I wanted to like this movie both because of the subject being tackled and the quality of the actors. The four lead actors do a great job with what they're given, especially Rachelle Lefevre, who plays a convincingly distraught and desperate mother.
Sadly, the script has been "Hollywoodized." I hope the screenwriter and director White never work again. This could have been a tense, gritty thriller. Instead, it turned into an overblown, overwritten, hyperbolic mess.
The worst faux pas was the girl, Nina, picking up the gun at the end. This time wasting minute was intended to milk the climax but it's believability is a head-scratcher.
The rest of it fell into tired old tropes: the feeling that all is okay, but the bad guy isn't dead and you are captured and have to escape again; defying the laws of physics to escape a cliff-hanging car; shooting out the trunk latch from the inside; bad guys shooting bad guys 'cause, well, they're bad guys; bad guy shooting at good guy at nearly blank range in a narrow stairwell and missing (twice); good guy gets advantage of bad guy (girl) in a moment of distraction; cops do nothing except clean up the mess afterward; good guys are tied up but are left alone so they can manage to escape; and so on...
Human trafficking is a serious issue that deserved a serious story. This turned into a 80's episode of the A-team, sans Mr. T.
Acting: B- Directing: D Screenplay: F Sound Mixing, Soundtrack: C Special Effects: D Lighting, Cinematography: B
Sadly, the script has been "Hollywoodized." I hope the screenwriter and director White never work again. This could have been a tense, gritty thriller. Instead, it turned into an overblown, overwritten, hyperbolic mess.
The worst faux pas was the girl, Nina, picking up the gun at the end. This time wasting minute was intended to milk the climax but it's believability is a head-scratcher.
The rest of it fell into tired old tropes: the feeling that all is okay, but the bad guy isn't dead and you are captured and have to escape again; defying the laws of physics to escape a cliff-hanging car; shooting out the trunk latch from the inside; bad guys shooting bad guys 'cause, well, they're bad guys; bad guy shooting at good guy at nearly blank range in a narrow stairwell and missing (twice); good guy gets advantage of bad guy (girl) in a moment of distraction; cops do nothing except clean up the mess afterward; good guys are tied up but are left alone so they can manage to escape; and so on...
Human trafficking is a serious issue that deserved a serious story. This turned into a 80's episode of the A-team, sans Mr. T.
Acting: B- Directing: D Screenplay: F Sound Mixing, Soundtrack: C Special Effects: D Lighting, Cinematography: B