The Captive (2014 film)

The Captive
Film poster with original title
Directed by	Atom Egoyan
Produced by	Atom Egoyan Jennifer Weiss Simone Urdl Stephen Traynor
Written by	Atom Egoyan David Fraser
Starring	Ryan Reynolds Scott Speedman Rosario Dawson Mireille Enos Kevin Durand Alexia Fast
Music by	Mychael Danna
Cinematography	Paul Sarossy
Edited by	Atom Egoyan Susan Shipton
Production company	Ego Film Arts The Film Farm
Distributed by	A24
Release date	5 September 2014 (2014-09-05) (Canada)
Running time	112 minutes
Country	Canada
Language	English
Box office	$1,742,917[1]

The Captive, formerly Queen of the Night and Captives, is a 2014 Canadian thriller film directed by Atom Egoyan with a script he co-wrote with David Fraser. The film stars Ryan Reynolds, Scott Speedman, Rosario Dawson, Mireille Enos, Kevin Durand, and Alexia Fast. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.^[2][3] The film was released in select theaters and on demand on December 12, 2014.

The film has a nonlinear presentation, and only context differentiates the current scenes from the flashbacks. Additionally, although the film takes place over eight years, all of the scenes take place during winter for dramatic effect.^[4]

Plot

At a police station in Niagara Falls, Ontario, homicide detective Jeffrey Cornwall is sitting down for a job interview with Nicole Dunlop, who works in the Internet Child Exploitation Unit. He recoils in disgust after seeing the images related to an open case, but Nicole advises him these are the types of images he will have to see every day and not look away from.

Meanwhile, local contractor Matthew Lane picks up his 9-year-old daughter, Cassandra, after her figure skating practice. On the way home, Matthew stops to pick up pie, leaving Cassandra in his truck. Minutes later, he returns to find her missing. He reports the abduction to the police station, where Jeffrey and Nicole are assigned to the case. They are skeptical of his story, which infuriates him. Cassandra's mother, Tina Lane, arrives and breaks down in a fit of fury directed at Matthew.

Eight years later, Matthew and Tina are estranged, while Nicole and Jeffrey are romantically involved. Tina still provides details to the police but Matthew, initially a target of suspicion himself, has become a vigilante in the search for Cassandra.

Meanwhile, the whole time, Cassandra has been held captive in the home of a child pornographer named Mika, who has installed remote cameras in the rooms where Tina works as a chambermaid. Although he leaves his house to work and is no longer sexually interested in the now-teenaged Cassandra, the fear that he will harm her parents constrains her from escaping or seeking help.

A break in the case comes when Jeffrey finds recent photos of Cassandra online. More begin to appear as Mika has her tell stories on camera, hoping they will help lure in younger children.

Nicole poses as a child, which allows her and Jeffrey to trick a child molester named Willy to reveal himself. The arrests of Willy and others in his group catapult Nicole into the public eye.

Mika visits Willy in prison and urges him not to take any deals for cooperation. Willy says he will only comply if someone kidnaps Nicole and forces her to reveal whatever details of her past may have inspired her to pursue child protection. Mika initially dismisses the request as unfeasible, but ultimately complies.

Mika decides to watch an encounter between Cassandra and her father. When Matthew is transporting trees in his truck, Mika goes to the motel where he is sleeping and sets up the trees so that they lead to a clearing in the road. Matthew follows the trail in the morning which leads him to Cassandra. Shocked to see her, he begins a rushed discussion with her. Cassandra resists the opportunity to get in the truck, and Matthew cannot figure out why until Mika appears and tranquilizes him.

Cassandra begins chatting online with a young girl, trying to entice her to meet. When Nicole arrives home, she is horrified to see Jeffrey is so desperate to find Cassandra that he is using his own niece as bait to infiltrate the child porn community. Mika turns the webcam back on to watch their fight and reconsiders Willy's offer.

At a dinner where Nicole is being honored, a disguised woman doing Mika's bidding pours a sedative into Nicole's drink. As Nicole is collapsing, the woman offers her a ride home. After getting in the car with Nicole, she removes a wig revealing herself to be an accomplice of Mika's named Vicky.

Mika locks Nicole in a van and tells her to tell her story into a microphone. Meanwhile, Vicky travels to the ice skating arena, where she questions Cassandra's former skating partner, Albert, questions about their tradition of wearing mismatched skates, their trophy, and the impact on Albert of his partner's disappearance.

Matthew overhears them and becomes suspicious. He follows Vicky to a restaurant, where she replays her and Albert's recorded conversation for Mika. Matthew calls Jeffrey with the location and says that he'll plant his phone's GPS on the suspects' vehicle.

Once inside, Matthew acts disruptive, goading the diner staff to summon the police. He confronts the abductors to buy more time and steals Vicky's cell phone, causing her and Mika to chase him after he leaves. In the ensuing chase, Vicky shoots at Matthew's truck.

After the chase concludes, Jeffrey is able to get a fix on Mika's house through the GPS tracking on Matthew's phone. A team arrives to rescue Cassandra, resulting in Vicky and Mika's deaths, and leaving Nicole's whereabouts unknown.

The Lane family is finally reunited. Later, a search team arrives at the van where Nicole is trapped and rescues her. The movie ends with Cassandra ice skating and smiling.

Cast

Production

The shooting of the film began in February 2013 in Sudbury, Ontario.^[5] Ahead of its première on 16 May 2014 at the Cannes Film Festival, distributor A24, in partnership with DirecTV, purchased the U.S. rights to the film.^[6]

Marketing

The first official US trailer for the film was released on July 10, 2014.^[7] A second trailer was released on November 18, 2014.^[8]

Reception

Before its release, the film had been received negatively. Justin Chang from Variety described it as "a ludicrous abduction thriller that finds a once-great filmmaker slipping into previously un-entered realms of self-parody".^[9] Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian commented, "it looks worryingly as if Egoyan has taken a serious issue and burdened it to breaking point and beyond with his own indulgent, naïve and exploitative fantasies".^[10] Steven Zeitchik of the Los Angeles Times compliments moments when the film "hints at emotions and mysteries with a delightful subtlety for a while", but remarks that it includes "some wild plots and conspiracies that wouldn't be out of place in the most fantastical spy novel".^[11]

The film has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 31% based on 49 reviews, with its consensus stating: "Wan and lugubrious, The Captive represents another atmospheric, beautifully filmed misfire from director Atom Egoyan."^[12] The film's Metacritic score is 36 out of 100 based on 19 reviews.^[13]

Release

The film received a limited release in Canada on September 5, 2014 and earned a total of $450,000.^[14] The film was released on DirecTV on November 13, 2014 due to A24's partnership with DirecTV. The film was released in select theaters and on demand beginning on December 12, 2014 in the United States.^[15]

References

External links

• The Captive on IMDb
• The Captive at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Captive at Box Office Mojo