Review of The Captive (2014) by Steve W — 06 Sep 2014

Atom Egoyan's new feature finds a couple split and still grieving, eight years after their young daughter's disappearance. The captor has been watching the mother for quite some time, leaving daughter related knick knacks to get an emotional reaction for his perverse viewing pleasure. When the police are stuck still trying to find her, the daughter starts a subtle plan of escape.

This abduction thriller is not quite like the others. Instead of having police kick down doors and frequent gun battles, it goes for realism. (until the ending) The acting and cast do a fine job, and the timeline jumps back and forth between abduction and the years leading up to the present day events. This may confuse viewers, but its a bold choice to keep the movie from being linear like other kidnapping movies.

The ending is a bit on the abrupt side, but its the incredibly creepy performance from Kevin Durand that pretty much steals the show. The rest of the cast do fine, but its the incredibly stiff resolution that keeps this movie from being more than just another thriller with excellent camera work and a good villain than the next thriller classic.