Kidnapped [Secuestrados] (2010) Review
The Spanish, French, and Koreans, seem to know what they’re doing when it comes to making horror fans a little uncomfortable.
Kidnapped is written and directed by Miguel Angel Vivas. Not being familiar with this director, I rested my hopes on the fact it did well at festivals. Look, I never said I was smart…
Kidnapped is about a home invasion. Three masked criminals force their way into the home of a wealthy couple and their teenage daughter. The family has just moved into the home and the mother is juggling unpacking, setting up utilities and fighting with her daughter over staying home during the first night in the house, rather than going to a party. As the parents argue over dad’s inability to say no to his little girl, the first robber bursts through the window. As the family tries to escape, the other two make their presence known. They fill up a duffle bag with the household valuables and then the guy in charge takes the family credit cards, and the father, on a trip to the ATM.
The leader of our criminals is calm, level-headed and appears to be on the level that no one will get hurt if dad follows the rules. However, as they make their way around town, mom and daughter are left with the other two. One, a psychotic, coke snorting control-freak and the other, a scared guy who just wants to get the loot and leave. Things don’t go his way.
As the movie unfolds, it seems as though it’s going to be a typical revenge flick, but the family can never really get one step ahead of their captors.
Enough about the synopsis, let’s talk about what’s wrong with this film.
The movie’s opening scene appears to be end. By the time the movie does end, you realize it had no relation to anything else you just watched.
There is no explanation as to why this family was chosen, especially since they JUST moved into the house.
The way the family is quickly introduced and they way they’re portrayed you have nothing invested in them. You don’t care what happens to them and believe me, awful stuff does.
There seems to be a strange time lapse even though this all happens in “real time.” We see the family surrounded by boxes as they move everything into the house, but by the time the break-in happens, the house looks like they’ve lived there for a while.
Finally, the end comes so quick it almost feels like a cop out.
Now, there are some good things. Blissfully, it’s only about 85 minutes and it looks incredible. Apparently, there are only 12 shots in the whole film. There is one scene in particular where the father and daughter are walking toward one another in split screen. As they come together, so does the screen, seamlessly. Also, the, sometimes, graphic special effects are realistic looking enough to make you squirm a bit. To be specific would give away the last 15 minutes of the film.
I wish I had some clever wrap up, but I don’t. Visually, this movie is impressive, but it had no real substance.
Movie Rating:
Trailer: