This fast paced thriller was well put together and exciting, but there’s nothing original to see here. Its one of those movies that isn’t bad, but its nothing you’re going to remember in a month either. Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy both turn in decent performances, although McAdams outshines Murphy. I hope to see him in a different role next time or he will forever play “Scarecrow.”
At only 87 minutes, the pace of this movie is excellent, especially the first five minutes of setup. The plane ride builds a pretty decent amount of tension, and the assassination threat is intriguing. There’s a nice, small part for Colby Donaldson as head of security for all you Survivor fans. I am still not sure how I feel about reality stars becoming actors because it’s nothing short of distracting. You could feel the whole theater turn to their neighbor when he first appeared on screen.
Unfortunately this movie is ridiculously predictable. Although I have heard that many people are disappointed in the plot, I found it to be pretty clean and straightforward. Wes Craven does a great job of directing, although for the last 10 minutes I felt like I was watching Scream. He seems to have a thing for clumsy, incapable villains and strong, empowered heroines.
Well, you should know how it ends when it begins. There’s nothing surprising here and no clever twists. It actually becomes very anticlimactic. And while you want to believe that she’s desperately trapped into following her captors orders, if you think too hard after the movie is over you realize that her dad was safe until he made a call to the hit man. So why not just keep him from making that call in the beginning?
But if you don’t think too hard, then you can enjoy the ride of a pretty well produced movie. I give it 3 out of 5.
By Tina Alexander
