"Torture-porn" has become immensely popular over the last few years. The Saw franchise has earned nearly 100 million dollars yearly since its debut (back whenever the first one was released). Eli Roth's Hostel series has also been successful but hasn't entered public domain to the extent Saw has. So, with the sudden success of this new brutish sub genre, it isn't surprising that Lionsgate decided to launch its own film Captivity into the torture-porn sub genre. The result is
well horrifying just not in the way intended. Captivity is a vile and worthless piece of cinema whose offensive material is only matched by its woefully inept production values.
The film's protagonist is Jennifer Tree (played by 24's Elisha Cuthbert), a fashion model in spirit of Paris Hilton and the like. She is drugged at a promotional event by an unknown assailant and awakens in a mysterious room. She is exposed to various forms of physical and psychological torture including: drinking a smoothie composed of various facial organs, being drenched with an acidic substance, and being forced to murder a dog. Throughout this entire process, Jennifer is exposed to recorded interviews she has given in which she describes her fears and inhibitions. Her captor also entertains her with home videos of victims (who are brutally tortured). Eventually Jennifer meets another prisoner named Gary with who she bonds. They attempt to escape and reach the captor's vehicle before sleeping gas emerges from the air conditioning vents. They awaken in a torture chair and Gary's molar is forcefully removed by the still-in-shadows villain. After they return, Gary and Jennifer copulate in the darkness and Gary leaves their now-shared cell with a key! Gasp, you guessed it, he is the villain! However, his brother helps him with his hobby. Gary admits to his brother Ben (who is introduced for the first time) that he is falling in love with Jennifer. Ben doesn't like this plan, and Gary kills him.
A few minutes later, the police arrive looking for Jennifer and Gary kills them. Anyone with any understanding of police culture will recognize how poorly these officers act. They allow Gary to leave the room for "tea" and ask to watch a ball game (Maybe police training academies should show this clip on opening day). Anyway, Gary returns to Jennifer's cell and admits he has killed the captors. He leads Jennifer upstairs but she discovers the slain police officers. Gary then chases her because she has discovered his secret and she kills him. She walks out and the film ends.
As you might guess, Captivity is a dark film but not a literary dark. It's literally a dark film. The first half of it shows Jennifer's or Gary's face in total darkness but with a beam of light focusing on her or his face. The background is nearly invisible. There is hardly any accompanying music to alleviate the difficulty of focusing on one point in the image (I found the problem to be magnified when viewing the DVD on an HD television). At least the film brightens in its last half. Furthermore, there is no expository detail provided in the first half of the film. Jennifer is abducted and we are forced to somehow sympathize with her. If only we knew anything about her, maybe (just maybe) we could do that. The only information we are given about her life occurs via the interviews Gary plays for her. We also don't see Gary (or maybe Ben?)as the torturer until later in the film. So our freak show has no reason for wanting to kidnap her.
The film does improve a little in its second half. When Gary appears, Jennifer actually speaks something intelligible but most of the dialog (until the ending standoff) is whispered. You'll be adjusting the volume the entire time to hear what they say. Even though they speak, we still learn nothing about either character. Gary isn't given any reason to torture his victims. His brother Ben is even more poorly developed than he is. Ben appears to tell Gary not to fall in love with Jennifer and then dies. Why is Ben even there? He doesn't add anything meaningful to the plot nor does he foil another character. Also, the police officers are equally unimportant. They, too, are killed off before they can do anything meaningful to the story.
Captivity has been seen as a pseudo-feminist film and also as a critique of pampered female celebrities. While I applaud the effort (if there was one from director Joffé), this film isn't either. Gary is revealed to have several other female victims. He keeps a detailed photographic journal of his endeavors. Perhaps he has a scientific curiosity about how soon women will give into consensual sex but it isn't clear. Jennifer, nevertheless, triumphs over him but the other victims hadn't the same luck. One woman's success doesn't justify several others' deaths. Jennifer's own personal torture doesn't acceptably critique celebrity culture either. Such inhumane treatment isn't effective individual criticism.
