Review of Kidnap (2017) by John M — 11 Dec 2017

Exactly what it looks like. So with Kidnap, you have a woman who is both a no-nonsense waitress and single mother (Halle Berry). She takes her son (Sage Correa) to the fair, but when she walks away for a minute to take a phone call, he's gone as soon as she turns back around.

She manages to see his abductor just as they are pulling away, and then the chase is on. There was one reason I was somewhat looking forward to Kidnap, and it was because I seriously enjoyed the movie The Call.

I will still standby the sentiment to this day (no, really, it landed in my top ten of 2013, and you should watch it if you missed it). This looked very similar to that for a number of different reasons, so yeah, this caught my interest.

Kidnap never gets that good, but it is still perfectly watchable. With Kidnap, there really isn't all that much to it. It's a mother who loses her child, and then subsequently tears up the road trying to get him back.

That's about it. It's almost direct to video in its quality, but one of the better ones, if you know what I mean. It is an intense situation, and Berry sells it, but it is never a story that I really got into, as I was always watching this movie just at face value.

Also, it doesn't help that supporting Berry isn't the most talented cast. Most of this movie is just her in the car, but when she does have to interact with people, you just want to see her be given something that she can work with.

Because there is only so much you can do with this scenario, it does get a little repetitive, even with a very abbreviated runtime. IMDb lists this at being 95 minutes. I don't know if Netflix sent me a special edition or something, but the version I watched was barely 75 minutes if you exclude the end credits.

Not that I'm complaining, mind you, as I always appreciate a movie that can keep it short, but what I am saying is that if your 75 minute long feature feels repetitive, that is not a good thing. This is pretty campy at times, but I will give it credit in that once it starts, it doesn't stop.

It keeps it going, and the person who directed this knows how to keep the simple plot moving forward. I just wish there was more here, as it is very difficult for me to recommend to anybody. It's not bad, but does that ever sell you on a movie? If you're a hardcore Halle Berry fan, then you'll probably think that this is okay, which I know is damning this film with faint praise to be sure.