KIDNAP DVD (2017)

SYNOPSIS: A typical afternoon in the park turns into a nightmare for single mom Karla Dyson (Academy Award winner Halle Berry) 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. In this tense, action-fueled thriller from the producers of Salt and Transformers, one mother’s heroic attempt to take back her son leads her to ask herself how far she will go to save her child.

MOVIE REVIEW:

Aside from her brief stints as Storm in the lucrative X-Men franchise, Oscar actress Halle Berry has indeed very little memorable screen roles over the years. Kidnap marks the last theatrical release from troubled company, Relativity Media and technically the second major action role for Berry after The Call. We are not counting Catwoman and X-Men in case you are wondering.  

After a brief prologue in which we sees Berry working her ass off as a diner waitress and knowing that she is a single mother of a six-year-old boy fighting a custody battle with her estranged husband, the audiences are basically treated to a 84 minutes of car ride. Why a car ride? Because Karla’s son is kidnapped at a carnival and she has no choice but to follow the kidnappers on her trusty SUV.      

Suspension of belief is a must if you plan to enjoy a movie liked Kidnap as director Luis Preito (Pusher) and screenwriter Knate Lee piled the entire movie with unbelievable coincidences. Why unbelievable? Because despite the massive amount of freeways and crowded town streets, Karla somehow has the ability to track down the kidnappers at every twist and turn, she is in fact a walking GPS!

With all sorts of plausibility gone, there are still not enough thrills, surprises and action to keep the movie going even though Halle Berry puts in a convincing performance as a mother desperate to get her son back. The thriller is further weakened by a climax that again trigger by more convenient dumb storytelling. Kidnap is seriously a weak B-movie headed by an A-list actress. Obviously, with the success of Taken, everyone is desperate to copy the formula. However, not everyone can be Liam Neeson and this title which was shot years back should simply remained locked in the vault.   

SPECIAL FEATURES:

A Look Inside Kidnap (3:13) is the standard making-of feature.  

AUDIO/VISUAL:

The sound of car crashes played a big part in the movie and the Dolby Digital 5.1 is not shying away from producing a loud, aggressive listening experience. Colours and skin tones look good on DVD in this digitally-shot movie. 

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee