Entrapment Review
by Homer Yen (homer_yen AT yahoo DOT com)May 7th, 1999
“Entrapment” - Stealthful Thieves in a Story that Stumbles
by Homer Yen
(c) 1999
In a recent article in PEOPLE magazine, the topic highlighted the growing but strange trend that more and more films have seasoned leading actors who are paired with much younger female co-stars. They mentioned Harrison Ford and Anne Heche in the summer fluff "Six Days and Seven Nights" as well as Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow in the sometimes-chilling "A Perfect Murder." What would be the draw of a film featuring a couple where one is twice as old as the other? Can't they find similarly talented and similarly aged actors? That is not to say that Douglas and Ford are not great leading men. What girl wouldn't fall for them? It also goes without saying that the venerable Sean Connery (playing an accomplished thief named MacDougal) possesses an undeniable charm and sophistication. However, when I see this, in the back of my mind I feel that Hollywood is just trying to force two individually good actors into a movie so that it can sell tickets. But the drawback of this kind of pairing is that it's hard to find (or accept) chemistry between two such disparately aged people. Immediately, my defenses go up knowing that this will become more of a distraction rather than a plus.
What is a plus for this film, however, is it's glossy production of two skillful thieves. MacDougal is one of them. His skills have caught the attention of insurance agent Jinn (the curvaceous Catherine Zeta-Jones). Her specialty is art, and she convinces her boss that he is responsible for the recent theft of a Rembrandt painting in order to get the okay to find him. But, it takes a thief to catch a thief and she embarks on a trip to track him down with her own secret agenda. The result is an uneasy partnership ("first we try, then we trust," they say to one another) with the ultimate goal of first stealing a heavily guarded ancient Chinese mask inside a fortress of a museum and then one final caper to a bank computer installation where they will attempt to download enough money to rival the Gross Domestic Product of a small country.
The best parts of the film are watching these two commit near-impossible robberies. All of these sequences are well executed, hold-your-breath, nail biters. They use incredibly sophisticated devices to scale down the side of a skyscraper, to disarm alarms, or to enter well-guarded strongholds. To prepare for one of their jobs, which involves maneuvering through a room full of infrared beams, they practice by creating a mock-up of the room with yarn used to simulate the laser beams. In another sequence, they force their way through a heavy marble floor, timing their entry to the chimes of Big Ben, which will drown out their sound. It's all very neat stuff. Locales are also beautiful, which enhances the look of the film. Despite these zippy scenes, the romantic aspect between these two thieves seemed awkward and begins to bog the film down. As individual thieves, they are something to behold. As a couple, they lack energy and excitement. And that's too bad, because this film is actually a fairly slick production with some fine sequences.
Grade: B-
_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
