BoardChiri
Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay
AnhartLinkin
This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
Ginger
Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
The Movie Diorama
A taut tight British thriller is always a good watch, and this flick is no different. I will constantly appreciate an actor taking on a role that differs from their previous credits. Arterton did just that as a kidnapped individual who is sealed in a claustrophobic room by two masked men who utilise her as ransom for two million pounds. Hostage, kidnap, ransom, all saturated elements to similar thrillers that rely on unpredictable intense twists to spice up the narrative. Alice Creed is no different, in fact it is so unpredictable that it in itself becomes predictable. Sounds odd right? Let me clarify. Every fifteen minutes there is a twist, could range from a small detail to a large plot device, that attempts to convolute the plot even further. With only three characters on screen, the bonds and relationships between them start to become distorted as the narrative progresses. This is due to the twists. Problem is, when the first few are unpredictable you start to predict what happens next by automatically imagining the most illogical turn within the plot. Thus, the unpredictable becomes predictable. Double crossing, relationship reveals and greed all play a fundamental part to these twisty turns. I admire the ambition and the Hitchcockian style, and for the most part it's a successful low budget thriller. Arterton was excellent, Marsan was electrifying and Compston was well controlled. Blakeson's directing technique, particularly the opening sequence, was substantially gritty and held an evocative sense of realism to the scenario. The characters themselves were functional, however weren't truly worth investing in. They play integral parts, but due to the lack of supporting characters and the short runtime they are only a means to further the plot. Nothing more, which is a shame. The third act does also lose the carefully constructed momentum. It's certainly a watchable thriller with many good aspects, particularly Arterton, but it bites off more than it can chew.
Robert J. Maxwell
It's a kind of tour de force for a crime thriller. Two men who are lovers, the young Martin Compston and the dominant older Eddie Marsan, kidnap the young woman who is the daughter of some filthy rich magnate and demand a quick ransom while they hold her captive -- shackled, hooded, and gagged with one of those BSM red balls -- in a shabby room.Those are the only three characters, and there are only two sets.It doesn't sound promising, does it? The girl, probably a virgin, screaming for help as the two brutes ravage her; the torment of the parents; the determination of the police; the recorded phone calls about the ransom; the argument about whether she should be left behind as a witness; bath tubs of gore.But no. The writers have squeezed every ounce of tension out of the story without abandoning those sparse assets. It answers interesting questions too. Suppose the bound, gagged, and hooded victim needs to use the toilet. One of the men brings her a bucket, but she signals frantically with her fingers -- number two. Can she "go" with some stranger watching her? Can't the stranger at least turn around? And when he does so, can't she whack him over the head with the empty bucket and grab his pistol? The answer is yes.Now the victim, Gemma Arterton, has the upper hand, but the second kidnapper may show up at any moment and -- well, what's a girl to do? Then, on top of that, the narrative gets more complicated, too complicated to explain. There are double crosses upon double crosses, so many that I forgot who was aligned with whom in the later intrigues.The script is fine for its genre, not poetic but effective. And the performances are of professional caliber. Gemma Arterton is attractive without being stunningly beautiful or so young as to invite the cheap sympathy we feel when a child is endangered. And she's no virgin either. She's wily as hell.In some ways the most sympathetic character is boyish Compston because he's the most naive. Everyone takes advantage of him despite (or because of) the fact that he's the only character who seems truly capable of love, even with reservations.The most impressive actor is Marsan. He's the authoritarian Loeb who orders Compston's Leopold around. And Marsan's appearance is striking. His forehead is slanted back and his features protrude at odd angles from his skull. He looks like he's wearing a fire plug on his shoulders.All of them prove themselves capable murder and, in the end, they've all demonstrated their capacity for taking the money and running away with it.It's a little like "Dial M For Murder," but more violent and less witty. None of the villains are nearly as suave and good-natured as Ray Milland. And the music here practically spells out "gravitas." There's not a smile in a cartload but it's precisely done.
daggersineyes
I loved it. I have no problem with showing the reality of how she would be treated as a kidnap victim. I also have NO PROBLEM AT ALL with "chaps" kissing each other, no more than I would have a problem with the girl sticking her tongue down the dude's throat. Why do we, as I've seen one reviewer insist, have to "imagine and not see" one thing (ie guys kissing) but it's OK to have heterosexual snogging & semi-rape scenes thrust in our faces and just dandy to have a naked bound woman for several scenes? Massive double-standard. Either you want realistic depictions of human interactions & relationships or you don't. There should be more of the reality of diverse sexual orientations shown on screen instead of having everything hidden away like some 'dirty little secret'. So far from being a negative I say kudos to the director for portraying the reality of the affection between these two men instead of caving to homophobic sensibilities that might effect mainstream acceptance of the movie.Anyway - in a nutshell, this is a tightly drawn realistic dramatic thriller with brilliant acting & direction and nice plot twists and turns. What more could you ask for? Yes there's a few iffy moments that defy credibility but nothing too bad and the rest is of such great quality it more than makes up for it. See it!
Patrick
But I didn't expect a good, tense film to break out. I figured this would just be some trash straight to DVD film, that I just skim through, laugh at the ridiculous stuff, see Gemma and call it a day.But right from the opening shot it was a lot better than I thought it'd be. It was tense and menacing and all without a word being spoken. It didn't get as ugly as I was afraid it would from the opening, but it got a lot more interesting. I kept thinking I knew what type of story they were telling and they kept surprising me.All 3 gave great performances, and I liked that it was only the 3 of them the whole time. Well written, well shot, well acted and I liked the ending...especially with the clever credit. It's much better than the sum of Gemma's bits, and that's saying a lot.
