Halle Berry doesn’t do much nowadays for whatever reason so it is definitely nice to see her in a film once again. This film had been delayed so many times that I forgot about it. I don’t quite understand why that was the case but here it is now
Synopsis: A typical afternoon in the park turns into a nightmare for single mom Karla Dyson when her son suddenly disappears. Without a cell phone and knowing she has no time to wait for police help, Karla jumps in her own car and sets off in pursuit of the kidnappers. A relentless, edge-of- your seat chase ensues, where Karla must risk everything to not lose sight of her son. One mother’s heroic attempt to take back her son leads her to ask herself how far she will go to save her child. (eOne Films)
Starring: Halle Berry, Sage Correa, and Chris McGinn
Writer: Knate Lee
Director: Luis Prieto
Rating: 14A (Canada)/R (United States)
Running Time: 95mins
Trailer:
For showtimes and more, check out Kidnap on movietimes.com.
For as long as there have been movies, there are ones that most tend to have running on television on a weekend when there is nothing on. This scenario will probably be this film’s destiny. To truly enjoy the film, one must suspend all belief seeing that film, for the most part, was a big, stupid, and trashy revenge thriller about a woman named Karla Dyson (Berry) trying to get her son (Correa) back after he is kidnapped.
In terms of plot, it is rather simple with the story starting right away. Sure, there was a little more going on but it ultimately had no impact on the plot as it was in essence, Karla’s journey to get her son back. Now many have probably scene the car chases depicted in the film’s many trailers. Most of the film consists of these chases with Dyson in her trusty Chrysler Town & Country seemingly right away and doesn’t spend that much time outside of it. Because of this, the film feels like a 95 minute Chrysler commercial with the film constantly reminding us what kind of vehicle she’s driving.
The car chases themselves were not original at all but were still sort of exciting to watch. With her son kidnapped early on, the majority of the film followed Kayla around and talking to herself and her son in the other car, pumping herself up as she chased the unknown kidnapper’s car. Not much was revealed until later on, however it would have been nice to put a face on the person in the other car sooner to add some more purpose to her mission. As it was more about the chase than the reason behind it, the motive of the kidnapping was more of an afterthought which was par for the course with this film.
The plot was extremely predictable so nothing should come as much of a surprise. Intentional or not, some of the action sequences were funny to watch. Based on the idea of a child being kidnapped, it is easy to make the comparison to the Taken series but this film was nothing like that with the biggest difference being the respective skill sets of both protagonists. Bryan Mills was a secret agent while Karla Dyson is a single mother who was fueled by her motherly instinct and adrenaline. Her decision making was not on the same level which led to some frustrating moments.
For what the film was, Berry did a great job at carrying the film as it was only her on screen at least 90% of the time. Berry has always seemed to be better when in distress and this was still the case here. Karla’s love of her son felt genuine and she was very compelling to watch despite the cheesiness of her dialogue and the cheesy nature of the story.
Overall, this was a decent, mindless, so bad it’s good thriller that should still manage to entertain over its relatively short running time. Halle Berry maybe isn’t quite the same actress she used to be but she can still carry a film and makes this still worth the watch.
Score: 6/10
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The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.
