Captivity (2007)

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The few defenders of this film have portrayed its detractors as a bunch of easily offended, pearl clutching sissies who were more affected by an aborted marketing campaign than what eventually showed up onscreen. I can attest that I never saw the original marketing campaign, and still feel this project is terrible.

Jennifer (Elisha Cuthbert) is a world famous model who is drugged at a party and kidnapped. She wakes up in a cement room and is terrorized by a hooded man. She has a fellow prisoner in the form of Gary (Daniel Gillies), who is not famous and can't figure out why he was abducted, too. The duo become closer as they look for an opportunity to escape when they aren't being violently tortured. In the outside world, the search for Jennifer continues.

Almost as shocking as the gore, anger, and violence of the film is the fact that it was directed by Roland Joffe, the two-time Oscar nominee for "The Killing Fields" and "The Mission." In one of the behind-the-scenes featurettes, Joffe seems excited to be helming something different- a claustrophobic thriller. Interestingly enough, in the second behind-the-scenes featurette, Joffe is shown directing the intense and unnecessary "torture porn" aspect of the film, and does not seem to have any of the enthusiasm that he had in the first featurette.

There are many versions out there, and the DVD I screened had a few deleted scenes and two absolutely terrible alternate endings. I don't know where things went wrong, but the R-rated version I saw, as released, is a gaffe-ridden, unbelievable film. Cuthbert and Gillies turn in awful performances. Scenes of violence play out with no context or purpose. Thanks to reshoots and alternate versions, Cuthbert's character is a mess of conflicting emotions, sometimes in the same scene. The climax is laughable, with the film makers trying to make a sociological statement that never sticks. Marco Beltrami's musical score sounds a lot like John Carpenter's incidental notes from 1978's "Halloween," except played in a different key. The film runs under an hour and a half, but I was often bored and checking the running time. The final motive for the murders is nonsensical, the script did not earn the taboo reason- not that the film makers give the audience any reason to care in the first place.

This is a mess, and I refuse to seek out any other versions to give the cast and crew a chance to redeem themselves. Maybe a "final edit" will come out one day, and join the "(R)-Rated," "Uncut," "Unrated," and "Non-Gory" versions but why bother? Escape this "Captivity."

Stats:
(2007) 96 min. (0*) out of five stars
-Directed by Roland Joffe
-Screenplay by Larry Cohen and Joseph Tura, Story by Larry Cohen
-Cast: Elisha Cuthbert, Daniel Gillies, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Michael Harney, Laz Alonso, Rebekah Ryan, Remy Thorne, Elijah Runcorn, Carl Paoli, Trent Broin
-Rated R, contains strong physical violence, gun violence, some sexual violence references, some violence involving children, strong gore, profanity, sexual content, some nudity, strong adult situations, alcohol use, drug abuse