To capture that elusive non-Harry Potter audience, Lionsgate released “Captivity.” Unlike some of the better entries in the torture genre, though, “Captivity” is so poorly made, it struggles to even do things wrongly. This is no half-assed flick — it’s a quarter-assed or less.
Celebrity model Jennifer Tree (Elisha Cuthbert) wakes up in what she believes is her room the morning after a nightclub visit, only to find out she’s being held captive by a demented robe-laden stalker. After several rounds of torturing and drugging, Jennifer becomes aware of a male captive held in the adjacent room, Gary (Daniel Gillies). Together, they try to uncover why they were chosen. Is there something more to their imprisonment?
Well, there’s not. In fact, there’s nothing at all. “Captivity” could have very well been written by a computer that at one point had “Saw” and “Hostel” inside its DVD drive. Luckily, we are reminded it was written by humans through witnessing the kind of gaping plot holes and nonsensical developments a computer would explode upon registering.
At points in the film, character interaction is so unbelievable you would almost think they were trying to predict the emotional state of some seven-legged alien rather than a young female actress. After days of torture, including being force-fed an organ cocktail, Jennifer still has it in her to make passionate, carefree love on Gary’s prison bed. Yeah, okay.
Though universally lacking anything salvageable, “Captivity” is notably a failure at the production level. Aside from the first and last 10 minutes, the scenes from the other 70-odd minutes of the film could have been arranged in any order, with some incredibly minor tweaking. A movie with no semblance of order or pacing obviously sacrifices character and plot development. The entire film could have been coherently planned out on a napkin over cups of coffee and cigarettes at Denny’s.
As far as production value goes, “Captivity” lands somewhere in the range of slim-to-none. Disorienting camera work at the start of the film helps to pass the time, but for the bulk of the film Jennifer is confined to a decidedly “Saw”-like room, forced to perform decidedly “Saw”-like tasks.
Unlike “Saw”, where characters had (some) control over their fates, any progress Jennifer makes usually ends with a needle in the neck and a long sleep.
There are dozens of better quality horror budget films at the video store to think about before you even consider going to the theater for this one. The only thing “Captivity” manages to hold captive is your $9, and just like director Roland Joffe’s career, it’s not coming back.
Reach Steven Berger at [email protected].
