Simply Perfect

How sad is this?

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

It's good to see Stephen Dorff in a good movie once in a while. And he has a good partner in Maria Bello. Of course she plays the main character in the movie. Still it is one heck of a good show Stephen lays out there. The movie does work for most of its running time (2/3 I'd say, the last third being a "bit" OTT for my liking), even though you're wondering why Maria does some of the things she's doing.Still the last parts of the movie might ruin it completely for you, unless you are looking for it to go completely crazy and show things that do not make any sense (in the realm of the movie that is of course). A decent effort, but nothing new

When thinking of an 'escape' type film, the things that would generally come to mind would be intrigue, mystery, schemes and deadlocks. It is a pity then that 'Carjacked' contains none of these. In an atmosphere and complex that fluctuates from amicable chatting to sudden gun pointing for the majority of the film, the whole production, the events and the characters seem either too far fetched or too devoid of life to be believable. Usually an actress with personality, Maria Bello portrays an inherently imploded single mother struggling with life. Her character remained detached whilst her emotions were too difficult to read. The hijacker, who was really responsible for carrying the film, acted by Stephen Dorff, is not menacing and instead of a cunning bank robber, is presented as a simple petty thief, which does take away credibility, even if his demeanour is a dangerous cool. The dialogue between the two protagonists comes across as very unnatural, so much so that the movie may well have been better off without it. Whilst watching, you will likely find yourself throwing your hands in the air multiple times wondering how Bello's character Lorraine could not escape rather than find yourself absorbed in the intrigue of the plot. Dorff may well have been referring to the film as well when he refers to Lorraine as 'a whole other class of something else'. Although, he forgot to add, 'in blandness'.

Though I love her in Prime Suspect, Maria's portrayal of Lorraine was much too annoying and felt very forced and unnatural, so I never developed much sympathy for her and never really liked her. Dorf did a good job with the material he had, though. I believed his character completely. The movie keeps your interest enough to keep going to the end. Alas, the ending was bad icing finishing off a somewhat too bland cake *ugh* You feel like you are missing the real ending and they just cut right to a "twist" that the producers really felt was the highlight of the film ... but really isn't. If Lorraine had been written and developed differently, perhaps I would have felt more satisfied and enjoyed the end twist as much as the filmmakers did ;)

"I don't want your money, you got a car don't you...drive" Lorraine (Bello) is having a rough time. Her husband left her with her young son and she has no money. Her night begins with group therapy, then she spends the rest of the money she has on Bagel Bites and gas. It gets worse when Roy (Dorff) comes into her life. He wants a ride, and has a gun to make sure he gets one. Lorraine and her son are now forced to help him. This is a movie that could easily have been a cheesy TV drama. The fact that Bello & Dorff are the actors helps make it into a more tense and exciting thriller. This is the kind of movie that has you hooked 5 minutes in and you are tense and on the edge of your seat the entire time. Stuck between doing what you would think you would do, and what you should do keeps you thinking and engrossed the entire time. Nothing really amazing here, but one of the most tense and exciting thrillers I have seen in a while. Overall, a very good movie that won't disappoint and is very much worth watching. I give it a B+.*Also try - Endure & Firewall