Kidnap (2017)

“Kidnap” stars Halle Berry, Sage Correa, Lew Temple, and Chris McGinn.  Released on August 4, 2017, the film is about a single mother who goes on a perilous quest to rescue her kidnapped son.

The film is directed by Luis Prieto, who also directed the 2012 remake of Pusher.  These types of situations can happen to almost everyone.  There are a lot of crazy people out there who have nothing better to do in their lives other than plucking helpless children off the streets like they’re blueberries.  I mean, seriously, that’s just plain sick.  In Hollywood’s case, this concept alone sounds like something that would make people’s hearts race.  This latest thriller comes from a new distributer known as Aviron Pictures, who purchased the rights to the film after Relativity Media, the film’s original distributer, filed for bankruptcy.  After three years of release date troubles since production began, we finally get to find out if it’s worth our money or not.

If you’ve seen the marketing for this film (if you’re lucky), then you’ll know what you’re getting yourself into.  It’s a simple, by-the-numbers thrill ride that’ll make your heart race from the first chase sequence to the very last scene.  For the strong-minded, it doesn’t offer anything new to its generic and predictable plot, and the lack of exploration to some plot elements didn’t help much either.  But for those who wanted nothing but non-stop thrills all the way through, it is what it’s supposed to be without being anything different, and yes, I did manage to enjoy watching it.  Halle Berry once again heads into thriller territory as Karla Dyson, a mother who will stop at nothing to rescue her son, Frankie (Correa).  What made Berry’s character interesting to me was her traits.  She’s not a retired cop nor does she have any special training from the CIA or the FBI or whatever.  She’s just a vulnerable parent who’s willing to risk her own life to save her son’s, and I thought Berry did a nice job at portraying this type of character.  Like I said before, this film is a non-stop thrill ride that has a couple of small breaks here and there, and it doesn’t slow down until the very end.  Director Luis Prieto wanted to make sure that our hearts are pounding throughout the entire film, and he did so with ease.  My other flaw with this film, besides its unexplored plot elements, was how some of the sequences were edited.  They’re not exactly irritating, let alone choppy, but there were a couple of moments where the editing could’ve been handled a bit better.

Overall, “Kidnap” relies on its talented main lead and its heart-stopping thrills to avoid getting captured by its easy-to-spot flaws.  It is not for people who wanted a more complex thriller, but sometimes, we need something that is simple and to-the-point, and this film manages to be that something.  I would probably recommend it to those who are in the mood for something more thrilling and action-packed.

C