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Reviews Counted:71
Fresh:5
Rotten:66
Average Rating:2.7/10
Consensus: Lacking scares or psychological insight, Captivity is a distasteful entry in the 'torture porn' subgenre.
Australian Theatrical Release:
May 8, 2008 Wide
US Box Office: $2,626,800
Synopsis: Top cover girl and fashion model, Jennifer Tree (ELISHA CUTHBERT) has it all - beauty, fame, money and power. Her face appears on covers of hundreds of magazines. At the top of her game, Jennifer... [More]
Starring: Elisha Cuthbert, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Laz Alonso, Daniel Gillies
Director: Roland Joffé
Without even calling into question the morals of a film which seems to exist only to depict the suffering of multiple women through hideous tortures, the film is still an empty mess, offering only a minor afterthought of an explanation to who is doing the
Top CriticJoffe and his screenwriter Larry Cohen deserve a little credit for pointing up the psychological horrors where they can, but Captivity is still a grubby, exploitative film with an extremely guessable twist and universally dull performances.
Chillingly enjoyable.
The film itself is a very sorry and unthrilling piece of nastiness, peddling some pretty crass nonsense about what it imagines to be female psychology.
Top CriticIt's a Saw rip-off with less smarts. (Take a moment, please, to allow that sentence to sink in.)
Like Black Snake Moan, this is a film where poster campaign proves more provocative than content.
Does exactly what it says on the tin, grabbing viewers unawares and keeping them in its thrall for an hour and a half of non-stop, heart-pounding exploitation kicks.
The film’s clunky point-of-view shift and obviously re-shot climax are likely to have you choking in disbelief.
Captivity is an abomination, and perhaps a new low in the torture-porn genre: a film I liked even less than Hostel.
Plunges the viewer almost directly into its nightmarish scenario.
With the exception of ramming my head into a brick wall, then backing up and repeating the exercise, I can't think of anything I'd rather not be doing on a Friday afternoon.
A badly written, poorly directed and appallingly acted mess.
It's not scary because not one second is believable.
Veteran writer Larry Cohen has shown a knack for claustrophobic thrillers (Phone Booth), but this tawdry effort is almost entirely lacking in stealth and suspense.
The first audience member stood up when battery acid was about to be poured on a young girl’s face...
I never, ever imagined the experience of spending 80 minutes watching Elisha Cuthbert could be so punishing and vile.
Only about twelve people you know are likely to ever see the film. Eleven will hate it. Avoid hanging out with the twelfth.
Although shot with a modicum of style by a seriously slumming Roland Joffe... nothing terribly thrilling happens in this 'thriller.'
a well-trotted mess
There's no deeper significance, no clever mind game played on the audience, no commentary on violence. Frankly, it's kinda dull.
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July 20, 2007:
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Long before he wrote movies like "Phone Booth," "Cellular," and (ugh) "Captivity," filmmaker Larry Cohen was making horror movies about killer babies. And (guess what?) he just... More...
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