Review of Frantic (1988) by Green P — 01 Jan 2008

Frantic follows the story of a doctor (played by Harrison Ford) who is en route to a conference with his wife when there occurs a mix-up with their luggage. In fact, there ensues a big mix-up with everything as Ford's wife gets kidnapped by the owner of the other case, and Ford finds himself chasing around Paris on the heels of a vixen smuggler (Emmanuelle Seigner)and her unsavoury underworld connections to find out how he can get his wife back.

Although I've seen `Frantic' billed as a "Taut Hitchcockian Thriller" it's really far from that, there are too many Hollywood slapstick "lighteners" punctuating the storyboard for me to have been gripped in that kind of a way. Plus, with Harrison Ford sharing the stage and most of the story with Emmanuelle Seigner it's actually her character that I became interested in as the plot developed. Coupled with the fact that she dresses provocatively through most if not all of the film, and even begins to backchat with Ford as if they were a long-established couple themselves ... could I be forgiven for forgetting that his wife existed?

For me it's the main flaw in the film, as the chemistry between Ford and Seigner develops in a way we don't see developing between him and his wife. So personally I was kind of suspecting that Ford might not ever see his wife again, and that to compensate we might have he and Seigner's characters ending up together. But you'd have to see the film to discover what really happens.

I'm not a great fan of the action adventure genre and was lured into this by some false advertising as mentioned, however I did really enjoy it, even if I did temporarily forget about Harrison Ford's wife. Sorry, Harry.