Let’s Preface by saying, No Spoilers so No worries on That. This is a movie for any Mom who’s ever lost a kid in a mall and had visions of themselves sobbing on Nancy Grace begging for their safe return. Halle Berry stars as Karla Dyson, a single mom who’s in the process of divorcing her Pediatrician Husband and takes her son to a carnival, where she has to take a phone call from her divorce lawyer.
In one split second, Halle takes on every mother’s nightmare and her son is taken from the park. Except this time, Halle manages to see her son being taken away and chases after him and for the next hour and 10 minutes, becomes a total bad-ass and even when she is getting the crap kicked out of her, she still manages to stay focused on her goal, which is to get her son back.
I admit, I went into this movie biased because the Halle Berry we are used to seeing is usually all glammed up, wearing beautiful clothes but this time, girlfriend went natural, no makeup and I gotta say, no bra. Girlfriend wore a yellow tank and jeans which in the Florida setting, must have been like a million degrees and at one point when she is running after this band of psychotic rednecks, you can tell she gave up the battle on the bra.
The entire picture is carried by Halle Berry herself, which is a usual departure from her past films where she shared screen time with other big co-stars but this was all about her. Which is a nice departure from the usual cameo films that have popped up recently.
A few days ago, Ms. Berry called into Ryan Seacrest to promote her film and when asked how she was able to handle these incredible Tokyo Drift meets Fast and Furious turns, She stated that a Formula One driver was actually in the car with her and teaching her how to skid out.
The actual filming of KIDNAPPED must have been done on a Go-Pro Camera because the closeups were incredible, you could actually see the sweat pouring off of her face and during one epic crash, it actually felt like we were in the car with her.
Although this movie has been out for a week, not much buzz has been said about it and the campaign behind it has been limited as well, but it has secured a 10 million dollar opening week, which is respectable but it’s kind of hard to compete with Girls Trip and the new Matthew McConaughey movie, “Dark Tower,” but I’m sure when KIDNAPPED goes to DVD, the numbers will steadily improve.
I’d give this film two thumbs up especially for the moments when you think Halle’s done for but the determination to find her child prevails and she once again kicks some ass. Maybe Hollywood should take note, that not all movies need a bunch of co-stars, maybe just one woman on a mission.