Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Carjacked and Expecting More: A Movie Review


*full disclosure: a quote written by this reviewer is featured on the rear box cover of this film (seen left and top, first panel.

Director: John Bonito.

Writers: Michael Compton and Sherry Compton.

Cast: Maria Bello, Stephen Dorff and Joanna Cassidy.

Carjacked is an interesting film to this reviewer mainly because this is the first release to feature a quote from 28DLA on the cover. The quote taken by Anchor Bay Films is a sum up of some of the early promotional material. However, the film itself is very mediocre despite some great acting from Maria Bello and Stephen Dorff. Slow pacing in the early frames and a ridiculous character transformation in the finale sank this film's chances of becoming anything special or believable.

Golden Globe nominee Maria Bello plays Lorraine, a meek single mother of one boy. She attends a woman's support group at night while scrounging for gas money on her own. She is in a custody battle with her husband over Chad a seven year old boy. Really there are only three characters in this film. Roy, played by Dorff, makes up this trio and he is bank robber on the run from police. Unfortunately, Roy picks a wallowing woman recovering from her past for a six hour drive to the border of Mexico. Here a money drop goes down with Lorraine becoming expendable. He should have ditched her six hours previously.

Carjacked gets the music and the acting right. Dorff even adlibs some of his lines. However, the writing is uninspiring. The first hour of the film is spent inside a car with Roy and Lorraine harassing each other. If not for the characterizations of the actors, the early acts could have been difficult to get through. As well, near the end of the film, Lorraine has a complete transformation from apologetic mother to vigilante road warrior and this reviewer was not buying it. Honestly, the change is on the scale of Bruce Banner in "The Incredible Hulk." Thankfully Lorraine's violent streak creates a much needed confrontation which ends the film with a ridiculous bang via stolen loot.

Simply put, this film is very average. If not for the acting of Dorff and Bello, then this film would have been completely forgettable. Writers Michael and Sherry Compton miss an opportunity to introduce tension early, or possibly this film was hampered by budget. Whatever the cause, Carjacked feels like one is waiting in line for something worth waiting for; unfortunately that wait only results in a few chuckles and a severe car crash. Skip this film for something more thrilling and read 28DLA's quote on the cover with a questioning eye!

Overall: 5.5 out of 10 (lots of great banter between Bello and Dorff, tension missing in first two acts, the finale is laughable).

*this title released on DVD and Blu-Ray November 22nd.

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