film adaptation of the fantastic novel, 24 Hours. Charlize Theorn stars as Karen Jennings, a beautiful woman who has a beautiful family. Her husband, Will (Stuart Townsend), is an award winning doctor, and her daughter Abby (Dakota Fanning) is the spitting image of her mother. Karen's world spins apart however, when one fateful day after husband departs on business, she finds Abby missing, and a strange man, Joe (kevin Bacon) in her house. Joe is an expert kidnapper. He holds the mother hostage, his cousin Marvin (Pruitt Taylor Vince), the child, and his wife Cheryl, holds the father. In order to get Abby back, Karen and Will must follow all the rules within the next 24 Hours, or they will never see her again. Although the film strays away from the novel quite often, I found myself completely engrossed in the film. The direction is fantastic. We get beautiful, long aerial shots mixed in with gritty, raw, shots of the actors. Mandoki really has a knack for story telling. The acting is what really drives the film. Charlize Theron blew me out of the water with her brutal performance as Karen, the mother who'd do anything for her child. Ms. Theron brought out so many raw emotions, anger, sadness, vengeance, happiness, despair.....she was fantastic. Kevin Bacon, who in all honesty is always good in any role, was a brilliant at playing a psycho. His mannerisms and facial expressions were so effectively creepy that I forgot that it was even him up there on screen. Dakota Fanning proves yet again that she is one of the few child actors who can actually act. I praise this child for giving such a gut-wrenchingly difficult performance to do. Pruitt Taylor Vince and Courtney Love both were great in their supporting performances. Stuart Townsend was the weak link in the bunch. He was decent, however he didn't show much emotion as a man whose wife is being held hostage and whose child is abducted. In all honesty, I thought that Trapped was a very good thriller. It's a disturbing, suspenseful, well acted, beautifully directed, and well plotted film. A- |