Entrapment
By: Shaun
Those familiar with mindless fun rides such as
"Armageddon" and "Rush Hour" should be really excited to see this
film, it is filled with wild nerve jangling tension, and great performances from the two
lead characters. Catherine Zeta-Jones is worth admission price alone, she is luscious and
has such a bright career ahead of her, next to Denise Richards she is the most enticing
actress out there. The film carried both mental and physical acuteness, it did an
outstanding job in building up the expectation for a huge heist, or caper. If you are in
the mood to feel exultant and adventurous then wait no more, go see the film that will
make you jump from your seat with excitement. Put aside the fact of Sean Connery’s
age handicap and the film will be a lot better, not everything here is supposed to make
sense and be astute, just leave logic and factuality behind the door as you enter the
theatre. The pretentious script extends urbane utility to the max, the screenwriters whip
up all kind of cool shit that we never even thought feasible. If you will just concur with
the director’s vision of burglars and power seduction then this film will not be so
unoriginal as "expert" critics claim it to be.
"Entrapment" is not
some inane movie made by a bunch of novice degenerates who are clueless towards what they
are doing, rather the action is made up profusely and expertly. The director is Jon Amiel,
the guy responsible for the twisted movie "Copycat", he knows how to sit the
audience through tension packed situations when your heart beats at a rapid pace. It is
great to see Coonery back in a good role again, he redeems himself here from last summers
heinous movie "The Avengers", this is the James Bond part of Connery that
exploits his audacious side. I think it is probably the most exciting film I’ve seen
since "Go", like I said it takes time to build up a heist but the wait is worth
it. Especially for the crowd with testosterone organs, we get to see Zeta-Jones practice
aerobics and flex her body through red string in tight sweatpants. A classic moment. This
movie can be compared to the summer blockbuster "Mission Impossible", both films
have Ving Rahmes, and have theft and deception. A minor flaw that this film contains is
that it underwrites it’s supporting cast so much that their presence is meaningless,
but the main characters feelings are portrayed in a compelling and passionate way that we
could not care less about the supporting cast.
Sexy insurance agent Gin Baker (Catherine
Zeta-Jones) has been tracking a mastermind thief who leaves no clues of evidence behind
his crime. The renowned thief I speak of is Robert "Mac" MacDougal (Sean
Connery) , the calmest crook I have ever seen. He abides by all the rules of his job and
works independently. Mac and Gin have a lot in common, they both enjoy being alone, and
both are the best at what they do. This is why Gin begins an obsession with Mac and sets
up an excuse for her boss Hector (Will Patton) to go after him. Mac has just stolen the
rembrandt which is worth a lot to the company, so once Gin convinces Hector that this is
the work of Mac, he sends her to London to make sure the crook perishes. What Hector does
not know is that Gin is a thief herself, and thus she goes to Scotland to allure Mac into
a proposition he cannot refuse. She wants an alliance, but what she gets is far more then
that.
Mac blackmails her in a very clever manner so
that she is a perpetrator, she will go down on criminal charges. Mac has genuine strategy
that is similar to that of Sam from last year’s "Ronin", he never walks
into a place he does no know how to walk out of. At first Mac does not trust the deceiving
feline crook, he suspects she works for the feds, that is why he runs some excursuses to
determine. The first one is to retrieve a vase from a pawn shop with a null credit card,
she proves her wit and the test is a success. Next he takes her to his mansion in Scotland
where they practice how to steal a mask worth four million dollars. Appearances are
extremely deceiving and this film takes some powerful twists to baffle and prevaricate our
train of thought.
"Entrapment" is simply exciting, it
crackles with tension and speed, the perfect formula to make an exploding entertainment
ride. I specifically enjoyed the performance from Catherine Zeta-Jones, she portrayed her
character with sensuality that made us feel compassion when she gets depressed. Connery
also turns in a nice and worthy performance as the aging crook who is going to try to
break the rules and fall for Zeta-Jones (much like in "Out Of Sight"). My pulse
was pounding in most of the chase scenes, although extremely unrealistic, at the moment
you do not care because the temptation to just beg the character makes it out alive is too
big.
Those of you who like to watch movies because
they entertain you and do not really mind it’s reality, then you will love this film,
for the more conservative types who shout out in the middle of a film "this can never
happen", have doubts about seeing it. So kick back relax, and let the actors take
over a film that may not be so memorable, but is worth it, extremely.
GRADE: A-
Copyrighted by Joe "Buscemifan" Soria© 1999.