Film Reviews:

Entrapment

(John Amiel, US, 1997)

This looks like exactly what it is from the outset - a star vehicle of a film that without its stars would have been just another middling, non-profitable script doing the usual rounds in Hollywood. That is until the producers managed to get flavour of the month Catherine Zeta-Jones on board and superstar Sean Connery to play opposite her. The result is a contemporary heist movie with a touch of romance in (all involved would probably like to think) the style of lightweight Hitchcock thrillers Charade or To Catch A Thief, and as such it provides an undemanding and occasionally entertaining diversion.

The plot has insurance fraud expert Zeta-Jones teaming up with ageing master thief Connery where the two of them combines their skills to pull of a massive heist in the Petronas Towers in Malaysia. The gadget-laden intro is pure Bond, but the attempted sexual chemistry between the two leads simply gets in the way. There are some uncomfortably voyeuristic (but nonetheless pleasing to the eye) scenes of Zeta-Jones bending and flexing as she practises and sweats (in extreme close-up) her way through a mock-up of the security system they must overcome to achieve their goal. Interestingly, there are hardly any significant supporting characters as the film focuses on, and is largely carried by, it two stars.

The script does at least attempt some cleverer-than-average twists and the globe trotting plot provides us a welcome respite from the usual American-based Hollywood fodder. But low-brow fodder this still is. Very much in the style of the old studio system of throwing huge stars at mediocre scripts, Connery and Zeta-Jones nevertheless are both charismatic enough to just about pull it off. There appears to be an knowing allusion to Connery's career making role as James Bond when in what appears to be a subtle reference to Goldfinger, he says "This is why I don't do banks anymore. They used to be full of gold." Not earthshakingly significant, I know, but then neither is Entrapment. 6/10

Rob Dyer (July 2003)

See also:

Charade
To Catch a Thief