Review of The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009) by Matt L — 13 Jan 2011

This is one FUCKING great movie. It's a shame that the title is probably going to drive a lot of people away from watching it. I know it almost drove ME away. Quite frankly, the title sounds like one of those lame (or vanilla) thrillers.

For example, The Haunting of Molly Hartley, just a title that inspires absolutely no reaction from you other than "I'm not watching that movie." That's actually what this movie inspired from me when I was first browsing through the on demand channel.

Fortunately though I saw the trailer and it looked good in that vengeance movie sort of way. As it turns out the trailer is misleading as fuck. This movie is NOTHING like a hostage (which I'm not a fan of) or a revenge movie at all.

This movie is a hell of a surprise. It wasn't what I was expecting at all, and in a good way too. Not like Observe and Report that was a weird hybrid of Mall Cop and Taxi Driver. The thing with this movie is that it only has 3 main characters.

With only 3 characters that means that you have ample time to develop their personalities and their motivations, this movie just does that tremendously. You're clear on every aspect of the plot, you'll never be confused watching this movie.

I was just expecting it to be a straightforward hostage flick. But this movie creates a connection between all three characters...*SPOILERS*...SKIP AHEAD. Danny and Alice are dating, yet Danny suggested Alice to Vic in prison because she fit the profile Vic was looking for.

Vic and Danny had a love affair. Vic is also a bit protective of Danny and is always questioning him. And in reality, this connection between the characters is what drives the narrative forward. It's not even the money, it's the relationship between these characters and how they plot behind each other's backs to the point where you can't really trust anyone.

I haven't seen this kind of tension in a movie in a LONG time. I really didn't know who to trust, because I was always expecting someone to betray the other. And it's wonderfully done because that's how the characters themselves feel, they're not sure who they can trust either.

So really, this movie does a masterful job in creating tension. And the 3 actors are just great in their roles. Eddie Marsan is just a vastly underrated actor. Martin Compston has a good look about him, there's something Mark Wahlberg/Edward Norton-ish about him, but he's a really good performer.

Gemma Arterton....well she's fucking lovely...and a hell of an actress too. This movie was such that I was just expecting a twist near the end that would fuck everything up. I was expecting Alice and Vic to actually be in cahoots right from the very start and to fuck over Danny.

But they didn't and I'm grateful for that because I've seen so many movies lately fucked up because they have a stupid twist. It's just a breath of fresh air to see a movie just does the logical thing.

Don't get me wrong though, there are twists but they're at the beginning and it really makes perfect sense when the movie's over. It all makes perfect, storyline, sense. I'm sure there's plot holes (no movie is perfect), but none that were really glaring to me.

I really love this movie. It's just a masterful piece of work. So yea, I highly recommended. Shitty title aside, this is one fucking great movie.