Frantic

Frantic is the tale of a happy married couple having their 20th Anniversary celebrated in The City of Lights while also combining a medical convention Dr. Walker (Ford) must attend. All is disrupted by an accidental switching of identical suitcases. One case contains the clothing articles of his wife Sondra ( Broadway actress/singer and 70's Eight Is Enough step mom Betty Buckley) and the other, well, you will have to find out by watching the dvd, an item the bad guys want. In an attempt of desperation to retrieve this suitcase and its contents they kidnap Sondra and hold her in exchange for the case with it's valuable contents. Dr. Walker must now rescue his wife with the aid of a street smart French gal named Michelle (Emmanuelle Seigner) who is also entangled in this dangerous web of intrigue and may possess the key to the entire mystery...

What will mystify some viewers is something that a critic pointed out years ago. Here it is...If the bad guys knew what the suitcase looked like containing the merchandise, then why didn't they just run into the hotel room and snatch it? Instead, they left the suitcase behind but take the wife...Thought to ponder. But, then, again, such a quick and witty resolve on the part of the bad guys would have resulted in an extremely short film !

Moody and somewhat atmospheric is the way to describe Frantic. Moody and atmospheric also applies to the soundtrack performed by Ennio Morricone. A soundtrack which harkens back to the 70's detective t.v. series like Streets of San Francisco or Mannix but with a contemporary feel (use of orchestration with horns and electric guitar or bass). Throughout the film a song by Grace Jones entitled "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)" is ominously used to add to Frantic's feel.Frantic also possesses an 80's dated quality in music and fashion in quite a few club scenes but with that Parisian or European panache (in a good 80's way, er, ah, if that is at all possible). So, if you are looking for a Ford film with a bit of cinematic scenic style, a somber yet catchy soundtrack, Parisian setting, a hankering for reliving the 80's then Frantic is the ticket !

Of course, in the hands of the master Roman Polanski, Frantic is fantastically made and brilliantly directed. Even Harrison Ford, by far not one of my favorite actors (to me, Ford's career begins and ends with three classic characters: Han Solo, Indiana Jones and Rick Deckard. Everything he's done since 'Temple Of Doom' is just the same old character over and over again) turns in a respectable and believable performance. The trouble is Frantic lacks the depth we've come to expect from Polanski classics like Chinatown, Rosemary's Baby or Tess. It actually looks more like a Hitchcock than a Polanski - and that goes for more than just the plot, which is probably an intentional Hitchcock homage. The whole thing looks - unlike other Polanski films - not like an intricate and finely crafted piece of cinema which took two or three years to make, but like a simple story with simple schematic characters which is told in an intricate and clever way by a director who makes two or three movies a year, like Hitchcock. The only character in the movie that is structured and complete is Ford's; Michelle is quite intriguing (not to mention extremely attractive) but fails to make an impression and leaves as abruptly as she appears. As for Mrs. Walker, she serves more as a houseplant than as a human character. The rest of the characters are nothing more than aids or obstacles in Walker's frantic chase, though most of them are portrayed by talented actor who hand in satisfactory performances in their small parts.

Aside from all that, Frantic is quite an entertaining movie, if your expectations aren't TOO high; don't expect this to be another Chinatown. It's a well made, well built schematic thriller that treads familiar grounds and does what it's meant to do, which is thrill, suspend and entertain. As such, it's a fantastic thriller with great acting and directing, good suspense and a good share of comic relief. Not essential for Polanski fans, but worth the watch.