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Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Critic Consensus: No consensus yet.
All Critics (33) | Top Critics (11) | Fresh (32) | Rotten (1) | DVD (1)
"Rapt'' is smooth, cool, and efficient. It's a movie with very little wasted motion - or, for much of its length, wasted emotion.
What lends "Rapt" its fascination is that it represents such a dramatic fall from grace for its hero.
"Rapt" fuses strands of dramatic tension in a shrewd enough way that it even saves its sharpest cuts for the kidnapping's aftermath, when a well-heeled life laid bare must reconcile with a much different form of enforced solitude.
What distinguishes "Rapt" from other kidnapping movies is that, virtually as soon as he is abducted, details of his life start coming out.
Both a compelling character study and a handsomely mounted procedural, at various times suggesting Hitchcock, his French acolyte Claude Chabrol, the sadistic TV series "24" and the action movies of Michael Mann.
While the back-and-forth between various parties grows tiresome through repetition, Rapt rallies with a lengthy epilogue in which the aftermath of Attal's ordeal proves more draining than the physical privation that preceded it.
For a film that's so steeped in our relationship with acquiring wealth, "Rapt"'s greatest quality is that it's richly told.
Belvaux establishes the professionalism of the kidnappers and observes the poker-faced boardroom violence of Stanislas's firm. A late attempt at Chabrolian irony doesn't take, but the story is entertainingly tense while it lasts.
Belvaux, who wrote the script, defies genre expectations at every turn while still providing apt doses of tension and depravity.
[Belvaux'] latest isn't the thriller/policier one might expect, but instead is a tantalizing look at his own kind of 'man who wasn't there.'
A slick, inventive and grippingFrench kidnap drama which doesn't so much deliver an adrenaline shot of nervy thrills as steadily ooze disquieting tension over the course of its two-hour running time.
The unexpected territory Belvaux takes us in preserves our rapt attention to the bitter end.
In "Rapt," Stanislas Graff(Yvan Attal) is an industrialist who dines with politicians before rushing off to spend some quality time with his mistress. Despite his busy schedule, he tries to also spend as much time with his family as he can before moving on to a high stakes poker game where he loses 50,000 euros. The high speend of his life might have explained his driver not seeing the cyclist, except for the fact that it is all a set-up for an abduction carried out with military precision. What the kidnappers want is 50 million and cut off one of his fingers to say they mean business. The bad news is the most Stanislas' family and associates can come up with is 20 million. To its credit, "Rapt" has some timely quotes about late model capitalism and takes little time to establish its plot, keeping things moving throughout, even as it is not quite as adept at keeping track of time. So while this procedural where everybody has their own interests to look after including the cops is methodical to the hilt, it can be too much so, leading it to be on the cold and calculating side of the equation, robbing the movie of much needed tension and suspense, except in a couple of key spots. But the idea of somebody not being in total control for once and in danger of letting his life spiral out of control is a good one, even if his secrets don't run any deeper than adultery and gambling. The main lessons here are to never believe everything you read in the tabloids and to always know who your true friends are.
Super Reviewer
A wealthy businessman is kidnapped, his finger cut off, but when his private life becomes public, the kidnapping is the least of his problems. Yvan Attal, so brilliant in the romantic comedy My Wife Is an Actress, delivers a tour de force performance in this gritty thriller. As Stansilas Graff, Attal is at turns desperate, despairing, and valorous, revolting against the cards life has dealt him. The film becomes a morality tale. Too often kidnapping films become procedurals, but this film makes us wonder if the character isn't better off in captivity. As a result of Graff's affairs, gambling habits, and loose business practices, when his life is threatened, those closest to him wonder if he's worth saving, which is a question that almost no other kidnapping film asks. I didn't like the ending because there was still much that wasn't resolved. It's a problem of the film's focus: too much attention is paid to the demonization of the kidnappers that we need to see something else happen with this conflict by the end of the film even though the film tries to distract our attention from these characters. Overall, Attal must be one of France's premiere actors because I haven't seen anything but good work from him.
I actually found this movie interesting, but I took a 1/2 star away for the ending. I don't care for unclear endings, and this movie most definitely has one of those. However, the rest of the movie (even though more than 2hrs long) makes up for it. The acting is excellent, and the story line intriguing...in spite of the unlikeable main character.
Odd French kidnap drama in that little is resolved in the end but it scores credit for making the kidnapee so morally corrupt and unlikeable. Also, the kidnap and money drops are well handled. Doesn't really do anything wrong but feels forgettable.
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