hackraytex I was expecting another kidnapping movie and got more than I expected. It was good to see Charlize Theron play a good character and she did it well. I don't recall seeing Stuart Townsend since he did Night Stalker and I am glad to see he is still in the business. Kevin Bacon always delivers a superior performance and I think this is the first program I have seen Courtney Love in and I was impressed. Dakota Fanning has always impressed me and I hope she keeps focused on her career since it looks like she will go a long way.They thought they had the system for the perfect crime but like all bad guys, they make a mistake. The two mistakes they made was not knowing that Dakota Fanning was asthmatic and they emotional issues with their victims cloud their judgment. That is all I am going to give since I don't want to spoil it.I was hooked all the way to the end and am not disappointed. I can only add one more thing to this review, Kevin Bacon was the best person for this part but if he had missed it somehow, Eric Roberts would have been almost as good.

Michael O'Keefe Tense thriller. Hickey(Kevin Bacon) and his wife Cheryl(Courtney Love)press their luck with what they thought was a perfect crime. A crime they have successfully achieved four times, before meeting their match. A young girl named Abby(Dakota Fanning)is kidnapped and held for ransom. Her parents Dr. Will Jennings(Stuart Townsend)and his wife Karen(Charlize Theron)are given 24 hours to come up with the money asked for and all will be well. Hickey is cool, calm and collected knowing he has perfected his crime; but trouble will mess up his well organized plans. Abby has asthma and needs her medicine. Plus Will and Karen are not as cooperative as the previous couples with thoughts of a child being killed. This time the tormented parents each put up clever fights in order to get their daughter back. Bacon is so convincing in this type of role. He manages to change from charming to terrorizing in a snap. Theron at her worse is a nice eyeful. But maybe just the best acting comes from 8-year-old Fanning. Kidnapping is a horrifying ordeal and TRAPPED is proof. Rounding out the cast: Pruitt Taylor Vince, Jodie Markell, Gary Chalk and Colleen Camp.

MBunge Trapped is a taught little thriller. It combines a strong cast of characters with a well designed plot and an explosive ending. If movies were like food, this one would be a mouthwatering cheeseburger that tastes as good as it looks.This is a story about a trio of kidnappers and the fifth family they've targeted. The scheme is wonderfully smart and simple. The victims are always rich families with one young child. When the dad leaves homes for some reason, Joe (Kevin Bacon) and his subservient cousin Marvin (Pruitt Taylor Vince) grab the kid. While Joe stays with the mom, Marvin takes the kid to a separate location. Joe's wife Cheryl (Courtney Love) then sidles up the dad and informs him of what's going on. Joe has the mom wire $250, 000 dollars to the dad, who then gives the money to Cheryl. Once that's done, Marvin releases the child and the kidnappers disappear. It all happens in the course of 24 hours with Joe phoning his partners every 30 minutes or the kid dies. The swiftness of the plan helps prevent the authorities from becoming involved and it eliminates the need for a traditional ransom exchange where most kidnappers get caught.The first four times they did it, it worked out perfectly for the kidnappers. The fifth time…not so much. The mom (Charlize Theron) is bit too smart and ingenious for Joe to handle. The dad (Stuart Townsend) is a little more bold and assertive than Cheryl can deal with. Their little girl (Dakota Fanning) has severe asthma, which complicates the whole scenario. Worst of all, this abduction isn't just business. Joe, Cheryl and Marvin have something personal against this family, something that causes them to break their own rules and put everything in jeopardy.Now, I suppose you could subtract a few points from Trapped for its use of childhood asthma as a plot device. That's become a well worn cliché for this sort of film. The ending of the movie, while pretty effective, is also quite over-the-top and not in tune with the rest of the story. The explanation for why the previous four families victimized by the kidnappers didn't call the police after it happened doesn't hold water. And there's one moment when a twist gets pulled out of the screenwriter's behind to get over a important plot hump. Those are only minor quibbles, though, in an otherwise well written movie.Charlize Theron and Kevin Bacon carry the film with a couple of very entertaining performances. The mental and emotional struggle between Joe and the mom is both dramatic and believable. Bacon portrays Joe as this creepy paradox of professional detachment at war with his baser impulses. He's come up with a kidnapping plan that's supposed to ensure no one has to get hurt, yet makes a habit of forcing the mothers to have sex with him to keep their children safe. Theron's work as the mom is just as striking, letting us see her self-control battling with her overpowering concern for her child.And outside of that one exception, the plot twists in the story are also perfectly calibrated. There are just enough snags that develop in Joe's plan to keep you wondering how it's going to turn out, without having things spin implausibly out of control. It's always a challenge in this kind of tale to keep the problems that develop from being so obvious that the villain seems like an idiot for not anticipating them. Yet, if the bad guy is too smart, his mistakes and errors have to become so unlikely and improbable that it makes the whole thing feel contrived.Trapped is good piece of entertainment and well worth seeing.

med_1978 I had seen this movie a couple of years ago and thought it was good. I decided to buy it a few months back and finally got round to watching it last week. A friend wanted to watch something and had not seen this film before.I felt extremely pleased that I had purchased this film, as it had delivered more than anticipated. I actually thought it was even better on the second viewing.The Performance of Charlize Theron was amazing and incredibly believable, the terror on her face and the fear of what may happen to her daughter. Kevin Bacon was almost equally as good as the sleazy kidnapper with a hidden agenda. Dakota Fanning put in decent performance as the kidnapped child as did Pruitt Taylor Vince as Bacon's mentally challenged accomplice. Stuart Towsend performed okay as Theron's husband and Courtney Love was decent in her role considering she is not really an actress.Essentially though it is Theron and Bacon that dominate this film with towering performances that really cement their reputations as excellent actors. I found the tension at times unbearable and it really keeps you on the edge of your seat. The ending is bit ludicrous and over the top, but overall on reflection the movie really was entertaining, well acted and tense. I think this is a movie I will want to watch many times. Everyone I know who has seen it agrees that this is an excellent thriller, and having seen Red Eye yesterday and other similar movies such as Don't Say a Word, and Cellular I can honestly say I believe Trapped to be superior to those mentioned and one of the better examples of this type of thriller. Why do film studios or directors insist on spoiling these types of films with over the top action packed endings though? 7/10