Customer Reviews

Vanishing, the

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This movie arrived within the estimated time frame and in excellent condition. This is a very suspenseful movie that kept me on the edge of my seat all the way to the end. The movie shows what a person that is really in love will go through to find out what happens to someone who disappears.

Yes, it's a Hollywood remake of a Dutch/French "classic". No, it isn't subtitled. Yes, it does have a fantastic cast, most especially the gorgeous and talented Mr Sutherland. And sadly, yes, the ending is bad.

Let me get one thing off my chest, first of all. This is a remake...in a different language. All you sad acts who compared this to the original probably marked it down because it didn't have subtitles. Face facts guys, you only watch foreign films because it makes you feel clever, therefore any film that dares try and take a subtitled film and put it in a more accessible format can't possibly be good because it brings you down to the level of Hollywood 'plebs'. GET OVER YOUR OWN SELF-INFLATED EGOS!! Why you can't you enjoy a film purely in itself, without your damn incessant comparing using big words. You're not big, you're not clever; you are boring and narrow-minded. Foreign cinema does not broaden your horizons, it merely places you 3 steps higher on an intellectual ladder that exists solely in your own heads.

I, in my own little head, enjoyed the film. It was good, not brilliant, so I gave it 4 stars mainly to raise the average rating to save it from snobs like you lot. The ending, however, was pure Hollywood stilton but did not taint my enjoyment of the film; I'm not petty like some I could berate.

The gist of the film, basically, is that Kiefer Sutherland has spent the last three years of his life trying to find his missing girlfriend, Diane (Bullock), who was abducted and subsequently (yes, I know big words too. Foreign film fans beware!!) buried alive by the evil psychopath, Bridges (who acted a little hammily!). Travis plays the new girlfriend who must constantly live in Diane's shadow. As Sutherland gets furhter drawn into this macabre cat-and-mouse game with Bridges, so Travis must try to extricate herself from the situation.

The finale is fantastic, even gripping, and Sutherland is well on par throughout. My advice? Enjoy the film, forget it's a remake, and if you can't be satisfied with that, stick your head up your own hmm-hmm-hmm and buy the foreign film so that you don't waste mine, and other people's time, with your incessant whinging and ego-boosting. BIG WORDS AND FOREIGN FILMS ARE NOT A SIGN OF INTELLIGENCE!!

Well, what can I say? Other than I was deeply impressed with how a film can create so much suspense with hardly any action or nail biting scenes. The only other film that can create such a docile form of suspense is Hitchcock's "Rear Window." The suspense of this film is brilliantly done, because as we follow the main character, we are asking the same questions he is and we never lose interest.

Dianne (Bullock) mysteriously vanishes while her boyfriend Jeff (Sutherland) is waiting for her outside some gas joint. When she doesn't show, he calls the police and goes through the typical missing person's routine of anxiety. We feel for Jeff instantly because the panic in both his expressions and performance are real. He's scared, worried, and with good reason.

Well, things begin to look up temporarily for Jeff when he meets Rita, who becomes his new girlfriend despite being unable to find Dianne. But hold on, Jeff still loves Dianne, and wants to still find her even though he is just beginning a new life with Rita. This emotionally tears at Jeff and he finds himself torn between a woman who he loved that is gone and a woman who he is loving and is there.

Now bring in the kidnapper Barney (Bridges), who kidnapped Bullock as an experiment and without malice. Barney is the most well done character in this film, because he we don't hate him, not initially, even though what he is planning to do and does is wrong. We like him but we don't. He seems harmless but what did he do to Dianne?

This movie is one of those that tears at you. You're torn along with Jeff over Dianne or Rita. You're torn on the character of Barney: just eccentric or flat out evil? You're torn on Jeff's biggest decisions. This is a highly entertaining movie because you love the suspense these divisions create. You want to find out what happened to Dianne and what Barney is really all about.

Now, the bad news. I gave this film four stars for two distinct reasons. The first is because I never did fully grasp why Barney wanted to kidnap someone. Although I praise his character, the one flaw in it is motive. He wants to kidnap as a form of experiment, but surely there must be something else, something deeper. The movie tries to explain his deep down reasons to why he does what he does but it is muddled and difficult to fully understand why. I guess one could rest at ease by just labeling him a typical looney.

The second problem I have with this movie is that I think it's a one time watch. Meaning, you'll see it the first time, think it's great, but then never watch it again. It's because this movie survives by portraying the unknown. You don't know anymore than Jeff does about what happened to Dianne, so you watch in eager anticipation. But once you know what happened, is it ever even remotely as entertaining to see it again? Sure, you can say this about any movie. The difference is that this movie's only and biggest draw is, again, the unknown.

