My favourite thing about Kidnap, the new thriller in which Halle Berry plays a mother who stops at nothing to get back her kidnapped son is what happens between 5 and 10 minutes into the film – before the actual kidnap.

Directed by Luis Prieto, the trailer for this movie was edited well enough to have me excited. It did a good job of tapping into all the empathy I have for mothers. Particularly when their children are in real serious danger. It’s just unfortunate that some of the writing and acting had me thinking of other films where I was far more engaged and completely absorbed by the story.

During the scenes where Berry’s character is in her car, in pursuit of the kidnappers and she’s alone with nothing but her thoughts – some of which she really didn’t need to verbalise, I confess that she lost me a few times. I couldn’t help but recall Tom Hardy’s brilliant work in Locke (2013); I bought absolutely every single moment of what happened in Locke and the entire film is Hardy’s character in a car with his thoughts, emotions and telephone conversations with other characters we never get to see or meet. My point being, I wish I could say I bought all that happened in Kidnap especially during the in-car scenes.

On summary, Kidnap is by no means the worst Halle Berry movie I’ve ever seen. It’s just definitely not the best. Watch it if you’re so compelled. Otherwise stick to the trailer, probably.

Happy film Loving

G