I have been reading the Alice Creed coverage on ScreenAnarchy and wanted to provide a quick counterpoint to the mostly positive looks the site has been giving the film.
The Disappearance of Alice Creed is extremely well presented. The
locations are claustrophobic, the compositions informative
and foreboding and the plot briskly paced. Opening with one of the best
set-up and kidnap montages I have seen, the film quickly proves itself
very competent.
Now the problems:
Alice
Creed is a film that is built on the relationships between its
characters. Almost all of the tension is built upon interactions between
the actors, dependent primarily upon emotional violence and
humiliation.
Without giving anything away the actors do not sell
their emotions very well. Gemma Arterton does a good job with fear and
helplessness and Eddie Marsan does a great job being confident and
bullish but sadly these are not the full range of emotions required of
their characters. This is a tricky topic too discuss without spoiling
the film so I will leave it be.
Compounding the above issue the audience is never
given a character to root for which hurts the ending a great deal.
While
not a bad film, it lacks the emotional punch necessary to be a
compelling abduct and ransom thriller.
Spoilery discussion:
The
most interesting relationship in the film is between Danny (Martin
Compston) and a bullet casing.