Trapped

Meet Joe Hickley, an intense, professional kidnapper played expertly by Kevin Bacon. His plan? Kidnap a child from wealthy parents, hold him or her for ransom, intimidate and control the wife while the husband is away, then force the husband to come up with the ransom money. Joe's plan has been flawless. Until he takes the wrong child. From the wrong parents.

Charlize Theron plays mother to Dakota Fanning in the first film that made me sit up and take notice of this sensational child actress. Dakota's role as an asthmatic child is played to perfection, although her natural pallor I'm sure helped with her role. Charlize plays a mother who is first horrified to find her child missing, terrified of the strange intruder (Bacon) in her house, but then she comes through and begins to fight as we hope most mother's would. You can't help but cheer her on.

Stuart Townsend plays the handsome, floatplane-jetting doctor who is stalked by Bacon's partner in crime, Courtney Love. And while he's fending off Courtney, Bacon's other partner has Dakota stashed away in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. This fragile looking sweetie shows her own smarts and strengths, and holds her own among her peers.

It is the immediate non-stop action of this film that hooked me into watching it three times. And Dakota's stunning performance. That girl has acting in her blood! From the second the movie starts to the chase scene at the end, the tension doesn't let up. Charlize is believable in her mother role and the energy between her and Bacon sizzles just enough to make your skin crawl. Bacon is scarily in his element in this type of role.

All in all, the performances were very good, the plot raced by and rarely slowed, the emotions were well acted and the ending, satisfying. For an action-packed thriller and a smorgasbord of delectable actors, check out Trapped. This is one of my all-time favorites.

~ Cheryl Kaye Tardif, [...]

After reading "The quiet game" and "24 hours", Greg Iles' books became constant on my "List of books to buy". Iles, to me, is like the earlier John Grisham , the good Grisham, who could write thrillers like "A time to kill" and "The firm".

"Trapped" is a movie based on Iles' "24 hours". It deals with a group of kidnappers who have devised the "perfect kidnapping plan", as Joey, the head of the gang, puts it: by separating the father, the mother, and the child, and by placing phone calls every thirty minutes, the kidnappers have total control of the situation. But this time it's not going to be that easy.

The book is gripping, thrilling and very well written in the sense that all characters' reactions are true to real life. When I knew that there was a movie based on "24 hours", featuring the beautiful Charlize Theron, the competent Kevin Bacon and with a screenplay written by the same author, I wanted to watch it right away. Unfortunately, the result is not the one I expected.

"Trapped" is one of those examples where the transition from print to screen is kind of traumatic. While the text makes the reader turn the pages faster, the movie scenes are rushed and make the viewers role their eyes. While the plot on text is believable, the plot on screen lacks elements so that the viewer fully understands what's going on. While reading the book, I could picture anyone I wanted as Joey, but watching the movie I had to put up with Bacon's worst acting in years. Once again, Charlize Theron is competent, and Pruett Taylor Vince is another good surprise.

Even so, with all these problems, "Trapped" is mildly entertaining and fast-paced, even if somewhat predictable. Greg Iles is an above average author, but needs polishment as a screenplay writer.

Grade 6.5/10

Based upon a novel by Greg Iles, this movie absolutely Rocks!

Joe (Kevin Bacon) is a child kidnapper. He's done it before and he does it again. This time he choses Karen Jenning's family and in broad daylight he forces himself into her house and gets hold of Abigail, Karen's daughter.
But this time it is different. Abigail is asthmatic and she could die in kidnapper hands!

What'll happen next???
You better watch it yourself! :)

From the time Abigail gets kidnapped until the end of the movie you'll feel that you're sitting on thorns or you'll bite all your nails until "there's none".

Highly Recommended