The Captive

This is the last time I take into consideration negative reviews + a low rating. I was very undecided about going to see this movie due to this bad habit of reading reviews on IMDb. It is not the first time a low rated movie turns out to be great, but it is certainly the greatest contrast between reviews and the actual movie. This just proves that most users are probably persons who don't understand a well constructed narrative and don't have an eye for beautiful cinematography. Ryan Reynolds does a great job and so do his co-stars. I also admire Mr. Atom Egoyan for writing, directing and producing this movie. It is a good movie. Go watch it and don't let the rating create low expectations. Hopefully it will exceed the current 5.8.

It's an interesting film with many good character studies but so confusing because of its jumping all over the place timeline. Very difficult to keep track of what's going on.

I'm a big movie bro man guy. Before I delve into a movie I first look at the IMDb rating, read the summary, and then read the reviews. The summary of the movie interested me but I did not have high hopes given the 5/10 rating. Watching this film, I was actually very entertained. I was hanging on the edge of my seat with my eyes glued to the screen.

Right off the rip, the film lets you know what happens to the little girl and who the captor is. The entire movie is the parents working with what seems like the best pedophile detectives ever assembled looking for their daughter. The movie does this Pulp Fiction thing with the past and the present scenes flipping and flopping back and forth to tell the story. No where near Pulp Fiction level, but the film gets the job done telling the story with it.

Viewing this movie it seemed more like a 7 rather than a 5/10. Until the final 15 minutes... Once the climax has hit I like a film to build its ending to a fulfilling satisfying conclusion. Once the end had arrived everything was slammed at you instantly and "Voila!", movie done. I'm not even exaggerating either. There was no build up or suspense to it at all. I can't be remotely descriptive without completely spoiling it. Poor finish to what could have been a good 7.5 film. The potential was there, the delivery was strong but poor finish.

The acting performances were "good". Nothing award worthy or anything, but the cast did "good". Except for Ryan Reynolds. I mean he could have at least tried a little harder to actually look like a devastated father who just lost his only daughter not knowing if she is dead or alive. Instead he looked more like a father who just lost his daughter at a Chuck E. Cheese's for 2 hours who was actually hiding in the ball pit the whole time...

Naturally, I was intrigued by "The Captive", great plot and amazing actors, what could possibly go wrong? From the start, I could tell this movie was going to have a ton of flashbacks, which is fine, until those flashbacks kinda become irrelevant because the viewer has no idea which flashback comes first. Strike 1. The introduction of Scott Speedman was a treat, until he was a bit weird acting and since that was never explained, I guess that was just his character?.. Then the part where Ryan Reynolds character has an abusive past was brought up (in reference to plot), then was never to be heard of again. Strike 2. Still don't know much about the wife's character. Strike 3. No explanation about the relationship of the two detectives (Dawson & Speedman) but since Dawson seemed to have a picture of Speedman's niece in her office, it's to be assumed they're in a relationship. OK. And for the focus to be the family of the missing girl, I feel it rarely focused on them. Strike 4.

This movie just needed a lot of tweaking. Starting with some back story of the characters at the beginning. And less flashbacks. More explanations. And more focus on how the unit was actually working towards finding the missing child.

Once again the actual ratings on IMDb are not correct at all to me. This movie deserves a lot more then a 5.8 rating. If it was not for the ending that wasn't that great I would have give it an eight. But for the rest I was really entertained by The Captive. The story is well written and keeps you interested during the whole movie. I'm not a huge fan of movies where the story goes back and forth from past to present but in this one it didn't really bothered me. The cast was well chosen and they all gave us a good performance, especially Mireille Enos. Ryan Reynolds a bit lesser but it was okay. I really felt the disgust for pedophiles through the whole movie. Disgusting predators that should be locked up for life. The movie gives you a good view about their disturbed minds and their complete absence of feelings for their victims. A good movie to watch, don't trust the ratings on here.