First,
you have a great opening sequence in which two men – Danny (Martin
Compston) and Vic (Eddie Marsan) wordless go out and buy the supplies
to turn the flat into a prison cell, then turn the flat into a prison,
then kidnap a young woman (Gemma Arterton) and hold her captive.
Just
watching the way they calmly and thoroughly go about their sinister
business makes the first third of this film totally gripping, and if
you're even slightly interested in crime films it's enough to make this
a must see.
The second way Blakeson goes about keeping our
attention is by slowly filling in the backstory behind all three
characters, and while revealing too much about her would ruin
the film, the links between them aren't always what you’d expect.
This
material works well too for a while, thanks in part to good
performances from all three that sell the various connections, but
there comes a point where it all gets a little too much.
It
doesn’t exactly ruin things, but for a film that – early on at least –
seemed to be working hard to convince us of its reality, it becomes a
bit too much to take with a straight face.
The opening scenes
suggest that if Blakeson had the courage to simply let the kidnapping
play itself out, he might have made a truly gripping thriller; instead,
by piling on the twists until the whole edifice totters, this ends up
as less than the sum of its generally excellent parts. DVD Special Features
Quite a bit on offer here, including an Audio Commentary with
director J Blakeson, a making of featurette, plus some extended
sequences with commentary.
There are also some storyboards and
theatrical trailers. It doesn't sound like much - but when a film like
this that didn't exactly set the box office on fire delivers this much
it's got to be pointed out!
Conclusion - Movie: 60% Extras: 55%
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