We all love our children…protect them and keep them safe. Our babies…their first walk, their first smile, and their first tooth. We love our moments at the park, racing about on rides, sharing ice creams and laughter. But just try to mess with little Frankie (Sage Correa) the son of Karla (Halle Berry) and you’ll see one crazy ‘mother’ emerge.
Like Berry’s 2013 film, The Call, this is a non-stop, nail-biting, chair-arm-grabbing, action plot filled with urgency and determination. But it’s also a plot of clichés. We know from the get-go where this is headed. Single mother, about to lose custody to a husband with more money and power, has to save her son’s life when he’s kidnapped at an outdoor concert.
The kidnappers (a very seedy couple played by Lew Temple and Chris McGinn) have a get-away car – an old, used green mustang, as seedy as they are. These kidnappers are exactly the kind of ‘white trash’ we imagine might harm an innocent child.
Where the plot becomes head-scratching (but remains nail-biting with the other hand) is about the time when Berry has ample opportunity to make alternate decisions…but doesn’t. The Queen of acting emotional and terrified at the same time, Berry’s actions show a mother in distress – and who knows what we might do in the same circumstances – but it also tells us that this film plays out more like an “Amber Alert’s” dream. For all the parents out there wondering where their own baby might be. For the parents of kidnapped children (chills saying this) who feel helpless and worthless…and lost in the would’ve, should’ve, could’ve spending a lifetime awaiting answers, this movie might be the ending we all imagine.
As for the makers of the red Dodge mini-van that Berry’s driving, this is the car that like the Duracell bunny… keeps going, and going and going. Great product placement. Sad but true film. This could happen to anyone, we just probably wouldn’t go the theatrical distance of Halle Berry. 3 tiaras