Amazon.com
Kevin Bacon and Charlize Theron square off in a smarter-than-average kidnapping thriller. Joe (Bacon), Cheryl (Courtney Love), and Marvin (Pruitt Taylor Vince) are a kidnapping team with the perfect plan. Perfect, that is, until they pick on the wrong wholesome but incredibly feisty young family. There's the plot, and boom--you're off. Though it certainly hits all the right buttons, Trapped is far from a by-the-numbers suspense movie. There are a few genuinely surprising plot twists, and while many movies dull their villains' edges by cartoonishly over- or underplaying their evil, Trapped is refreshingly unafraid to make Joe realistically, skin-crawlingly vile. Even our heroes turn out to have surprising sadistic streaks. Toward the end, the movie takes a sharp right turn toward the ludicrous, with nearly every major character making at least one completely illogical decision, but by that point you're already strapped in, so you may as well just sit back and enjoy. --Ali Davis