Entrapment (1999)

reviewed by
David Wilcock


Entrapment
Starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones
Directed By Jon Amiel
Running Time: 1 hour 52 minutes
(20th Century Fox)

Fox's first summer blockbuster before 'that' film is a entertaining enough thriller which more twists than a very twisty thing. Sean Connery plays master thief Robert MacDougal, who's still hanging off buildings and prancing around at the age of sixty. Jones plays FBI agent Gin Baxter, who thinks she'll be able to catch Connery if she goes undercover with him, pretending to be a 'thief' herself. The plot is not as simple as it sounds, however, and the film pulls off a number of twists that keep the tension running.

Entrapment amounts nothing more than a pleasant diversion. There's nothing heavy in this movie, it's as linear as hell and doesn't really suffer from that. Sean Connery is charismatic enough as the thief, although it's a little implausible that this granddad can survive some of the situations he's thrown into. Zeta-Jones, who's starting to get a movie career going thanks to The Mask of Zorro, looks pretty on-screen, although her acting is a little flat. Unfortunately, her character must have been described in the script as 'show off her butt,' because the character doesn't amount to anything else. But that's what the popcorn popping public expect, the studio obviously thinks. It won't hurt the box office, anyway. Comic relief comes from the ever excellent Ving Rhames as Connery's sidekick, although he is woefully underused. He gives the film a comic lift that is missing from the rest of this somewhat droll affair.

Jon Amiel, whose previous film include the ho-hum Sommersby, is again rather ho-hum here. There's only one true scene that has a lot of tension, where Zeta-Jones is skilfully twisting and turning to avoid lasers. Other than that, the direction is somewhat flat, and the first 30 minutes are almost hideously slow, and not promising at all. The last 30 minutes are hideously loud, and while full of bam bam action, are missing a spark that makes the a ction exciting. It's all rather dead. Still, some nail biting stunts are included, but it won't keep you on the edge of your seat during the entire movie, which is what a action suspensener should do.

Finally, a large amount of suspension of disbelief is needed to make this film work. It's seem impossible that Zeta-Jones would fall for Connery, not due to the age difference, but due to the fact that the script gives them little reason to. It's also hard to believe that Connery's character could still be running and jumping around at his age, especially during the high octane department. I wouldn't be surprised if Connerys stuntman earned more than Connery himself. The twists are executed well, however, and not to predictable.

Entrapment, although fun, has a air of disappointment about it. The film really could have tried a little harder, and there's only small patches of excitement rather than a continuing stream. It's no waste of celluloid, and Connery and Jones are both watchable, but Entrapment hasn't set the benchmark for summer movies.

RATING=**1/2 OUT OF *****
A David Wilcock Review ©1999
DAVID WILCOCK
david.wilcock@btinternet.com
Visit the Wilcock Movie Page for U.K film reviews!
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