Entrapment (1999)
Director: Jon Amiel Cast: Sean Connery, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Ving Rhames, Will Patton, Maury Chaykin Screenplay: Ronald Bass, William Broyles Producers: Sean Connery, Michael Hertzberg, Rhonda Tollefson Runtime: 112 min. US Distribution: 20th Century Fox Rated PG-13: violence, language
Copyright 1998 Nathaniel R. Atcheson
Roger Ebert describes Entrapment as a "star vehicle," and he enjoyed it on those terms. I'm not letting it off that easily. Here is a film that not only ignores logic, characterization, and coherence, but spits in the face of every known rule of physics. It's also such a superficial movie that the most notable element of the last scene is that the characters' costumes are perfectly matched with the sets. Style over substance? Definitely. Should we care? I sure did. It's not a loathsome film; on the contrary, it stars two people who are easy on the eyes and light up the screen. In fact, there are only two reasons to see Entrapment: 1) the presence of Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones, and 2) director Jon Amiel, who does what he can with a script overdosed on cliches.
Even these three talents can't make sense of this inane screenplay, which is credited to Ronald Bass and William Broyles; it's one of those scripts that's far more interested in shocking us with ludicrous plot twists than it is in actually telling a story about thieves. The framework for the film is pretty simple: Gin Baker (Zeta-Jones) works for an insurance company; she's assigned by her boss (Will Patton) to make a deal with and ultimately betray Robert MacDugal (Connery), a rich, big-time thief. The usual assortment of plot devices can be expected, including several double-crosses, a sordid love affair, a sidekick subplot (starring Ving Rhames), and a lot of characters staring pensively at the action-packed sight of a surveillance camera.
Entrapment fires cliches at its audience with mechanical rapidity; it's likely that anyone keeping track will lose count well before the film is over. For instance, if Mac is such a sly, brilliant thief, why is it that Gin is able to instantly pull up a file containing every crime he's committed since his foray into the world of robbery? Well, that's probably because the screenplay wouldn't work very well if Gin doesn't know what Mac looks like. Another cliche is the Vanishing Character Act. The last scene (the one I mentioned above) has about four Vanishing Character Acts, where characters vanish into thin air and then appear seconds later in places they could not possibly have gotten in such a short amount of time. My personal favorite is the obligatory sex with Sean Connery cliche. Entrapment doesn't actually feature a heated sex scene, but it's implied.
Jon Amiel (Copycat) is a skilled director, and the heist scene in which Gin and Mac steal the Chinese mask is sharply crafted, especially after seeing the way they train for it. Connery and Zeta-Jones don't do much acting, but they have presence, so much that I was almost interested in the love affair angle. The supporting cast is nice, though Patton and Rhames are both shamelessly wasted. Entrapment is a pretty lousy movie when all is considered, but it has its pluses. It just would have been nice if someone -- anyone -- had at least made an effort to tone down the cliches and make sense of the story. Stars can carry a movie only so far before a little bit of coherence in the plot is necessary.
Psychosis Rating: 5/10
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Nathaniel R. Atcheson
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