jimbo-53-186511
Recovering meth-addict and single mother Ashley Smith (Kate Mara) finds herself in a perilous life or death situation when she is taken hostage in her own home by escaped and wanted felon Brian Nichols (David Oyelowo). Based on a true story, Captive follows Ashley over a 7 hour period highlighting her attempts to survive this terrifying ordeal.In some ways I actually admire this film as it does at least try to avoid many of the clichés that plague home-invasion thrillers (perhaps being based on a true story may be the reason that it partly succeeds in this respect). Rather than being a ridiculous film that shows the victim trying to escape in increasingly preposterous and unlikely ways the narrative here has a much more slow-burning approach to it - essentially it shows the victim and the captor conversing and as things progress it turns out that they actually both share some common ground. For someone like me (who's unfamiliar with the real life case) this did make the film interesting and at the very least made it watchable. Whilst I'm happy to commend the filmmakers for employing this approach it does sadly come at the expense of any real excitement, tension or suspense. I appreciate that this is based on a true story and that perhaps what we're presented with here may well be an 'accurate' portrayal of actual events, but in reality having very little going on outside of the rather incisive narrative does mean that the film starts to drag and feel boring.The performances from Mara and Oyelowo are both very good (with the latter being excellent) and the generally non clichéd approach to the material mean that it is nowhere near as ridiculous or far-fetched as other films in the genre (the only ridiculous part to this film lay with Nichols escape, but this was a minor problem which I feel can just about be tolerated in the name of 'suspension of disbelief').Captive is the sort of film that I would say is worth a look (if nothing else due to the fact that it's based on a true story). The narrative is interesting enough to make it watchable and the performances are good, but it really needed more in the way of excitement, tension and suspense and the absence of these things is what lets it down slightly.
Prismark10
I guess I would not had even put this on if I knew it was one of these faith based films.Captive stars Kate Mara as Ashley Smith, a single mother who has lost custody of her daughter, is late for work and life in turmoil because she is addicted to crystal meth. At rehab she has been given a book by the American evangelical preacher Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life.David Oyelowo's plays Brian Nichols, a man accused of rape who breaks free of custody at court by shooting a Judge and three court officials. He goes on the run and hides out at Smith's apartment for 26 hours while the police search for him. At the apartment he takes drugs and Smith reads passages from Warren's book which has the effect of him to turn himself in.That believe it or not is the plot. For a moment I thought, he is pleading his innocence for the rape, somehow he will find the correct culprit like The Fugitive, apart from the issue he killed all those people in the courthouse.This is a cack handed and tedious two hander as Smith and Nichols talk about finding a spiritual connection. It certainly is no thriller and at the end when the real Smith appears in a clip of the Oprah Winfrey show the real message of the film becomes clear but was there really a need for such propaganda?
leonblackwood
Review: Although this movie is based on a traumatic, true story, there isn't much depth to the characters, especially Brian Nichols who seemed to be going through a personal breakdown. The movie jumps straight into the main event, so the audience won't understand why Nichols is randomly killing people whilst escaping from jail. With that aside, it's full of intensity and drama and the acting from Oyelowo and Mara is top class. If you wasn't aware of the events that happened in Atlanta on March the 11th, 2005, as I wasn't, the movie is about Brian Nichols (David Oyelowo), who escapes from the Fulton County courthouse, during his trial involving a rape case. During his escape, he murders the judge who took his case, along with a reporter and a sergeant. Whilst on the run, he kills an off-duty special agent and he takes Ashley Smith (Kate Mara) hostage in her home. Ashley is a single parent who is an recovering methamphetamine addict and she is due to see her child, who is living with her aunt, Kim Rogers (Mimi Rogers), the following morning. While he is holding her hostage, he asks for some Marijuana to calm him down but she has only got methamphetamine in her house, so he takes the drug and immediately starts to talk about running to Mexico after kidnapping his new born son. He tries to false her to take some of the "Meth" but she hasn't taken the drug for over a month and she really wants to be clean when she sees her daughter. When he has finally calms down, they get rid of the truck that he was driving and then they make there way back to her house. The following day, they have breakfast while Ashley is reading, The Purpose Driven Life to Brian who is seeking redemption for his actions. He then let's Ashley see her daughter and when she leaves the house, she contacts the police who head straight for her house. Brian knows what's coming but he doesn't attempt to leave the house because he has reached his own personal crossroad. When they finally have the house surrounded, Detective John Chestnut (Michael K. Chestnut), tries to talk Brian into surrendering but when he realises that he isn't getting anywhere, he asks Ashley for her help, who eventually gets Brian to come out of the house. Its a set of astonishing true events which shocked America at that time. I personally don't remember hearing anything about Brian Nichols in 2005, so it was good to see the real people at the end of the movie. The fact that it was her new found faith that saved Ashley's life and the redemption that Brian found through the book that she read to him, made this an emotional movie which brought these two lost souls together at the pinnacle point of there life's. I would have liked to have seen this movie in a bigger scale because it does seem slightly low budget. Apart from that, it's a watchable film which I found quite interesting throughout. Watchable!Round-Up: UK born, David Oyelowo, 39, has gained some respect in Hollywood since his role in Spooks in 2002. He's starred in some major movies, like the Last King of Scotland, the Help in 2011, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the Paperboy, Red Tails, Lincoln, Jack Reacher and the Butler. He played the lead as Martin Luther King in Selma and he also had a role in the big budget Interstellar and I was impressed with his performance in A Most Violent Year. Most of the actors came on board, in this movie because of Oyelowo's respectable name and his whole physic and violent demeanour, proves that he was willing to play a character that was out of his comfort zone, to make the movie realistic and true to the actual events. Anyway, this movie was directed by Jerry Jameson, 81, who is known for his work in the TV department. He has made episodes for Cannon, Six Million Dollar Man, McCloud, the Streets of San Francisco, Iron side, Dallas, Hawaii Five-0, Magnum P.I., etc. He did direct the movie Airport '77 but apart from that, this is his first movie for the big screen for some time. I personally enjoyed the movie and it did make me want to find out more about the true events but it really needed a big budget and some big names to bring this subject matter to the forefront. Budget: $2million Worldwide Gross: $2.8millionI recommend this movie to people who are into their crime/drama/thrillers starring Kate Mara, David Oyelowo, Michael Kenneth Williams, Mimi Rogers, Elle Graham and Claudia Church. 5/10
