The Captive (2014)

Eight years after the disappearance of Cassandra, some disturbing incidents seem to indicate that she's still alive. Police, parents and Cassandra herself, will try to unravel the mystery of her disappearance.

Director:

Atom Egoyan

Writers:

Atom Egoyan (story), Atom Egoyan (screenplay)

Stars:

Ryan Reynolds, Scott Speedman, Rosario Dawson

1 win & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kevin Durand	...	Mika
Alexia Fast	...	Cass Lane
Mireille Enos	...	Tina Lane
Rosario Dawson	...	Nicole Dunlop
Aidan Shipley	...	Albert
Ryan Reynolds	...	Matthew Lane
Paige Baril	...	Paige
Bruce Greenwood	...	Vince Gray
Scott Speedman	...	Jeffrey Cornwall
William MacDonald	...	Frank
Jason Blicker	...	Sam
Aaron Poole	...	Mike
Brendan Gall	...	Teddy
Peyton Kennedy	...	Young Cass
Mark Gorodnitsky	...	Young Albert

Storyline

Teenager Cassandra is locked up against her will unable to contact her family to let them know she's still alive. Flashback to eight years ago when 9-year-old Cass was abducted from her father's truck and he goes straight to the authorities who immediately peg him as the prime suspect. Eight years later, her father, Matthew, is still being investigated by the police who are also trying to crack the bigger problem of crimes against children, Matthew's marriage has deteriorated and leads in the case are hard to come by. So much time but so little has changed and it's going to be up to Matthew and Cassandra herself to repair the estranged family.

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Plot Keywords:

disappearance | flashback | locked up | 9 year old | female detective | 

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Taglines:

The hunt is on.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

Kevin Durand previously worked with Scott Speedman in Citizen Gangster (2011) and with Ryan Reynolds in Smokin' Aces (2006).

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Goofs

After Matthew picks up his daughter from ice skating, she is in the back seat of the truck. When the truck is departing the parking lot, there is nothing visible in the bed of the pickup. In the very next shot, we are viewing the daughter as she looks out of the back window. In that shot there is a large, dark, rectangular shape in the pickup's bed that we can see in the reflection. The immediate scene after is a shot from inside the vehicle looking backwards toward the daughter, but you can also see out the back window and there is nothing at all visible in the bed.

The large rectangular 'box' seen in the window's reflection was obviously a 'hide'. The use of this hide was to have a place to put the camera, and to create a 'non-reflective' area on the window to allow for shooting the scene from the outside-in.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Mika: Maybe. Just this once. Let me think about it a little bit, okay?

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Soundtracks

Remembering
Written by Jennifer Castle
Performed by Jennifer Castle
Published by Domino Double Nine (SOCAN)/Domino Publishing Company (ASCAP)

User Reviews

Too many plot holes

Man, I wanted this to be good. The idea is definitely there it was just executed badly. The acting and people involved were chosen well, Ryan Reynolds especially I thought did a good job. But that's all the positives from me.

There's just too many issues and plot holes in this, that you can't get past. The "villain" who has the daughter in captive. What's his deal? Why does he act bizarre? There's nothing explained about him at all. This is a common occurrence for a lot of the characters in this. Nobody is explained. No depth.

The lack of character depth then spilt into the plot itself. Certain conversations made no sense, because we have no depth to go off. An example is the convo in the prison (not a spoiler) who is this guy who is giving out demands and acting the top dog, when this scene is literally the only sodding scene he's in. WHO IS HE? Why does he have power? This sets up the next part, but you're left wondering why!

Other major issue was the flashbacks, they were not done correctly at all. Usually when it flashes back it should let us know, even if it's subtle and the characters look different. But no, it's literally the exact same just next shot. So half the time you are clueless that the scene isn't present and is past.

I feel like 5 is slightly generous won't lie, but I'm in a good mood today. It's a watchable film don't get me wrong, but it has a lot of issues. It's a shame because the idea is there, just the execution isn't.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 December 2014 (USA)

Also Known As:

Queen of the Night

Filming Locations:

Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$407,804, 7 September 2014

Gross USA:

$1,075,178

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,096,212

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ego Film Arts, The Film Farm

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1