Scan and Pan
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Captivity
Actress/model Jennifer Tree (Elisha Cuthbert) is stalked, drugged, and awakens in an isolated cell, where she's subjected to psychological and sensory torture by a merciless sociopath (Pruitt Taylor Vince). She discovers a man named Gary (Daniel Gillies) in the next cell, and together they try to escape from their sadistic jailer.
Oscar nominated director Roland Joffé (The Killing Fields, The Mission) plays in the horror genre sandbox for the first time and the result is a disturbing yet compelling thriller made with a high degree of craftsmanship. Joffé builds and maintains the tension throughout, and the violence is more psychologically shocking than graphic in most instances. The screenplay by Larry Cohen (It's Alive, Maniac Cop) and first time screenwriter Joseph Tura isn't particularly subtle and the ending is hardly original, but it knows exactly what's necessary to tell this kind of a story.
The film belongs to a subgenre of horror that's been erroneously labeled by some critics as "torture porn". The 'porn' part of the label implies that audiences are supposed to become aroused by it, but I would suggest that the filmmakers are actually trying to push the limits of what can be done to disturb an audience. In this film, you're supposed to be disturbed by what the main character experiences and sympathize with her, not excited by observing her abuse. Far from being misogynistic, I think it's actually about how misogyny leads to violence against women.
Cinematographer Daniel Pearl (1973's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and its 2003 remake) and production designer Addis Gadzhiyev work with Joffé to create a claustrophobic atmosphere that disorients the audience as much as the characters, with most of the film being shot in a Moscow studio. Marco Beltrami (The Invisible, Live Free or Die Hard) contributes a solid score.
Cuthbert (24) delivers a believable performance as Jennifer, and her terror seems genuine rather than forced. This is the type of film where a performer could easily go over the top, but Cuthbert doesn't. Gillies is merely average as her fellow captor, but he also avoids going too far over the top towards the end. Vince creates a chilling characterization in limited screen time. Laz Alonso and Michael Harney are solid as two cops looking for the missing Jennifer, although one gets the feeling that some of their scenes were edited out.
Captivity isn't going to garner another Oscar nomination for its director, but it achieves what it sets out to do in an unsettling fashion and isn't really deserving of the moral panic it seems to have generated in some quarters. It's a decent B-movie that doesn't overstay its welcome at only 85 minutes of running time.
[3.5 out of 5 stars]
After a controversial marketing campaign lead many critics to declare that this film was contributing to the fall of civilization, I decided to see it and make up my own mind. To my surprise, it's actually an effective horror film.
Actress/model Jennifer Tree (Elisha Cuthbert) is stalked, drugged, and awakens in an isolated cell, where she's subjected to psychological and sensory torture by a merciless sociopath (Pruitt Taylor Vince). She discovers a man named Gary (Daniel Gillies) in the next cell, and together they try to escape from their sadistic jailer.
Oscar nominated director Roland Joffé (The Killing Fields, The Mission) plays in the horror genre sandbox for the first time and the result is a disturbing yet compelling thriller made with a high degree of craftsmanship. Joffé builds and maintains the tension throughout, and the violence is more psychologically shocking than graphic in most instances. The screenplay by Larry Cohen (It's Alive, Maniac Cop) and first time screenwriter Joseph Tura isn't particularly subtle and the ending is hardly original, but it knows exactly what's necessary to tell this kind of a story.
The film belongs to a subgenre of horror that's been erroneously labeled by some critics as "torture porn". The 'porn' part of the label implies that audiences are supposed to become aroused by it, but I would suggest that the filmmakers are actually trying to push the limits of what can be done to disturb an audience. In this film, you're supposed to be disturbed by what the main character experiences and sympathize with her, not excited by observing her abuse. Far from being misogynistic, I think it's actually about how misogyny leads to violence against women.
Cinematographer Daniel Pearl (1973's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and its 2003 remake) and production designer Addis Gadzhiyev work with Joffé to create a claustrophobic atmosphere that disorients the audience as much as the characters, with most of the film being shot in a Moscow studio. Marco Beltrami (The Invisible, Live Free or Die Hard) contributes a solid score.
Cuthbert (24) delivers a believable performance as Jennifer, and her terror seems genuine rather than forced. This is the type of film where a performer could easily go over the top, but Cuthbert doesn't. Gillies is merely average as her fellow captor, but he also avoids going too far over the top towards the end. Vince creates a chilling characterization in limited screen time. Laz Alonso and Michael Harney are solid as two cops looking for the missing Jennifer, although one gets the feeling that some of their scenes were edited out.
Captivity isn't going to garner another Oscar nomination for its director, but it achieves what it sets out to do in an unsettling fashion and isn't really deserving of the moral panic it seems to have generated in some quarters. It's a decent B-movie that doesn't overstay its welcome at only 85 minutes of running time.
[3.5 out of 5 stars]
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