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Overall Rating : 2/10
Directed By : Roland Joffé
Elisha Cuthbert (The Girl Next Door)
Daniel Gillies (Evil Remains)
Pruitt Taylor Vince (Identity)
Laz Alonso (Stomp The Yard)
Supplied By : Lionsgate Films
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : October. 22, 2007
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| PLOT Top cover girl and fashion model Jennifer Tree has it all – beauty, fame, money and power. Everyone wants her… but some more than others. Alone after a charity event, she is drugged and kidnapped. Held captive in a cell, Jennifer is subjected to a series of terrifying, life-threatening tortures that could only be conceived by a twisted, sadistic mind. |
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| THE REVIEW Well, the plot is rather simple for CAPTIVITY. Jennifer Tree, a World famous fashion model attends a fashion charity event, basically against her will - when her guests fail to show up, she is left alone(with the exception of her dog) But when Jennifer orders a drink, the real terror of the story begins. It turns out that the said drink was drugged by an unknown individual, and before she knows it, Jennifer wakes up in a strange room. Jennifer is then tortured we the unseen suspect whom seems to know Jennifer's life story....her every fear. Jennifer undergoes a series of torturing tests in which those fears are exploited, and pushed to the limit. With the above plot summary, there us a reason as to why I wrote it in such an abrupt manner. The reason is that, as much as CAPTIVITY wants you to believe it actually has a plot behind it, there is not one what so ever to be found...at least that's my opinion. When the film first began, although it has received a majority of nothing but negative reviews, I was excited. At first look, I thought it started out well, much like a film that would've came about in the 70's, in which an idea for a plot like this probably would've occurred. But in all honesty, all of my initial excitement was virtually squashed with minutes. Before we know it, our model Jennifer Tree is already abducted and put into a room, much like a wine cellar. What i'm saying is, there is absolutely no development here, we don't really relate to our main character at all - and this is something needed, especially if you are going to have an ending, such as this film had. There are actually 2 different versions of this film in existence, this tortured-filled version(which was released in both US and UK theaters), and a more psychological driven, and less violent cut - that has been dubbed the "No Gore" version by some fans. The torture and scenes that are in this cut were actually done in reshoots, and apparently, Director Roland Joffe, nor was the film's writer, Larry Cohen were not involved with them - so any blame of the film's disaster really can't be arbitrated to them. The scenes were put in by the film's producer's looking to capitalize on the craze going around, one the media has dubbed torture porn(which is a bit ridiculous in my opinion). With this said, it wasn't very much into the film that I realized that the reason for this recut movie, was not a clever plot, but just an avenue for the production company to exploit a media appointed "genre" even further. Unlike films like a HOSTEL or a SAW, CAPTIVITY has no merit or logic driving it. It gave me the impression that all the film wanted to do was depict acts of violence for it's entire runtime, with very little plot as possible - I mean I love a great Horror movie, but since when is shooting a dog with a shotgun a means of harmless entertainment? With this scene in particular, they may have went just a bit too far - Sure Michael Myers killed a dog in one of the HALLOWEEN sequels, but at least it wasn't shown in great detail. CAPTIVITY is the type of film that will end it all for good gore films that actually DO have a thought-provoking story accompanying them. Media has already slammed such films, so when a film such as CAPTIVITY comes about, that contains nothing but the things in which the media detests, I see at as just another step in the direction of death for Rated R theatrical films as we know it - get ready for those "great" PG-13 films - I can't wait! |
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| GORE
METER 5/10 Pretty gory, but that's all it is. An acid bath happens, a dog gets shot to death, some gunshots, and other torturous acts. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 4.5/10 The story is ok I thought, and at some point seemed to be mimicking HALLOWEEN in some scenes. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM Honestly, if you like a film with basically no plot at all, and like watching people tortured for no good reason - this is for you. The said added scenes torture were to me in no way suspense achieving nor frightening - but it seems if they were put in to make the film purposely controversial. In an essence it's the equivalent of a boxer or sports athlete saying they are the best without proving anything beforehand - if the producers want to call their film "the most controversial film of the year", that's fine, but at least prove to be when the whole world sees it. I can't say I recommend, because to me there is not too much here to do so with. This DVD will be released on October 30, 2007 |
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