The Captive

Sometimes your hunch can be completely off. Doesn't matter if you're a good cop otherwise. And this is just one of the sub-stories that are woven into the story. A story that is very close to reality, which makes this tough to watch. Ryan Reynolds is our driving force as his character (and his wife) cannot forget and forgive what happened to them. Who's fault is it though? Can it be on persons fault at all? The time-line hopping tries to keep the suspense up, which doesn't always succeed though.

The performances are great and you always can relate to the people involved. It might get a bit too much towards the end (not sure everyone will like how this goes on towards the finale), but it's generally a decent thriller and a "good" watch

Let me start by stating this isn't the greatest movie ever made - You've only got to look at some of the other reviews to see that. However...

I actually really enjoyed it (maybe because I'm the father of a 10 year old girl, and so could perhaps relate easier, IDK??). Anyway, it really got me hooked from the beginning. Sorry all you haters but it deserves better than a 5/10 score.

Many people moan about the confusing timeline. I honestly can't say I struggled with the story going back and forth. The actors appearances altered accordingly with age, hairstyles, etc... the story actually seemed fairly straight forward to follow without any difficulty. I can easily get muddled up in an awkward film if I lose interest - maybe that's what happened to all the negative critics on here??? Overall, an enjoyable movie (despite the disturbing story) that I'll undoubtedly recommend to family and friends.

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...

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.

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.