So I do recommend this movie, to those of you who like psychological thrillers, and love movies that keep you wide awake with subtle suspense and tremendous believability in both plot and acting. But beware, it may not be the kind of film you'll want to see again and again. Because this movie never vanishes from your memory.

Grade: B+

I can't compare it to the original since I've never seen it so I'm sure this might not go over well with those like the original film. I love this movie for so many elements. Jeff's (Sutherland) tortured soul, the sweetness and vulnerability of Diane (Bullock), the gutsy, fiesty nature of Rita (Travis) and the downright creepiness of Barney (Bridges). I can't even look at him through most of the movie he's so eerie. This is an edge of your seat thriller from beginning to end and I'd give anything for it to be released on DVD in the US.

While everyone seems to be blasting this film for being a "holywood ripoff" i think if you take another look you might discover something else. For me, I had never seen the orginal 1988 version, so i had nothing to be expecting when watching this. I loved the movie, sent shivers down my spine. Just how far would you go to find out the truth? Anyways, the actors were all very well cast and did a fantasitic job! I loved this movie, gave me the creeps. I suggest you open your mind up to a remake!

,,The Vanishing'' is the kind of movie which really keeps you tied to the sofa and doesn't let you use the remote control for even a second. It's a really surprising thriller, but underneath its characters and situations there is a much deeper meaning.
The story is the following: a young couple- Jeff (Keifer Southerland) and Diane Shaver(Sandra Bullock) returns home after spending a weekend near Mountain Saint Helens. At a gas-station, Diane goes to buy some beer but never returns. Jeff doesn't give up the hope and keeps looking for her ,as 3 years elapse... He finds a woman to rebuild his life with (Rita - Nancy Travis), but the memory of Diane doesn't allow him to continue his life. He's permanently asking himself where she is, whether she is dead or maybe living happily somewhere... The thought of not-knowing is too painful.
At the same time, Barney(Jeff Bridges) is a strange chemistry-teacher, with a wife and daughter, apparently a normal, pleasant person, but who is ,in fact, a weird kind of psycho, obssesed with the perfect kidnapping. After three years, he contacts Jeff telling him that he is the one who kidnapped Diane 3 years ago, and that he is willing to let him know the truth, with one condition: to accept being submitted to the same experience as Diane. Jeff accepts to lead the same horrific path as his beloved Diane.
This is the story, mainly, but what really attracted me was the opposition between Jeff and Barney. For Jeff, Diane is the love of his life...while for Barney she is nothing superior to an experiment.Her life means nothing for him. A person can mean so much to someone and so little to someone else... Also, Jeff's drama is the drama of not-knowing...he doesn't know if Diane just abandoned him or if something happened to her...He just wants an answer, and until that happens, his life cannot be the same as before...
Although brief, Sandra Bullock makes a really good and convincing performance as Diane Shaver, the missing girlfriend.

I love this movie. It didn't open in the theatres with a bang and a lot of people, I have found, have never heard of this film at all. It's pretty surprising since The Vanishing boasts a pretty strong cast. What I can tell you is that if you haven't seen the European version (I still haven't), this is a wonderful thriller and a must see. I have shown this movie to multiple friends and they all came away loving it. I don't understand with all the horrible and unknown movies making it to DVD these days, why a good film like this hasn't made it to DVD. I can honestly tell you that this is one of my favorite movies of all-time.

This movie is typical of Hollywood. They take a truly original European movie and dumb it down for American audiences. If you want to see a truly original, frightening movie that will stay with you DO NOT SEE THIS FILM!!! Buy or rent the orginal Dutch verision. That movie is worth seeing several times over. This movie is not.

I remember thinking I couldn't possibly bear to sit through an entire movie with Kiefer Sutherland AND Sandra Bullock, but as I did, I kind of forgot I was. The movie clearly kept an eerie feeling lurking about me. But, there was just something, I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Now I can. American remake of a better original. Given the American made movies we have to choose, I suppose it is better than most. Gotta run, have to order the original. Thank you to the other reviews for the info about the original. I have to get out more.

This remake of Sluzier's own 1988 Dutch thriller (this also being directed by him) stays fairly true to the original until, as mentioned before, the ghastly ending, which destroys the film.

Performances are fine. This film is full of actors I do not like but I must admit I did like their performances. Sutherland gives a find obsessive performance. Bullock is sweet and charming (making her outcome quite horrific) and Bridges is quite creepy, though he still doesn't beat the suave, calm and calculating performance given by Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu in the original.

While it definitely still wasn't meeting with the original, this thriller was doing quite fine and remained fairly smart, but it is destroyed by the "happy" ending. The original scared me, leaving an incredible and haunting impression and the final images are burned in my mind forever. This remake is barely passable Hollywood entertainment at best.