Entrapment
"Entrapment", with Sean Connery, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Ving Rhames, Will Patton and Maury Chakin. Written by Ronald Bass and Michael Hertzberg, directed by Jon Amiel. MPAA rating PG-13 for some language, sensuality, violence and drug content. Runtime 114 minutes.
There are those among you - you know who you are - who will say that the only reason I even went to see "Entrapment" was to bask in the cinematic glow of Catherine Zeta-Jones. Yeah, so what? There are certainly worse ways to spend an afternoon at the moovies, right? The truth is, there was so little to choose from at the local Hyper-Googol-Plex this week that I settled for "Entrapment" just because it seemed pretty benign. It didn't hurt that Catherine Zeta-Jones was in it, and being a Sean Connery fan anyway, I figured, "What could it hurt?"
Truth is, it didn't hurt much at all. Catherine Zeta-Jones plays Gin Baker, who at first blush appears to be an inspector for an insurance company investigating the theft of a priceless Rembrandt from their client's seemingly impenetrable tower office. She convinces her boss, (cheesily method-bludgeoned by Will Patton) that only one man, veteran art thief Robert MacDougal, (Sean Connery) could possibly have overpowered and outsmarted the elaborate security around the painting. Her boss says, "Go get him!" and she charges off looking for MacDougal.
MacDougal is a grizzled, old, albeit independently wealthy, art thief. Lest you think me unkind, I would remind you that Connery will be sixty-nine years old this summer. I should live so long. MacDougal has the slippery net-avoidance characteristics of The Jackal, and the counter-espionage instincts of 007.
I won't tell you the whole plot, but Baker and MacDougal agree to team up on "The Big One", the heist to end all heists. It first appears that her intention is to put the collar on MacDougal, but it soon becomes evident that Baker is a thief of no small reputation herself, with big debts to pay, and powerful people to appease. (Get a load of Maury Chakin as Conrad Greene, a creepy lipsticked latter day Jabba The Hut / Sidney Greenstreet/ hookah smoking caterpillar.) Some things just shouldn't be seen on a big screen. Besides Adam Sandler.
In the process of setting up the big gig, MacDougal tutors his beautiful young apprentice in the zen/balletic art of avoiding the numerous security snags she's likely to encounter. It's practically a Pat Morita moment, as MacDougal pushes Baker harder and harder, nearly to breaking, when you suddenly realize that the whole reason she's been put up to this particular exercise is so that we'd have an excuse to look at her Spandex-covered butt. Knowing that moovie directors have feelings too, I complied.
That's as far as I'm going with this. The usual caveats apply - the technology represented in this moovie is oversold, the computers don't act like computers, and the bad guys never, ever shoot straight. Leave your Acme Improbability Detector at home.
Neither Connery nor Zeta-Jones turn in Oscar-worthy performances, but for the most part, they're not offensive. In fact, the whole moovie's not particularly offensive. For a drama/thriller, it falls dangerously close to being a family-friendly moovie. Certainly not for little kids, but it also isn't likely to send pre-teens into any kind of hormonal trauma ward.
It had to be a struggle to do a tight two-shot of Connery and Zeta-Jones together. As we learned in "The Mask of Zorro", the camera loves Zeta-Jones, and as we learned a few paragraphs ago, Connery's an old guy who should start asking that his tight shots be not quite so tight. But damn, old or not, he's still Sean Connery and he still has that voice. If you haven't heard him do the title cut on George Martin's Beatle salute "In My Life", do that right now, I'll wait until you get back.
To everyone's credit, the cinematography and editing were excellent, there are some genuinely dizzying edge-of-your-seat moments, some amazing locations, and a fairly complex, well realized plot with a bunch of about-face twists. Could have been a whole lot worse. If you don't believe me, wait until Adam Sandler's new moovie comes out next week.
What the heck. It's summer. Grab a nice air-conditioned matinee of "Entrapment" and chill awhile.
I gave it two big ol' brown-eyed Welsh cows with nice butts.
There are those among you - you know who you are - who will say that the only reason I even went to see "Entrapment" was to bask in the cinematic glow of Catherine Zeta-Jones. Yeah, so what? There are certainly worse ways to spend an afternoon at the moovies, right? The truth is, there was so little to choose from at the local Hyper-Googol-Plex this week that I settled for "Entrapment" just because it seemed pretty benign. It didn't hurt that Catherine Zeta-Jones was in it, and being a Sean Connery fan anyway, I figured, "What could it hurt?"
Truth is, it didn't hurt much at all. Catherine Zeta-Jones plays Gin Baker, who at first blush appears to be an inspector for an insurance company investigating the theft of a priceless Rembrandt from their client's seemingly impenetrable tower office. She convinces her boss, (cheesily method-bludgeoned by Will Patton) that only one man, veteran art thief Robert MacDougal, (Sean Connery) could possibly have overpowered and outsmarted the elaborate security around the painting. Her boss says, "Go get him!" and she charges off looking for MacDougal.
MacDougal is a grizzled, old, albeit independently wealthy, art thief. Lest you think me unkind, I would remind you that Connery will be sixty-nine years old this summer. I should live so long. MacDougal has the slippery net-avoidance characteristics of The Jackal, and the counter-espionage instincts of 007.
I won't tell you the whole plot, but Baker and MacDougal agree to team up on "The Big One", the heist to end all heists. It first appears that her intention is to put the collar on MacDougal, but it soon becomes evident that Baker is a thief of no small reputation herself, with big debts to pay, and powerful people to appease. (Get a load of Maury Chakin as Conrad Greene, a creepy lipsticked latter day Jabba The Hut / Sidney Greenstreet/ hookah smoking caterpillar.) Some things just shouldn't be seen on a big screen. Besides Adam Sandler.
In the process of setting up the big gig, MacDougal tutors his beautiful young apprentice in the zen/balletic art of avoiding the numerous security snags she's likely to encounter. It's practically a Pat Morita moment, as MacDougal pushes Baker harder and harder, nearly to breaking, when you suddenly realize that the whole reason she's been put up to this particular exercise is so that we'd have an excuse to look at her Spandex-covered butt. Knowing that moovie directors have feelings too, I complied.
That's as far as I'm going with this. The usual caveats apply - the technology represented in this moovie is oversold, the computers don't act like computers, and the bad guys never, ever shoot straight. Leave your Acme Improbability Detector at home.
Neither Connery nor Zeta-Jones turn in Oscar-worthy performances, but for the most part, they're not offensive. In fact, the whole moovie's not particularly offensive. For a drama/thriller, it falls dangerously close to being a family-friendly moovie. Certainly not for little kids, but it also isn't likely to send pre-teens into any kind of hormonal trauma ward.
It had to be a struggle to do a tight two-shot of Connery and Zeta-Jones together. As we learned in "The Mask of Zorro", the camera loves Zeta-Jones, and as we learned a few paragraphs ago, Connery's an old guy who should start asking that his tight shots be not quite so tight. But damn, old or not, he's still Sean Connery and he still has that voice. If you haven't heard him do the title cut on George Martin's Beatle salute "In My Life", do that right now, I'll wait until you get back.
To everyone's credit, the cinematography and editing were excellent, there are some genuinely dizzying edge-of-your-seat moments, some amazing locations, and a fairly complex, well realized plot with a bunch of about-face twists. Could have been a whole lot worse. If you don't believe me, wait until Adam Sandler's new moovie comes out next week.
What the heck. It's summer. Grab a nice air-conditioned matinee of "Entrapment" and chill awhile.
I gave it two big ol' brown-eyed Welsh cows with nice butts.