The Betrayed
Kidnappers force a young mother to recover money stolen by her shady husband.
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- Cast:
- Melissa George , Oded Fehr , Christian Campbell , Alice Krige , Donald Adams , Phillip Mitchell , Kevan Kase
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Reviews
How sad is this?
I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.
Talking to a family friend about my dad getting the Spanish Horror Timecrimes,I got told about a very similar movie starring Melissa George called Triangle. While finding out details between the two,I spotted a film starring George which has not come out on UK DVD, that was about to leave Netflix UK,which led to me getting set to witness the betrayal.The plot:Driving to the airport to pick up her husband Kevin,Jamie and her son Michael get caught in a crash that knocks them out. Waking up,Jamie finds herself being held hostage in a secret location. Screaming out to ask the kidnappers what they want,Jamie soon learns that Kevin has betrayed her trust.View on the film:Held captive in one room, Melissa George gives a captivating performance as Jamie. Terrified over the hostage takers watching her every move,George subtly expresses the sharp determination that grips Jamie as the betrayal becomes clear. Speaking behind a door for the opening 30 minutes, Oded Fehr gives a wonderfully creepy performance as Alec/"The Voice",whose voice is given a calculating menace by Fehr.Initially looking like a "Torture Horror" flick,writer/director Amanda Gusack puts the saw down,and turns the screws to a psychological Thriller. Keeping Jamie in one room,the screenplay by Gusack brings to light brief flashback that delve into the things Kevin has kept out of Jamie's sight. Keeping the dialogue brittle, Gusack makes each revelation Alec makes one that coils Jamie's sense of betrayal. Locked in the room with Jamie,Gusack and cinematographer Roger Vernon cover the walls in a metallic grey cutting Jamie off from the world,as Jamie starts to plan her own betrayal.
As a minimalist, ultra low-budget (then again, if my friends and I made this with the budget listed here, we may well have had $3.4 million left in the kitty for our next flick), virtually one-room set film, THE BETRAYED sort of commands attention for its 98-minute running time. If its stated setting was Burnaby, British Columbia, the viewer could think: "Oh yeah, these keystone crooks are kind of plausible in a region where the populace evidently is NOT aware that their national guard won independence 141 years earlier, since they haven't updated a name that specifically denotes their ancestors' colonial masters from centuries earlier. Let's give these confused Britons and Colombians the benefit of the doubt, and rate this tale from backwards Burnaby at 7 of 10, since having all the main characters behaving as clueless dolts would not pass the suspension-of-disbelief test for Philadelphia--or Peoria, but who really knows if or when the 21st Century level of civilization will reach Burnaby."However, with their understandably massive inferiority complex, the Canadian filmmakers have once again chosen for about the millionth time to try to foist off the doings of unsophisticated blunderers as actions which become totally incredible for mobsters, computer science majors, and police officers who are products of American public schools. Ten people are shot to death during THE BETRAYED, with the title no doubt meant to refer to how each one submits to his death like a sheep going to slaughter--even the character who has already gunned down two cops and six fellow mobsters. If you asked them WHY they were so blind-sided, their only possible reply would be, "because the script betrayed me." If you watch BLOOD SIMPLE or FARGO by the Coen brothers, you will see that master filmmakers leave themselves an out when there is lots of misguided mayhem, by portraying their characters as hicks operating in the boondocks. Conversely, Coppola would not make a savvy urban mob boss (think Marlon Brando in GODFATHER) stare into an underling's revolver for half a minute, doing some sort of internal Hamlet "to be, or not to be" monologue, when they could save themselves by just pulling their own trigger! Sure, Philadelphia had Rocky, but even Cousin Paulie could have gotten the drop on these Burnaby bums.
this is a very nicely done film, it has all the things of a nice suspense movie...nice and interesting plot and it keeps you guessing all the time, so don't loose any detail of the movie...i believe Melissa George played very well, she might not be the greatest actress in Hollywood but she has done well in this movie, i also saw her in 30 days of night and she wasn't bad at all.i can't believe how low the votes are in IMDb... for sure i will give this movie 9 out of 10... i think the director made a great job here, i am not familiar with any other movie she did, but i will sure check them out.check this movie out for yourselves and you will see... you will not be disappointed.
*Contains Spoilers*This is a really bad movie, completely ludicrous with an absolutely delirious script, with impossible characters and pretty stupid situations.Melissa's character (executed with unimpressive acting) really deserves to die for acting so stupidly, but in order to get the lax thriller going, where puzzles and enigmas are frivolous, the character survives thanks to a hit-man that loves humanity or at least Melissa George.Apparently the mafia lost some money and wants it back, and Melissa for some reason is the key to get it back, however, unlike more realistic portrayals of organized crime like in The Sopranos, here, the Mafia likes to play CIA, visiting hostages and walking slowly around them while saying some faux-poetic words about death.Character after character we meet, is utterly risible for being a complete caricature impossible in real life, but I'd bet persons that have been prisoners for real, wished their kidnappers were as dumb and slow in their movements.Awfully predictable, it is obvious way before the first half of the movie, that the writers will bend the laws of physics and time in order for Melissa George to survive and will only spoil her efforts in order the make the film a tad longer or add more fake suspense.Needless to say, you'll have to turn off your brain if you want a shot at enjoying this film.