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Entrapment Review
By admin | August 14, 2009
Entrapment (1999) - Trailer
Entrapment Review
COMMENTS
Once again, Sean Connery plays the part of the old, grizzled ‘sempei’, showing the ropes to the lesser experienced. This time he’s a thief plotting capers with a beautiful, young thief-ette, played by Catherine Zeta- Jones. We’ve seen Connery play this hand before in THE UNTOUCHABLES, and RISING SUN, and THE MEDICINE MAN, but in those films he was dealt better cards.
Jon Amiel’s ENTRAPMENT is a slick, glossy production, with two great looking stars, a truckload of electronic gizmos, and a few tense set pieces. Its story owes a great deal to the 007 films - including a preposterous plot, and a fair amount of globe-trotting. However, it was easier to accept Connery as Bond in his younger days - bedding gorgeous women for queen and country, than it is to accept the attraction, despite the forty-year difference, between him and Zeta-Jones’ character in ENTRAPMENT. Viewers will wonder what’s more difficult to believe — the fact that Zeta-Jones is attracted to the aging thief, or that he’s somehow able to resist her sexual advances. He manages to fend her off with lines like — “My situation is so complicated, I can’t explain.” and a few words about thievery being a business, and confusing things with a relationship would be too dangerous - they could both get caught, or killed. Connery still looks terrific in a tux, and Zeta-Jones is stunning in just about anything, but there are no sparks flying when they share the screen — not like they did when Zeta-Jones and Antonio Banderas smoldered in THE MASK OF ZORRO.
ENTRAPMENT has more problems than the ho-hum chemistry between its leads. The film is all icing and no cake. The production values are very high, and the film looks terrific. Amiel (COPYCAT, SOMMERSBY, THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO LITTLE) handles the few action sequences skillfully. The robbery of an artifact from a palace draws tension from the expert timing required by the thieves to cover their noise with the midnight tolling from a bell tower. The rapid approach of a guard is inter-cut with the slow, graceful gymnastics needed by Zeta-Jones to slither through a network of alarm system lasers. Later, we hold our breath as Zeta-Jones and Connery hang by a thread from the world’s tallest building — the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur. But these sequences aside, there’s little to engage the viewer. The script, penned by William Broyles (former editor of Newsweek), and Ron Bass, tries too hard to be too clever — giving false clues and ‘surprises’ at nearly every turn. After a while, I simply trusted nothing I was told or shown, and gave up caring where the convoluted path was taking me. Even the film’s ending, set on a train platform, has characters disappearing and re-appearing, only to disappear again. I just wanted the credits to roll already.
Connery seems a bit tuned out here. He delivers his lines and hits his marks, but there’s less of that familiar screen presence and intensity that fans are accustomed to. Zeta-Jones’ character is underwritten - she has less to say and more to do - like her laser-dodging gymnastics, and splits and flips from a support beam in Mac’s Scottish castle. Ving Rhames shows up in a bit part as Thabadeaux, Mac’s partner in crime. He’s the most interesting character in the film, and Rhames gives a good, albeit brief, performance. Too bad he spends so much time in the shadows and on the sidelines. Jon Amiel’s ENTRAPMENT is a good looking film, with nifty electronic gadgets, exotic locations, and a couple tense sequences, but its two radiant co-stars have no chemistry, and the overly convoluted plot has three turns too many.
SYNOPSIS
Insurance investigator, ‘Gin’ Baker (Catherine Zeta-Jones), has been on the trail of gentleman thief, Robert ‘Mac’ MacDougal (Sean Connery) for years. After a valuable painting is burgled from one of her company’s clients, she manages to convince her boss, Cruz (Will Patton), that Mac is the culprit. He agrees to let her fly to London to trail the master thief.