When watching Captivity, I couldn't help but notice its similarities to Eyes without a Face. Both films involve a young woman being held against her will and female disfigurement but the Eyes without a Face is an effective horror film. It balances its grisly images with proper character development, chilling music, and an eerie atmosphere. Captivity fails in all the aforementioned ways and the final result is a disgusting and bloody film. Final Consensus: zero stars out of ****
The film's protagonist is Jennifer Tree (played by 24's Elisha Cuthbert), a fashion model in spirit of Paris Hilton and the like. She is drugged at a promotional event by an unknown assailant and awakens in a mysterious room. She is exposed to various forms of physical and psychological torture including: drinking a smoothie composed of various facial organs, being drenched with an acidic substance, and being forced to murder a dog. Throughout this entire process, Jennifer is exposed to recorded interviews she has given in which she describes her fears and inhibitions. Her captor also entertains her with home videos of victims (who are brutally tortured). Eventually Jennifer meets another prisoner named Gary with who she bonds. They attempt to escape and reach the captor's vehicle before sleeping gas emerges from the air conditioning vents. They awaken in a torture chair and Gary's molar is forcefully removed by the still-in-shadows villain. After they return, Gary and Jennifer copulate in the darkness and Gary leaves their now-shared cell with a key! Gasp, you guessed it, he is the villain! However, his brother helps him with his hobby. Gary admits to his brother Ben (who is introduced for the first time) that he is falling in love with Jennifer. Ben doesn't like this plan, and Gary kills him.
A few minutes later, the police arrive looking for Jennifer and Gary kills them. Anyone with any understanding of police culture will recognize how poorly these officers act. They allow Gary to leave the room for "tea" and ask to watch a ball game (Maybe police training academies should show this clip on opening day). Anyway, Gary returns to Jennifer's cell and admits he has killed the captors. He leads Jennifer upstairs but she discovers the slain police officers. Gary then chases her because she has discovered his secret and she kills him. She walks out and the film ends.
As you might guess, Captivity is a dark film but not a literary dark. It's literally a dark film. The first half of it shows Jennifer's or Gary's face in total darkness but with a beam of light focusing on her or his face. The background is nearly invisible. There is hardly any accompanying music to alleviate the difficulty of focusing on one point in the image (I found the problem to be magnified when viewing the DVD on an HD television). At least the film brightens in its last half. Furthermore, there is no expository detail provided in the first half of the film. Jennifer is abducted and we are forced to somehow sympathize with her. If only we knew anything about her, maybe (just maybe) we could do that. The only information we are given about her life occurs via the interviews Gary plays for her. We also don't see Gary (or maybe Ben?)as the torturer until later in the film. So our freak show has no reason for wanting to kidnap her.
The film does improve a little in its second half. When Gary appears, Jennifer actually speaks something intelligible but most of the dialog (until the ending standoff) is whispered. You'll be adjusting the volume the entire time to hear what they say. Even though they speak, we still learn nothing about either character. Gary isn't given any reason to torture his victims. His brother Ben is even more poorly developed than he is. Ben appears to tell Gary not to fall in love with Jennifer and then dies. Why is Ben even there? He doesn't add anything meaningful to the plot nor does he foil another character. Also, the police officers are equally unimportant. They, too, are killed off before they can do anything meaningful to the story.
Captivity has been seen as a pseudo-feminist film and also as a critique of pampered female celebrities. While I applaud the effort (if there was one from director Joffé), this film isn't either. Gary is revealed to have several other female victims. He keeps a detailed photographic journal of his endeavors. Perhaps he has a scientific curiosity about how soon women will give into consensual sex but it isn't clear. Jennifer, nevertheless, triumphs over him but the other victims hadn't the same luck. One woman's success doesn't justify several others' deaths. Jennifer's own personal torture doesn't acceptably critique celebrity culture either. Such inhumane treatment isn't effective individual criticism.
When watching Captivity, I couldn't help but notice its similarities to Eyes without a Face. Both films involve a young woman being held against her will and female disfigurement but the Eyes without a Face is an effective horror film. It balances its grisly images with proper character development, chilling music, and an eerie atmosphere. Captivity fails in all the aforementioned ways and the final result is a disgusting and bloody film. Final Consensus: zero stars out of ****