Shortly after arriving in England, she’s discovered by Mac, who shows up in her hotel room one night demanding an explanation. Gin convinces him she’s a thief as well, and she needs his help for her next job — heisting a golden mask from a palace. After Gin proves her sincerity and skill on a job of Mac’s choosing, he seems to trust her, and agrees to help plan and execute the big caper. During their training for the job, director Amiel goes out of his way to exploit the beautiful looks and marvelous curves of Miss Zeta-Jones. He allows the camera to dwell on her far too long as she slithers on the floor and twists and turns to practice her passage through the laser beams they’ll encounter in the palace. Connery ogles at her, and on the soundtrack we hear Zeta-Jones’ heavy, labored breathing.
After the heist, the two fly to Malaysia, where Gin springs an even bigger job on Mac — a plan to lift eight billion dollars via computer during a millennium celebration. She insists that the heist must occur just before midnight on New Years eve, when the computer will be temporarily off line. Mac says the job is impossible. He could never plan such a caper in only 48 hours. But when his share for the loot is increased, he says - it’s impossible, but doable. The bologna meter is really pegged for us here, folks. We just saw Mac and Gin plan and rehearse for weeks to pull off their mask heist, but now they’re prepping to lift eight billion dollars using a computer they’ve never seen, contained within a safe they’ve never seen, in a building they’ve never visited, in less than two days! Excuse me while I switch off my brain. By the time this heist begins, and then goes wrong, most viewers will have stopped trying to find reasonable threads in the story’s fabric.
IMAGE
This is one of the best 2.35 : 1, non-anamorphic transfers we’ve seen thus far from Fox. Throughout the presentation the image is sharp and detailed. There are numerous low-key lit sequences in ENTRAPMENT and never is the picture anything but clean, clear and ‘grain’ free. Brighter sequences also look very good, though a few are slightly softer — most notably during the final moments, set at a train station. The clarity of the image during some close-ups of Connery reveal that he’s still a good lookin’ fella — wrinkles and all. Miss Zeta-Jones looks pretty good too. The excellent detail of the image can be best appreciated during the sequence which hangs us high above the pavement between the twin towers of the Petronas. Here, background is the black of night, yet we have bright fireworks going off in the background, and pinpoints of lights hanging between the towers as New Year’s decorations. The lines of the mostly glass towers are razor-sharp, and all edges in view are clean and free of halo-ing. There is no sign of ‘ringing’ or ‘shimmer’ from digital enhancement.
Colors are also very good. Shades of blue and black are predominant in many sequences, but there are some splashes of brighter colors — for example, at the masked ball, and the New Year’s celebration in the final reel. Hues are very well-rendered and saturated. We noted no smearing between fields and no blooming of bright whites. There are a few shots with flames, for example torches outside a museum, where a red outline can be seen around the fire. This creates an unnatural look, but the distraction is only brief.
Contrast and brightness levels are excellent and consistent throughout the presentation. Shadow detail is also very good. We noted no ‘grain’ or image break-up of any kind during the feature. Flesh tones looked natural in all lighting keys. The print used by Fox to strike their master was very nearly pristine. We saw no distracting nicks, scars, or scratches. Due to one or two slight blemishes this is not quite a reference quality transfer from the folks at Fox, but it is an excellent, very solid effort.
SOUND
This is a very good Dolby Digital, 5.1 mix. The forward stage is very deep and wide and reaches around during a number of sequences to merge with the surrounds and create a completely enveloping field. This is particularly true during the film’s finale at the Twin Towers when choppers, fireworks, and high winds can be heard from all positions. Sound effects placement and panning effects are accurate and smooth, with good imaging in the ‘phantom’ zones between the center and mains.
The surrounds have only a handful of occasions to demonstrate split effects, but this is the nature of the film and has nothing to do with Fox’s efforts. The rear speakers create a convincing ambiance during city street locations and two sequences which suspend us hundreds of feet above the pavement, clinging to sides of buildings. The surrounds also provide strong support for Christopher Young’s score. Dialogue is very well recorded and nicely integrated across the front three speakers. Voices sound full and natural — never distorted or compressed. This is a terrific mix from the folks at Fox. High marks.
FEATURES
Scene access menu with links to 24 chapters in the film
Theatrical trailers for ENTRAPMENT and RISING SUN
Spanish and English subtitles
English closed captions