"The Captive" starring Ryan Reynolds as Mathew, father of abducted daughter Cass, portrayed by Alexia Fast, had a slow beginning for the first third of the movie. The setting was gorgeous in the Canadian backdrop of a snowy landscape and a somewhat lush Niagra police department. The natural greenery against the pure white snow gave a hopeful feel to this pallette; then the pallette turned to slushy, dirty snow which allowed the viewer to feel the dirtiness surrounding the pedophile ring Detective Nicole, portrayed by Rosario Dawson, and Detective Jeffrey, portrayed by Scott Speedman, ultimately brought down. ** SPOILER ALERT ** The actors did a very good job in their respective roles, although this viewer felt the plot had some gaping holes in it. No explanation is ever given as to why Mika, portrayed by Kevin Durand, watched Cass's mother or wants to hear sad stories from people; Durand gave a superbly creepy performance, however. Young Cass had been stolen and held captive for eight years, police searching for her - and the entire thing is resolved in the last ten to fifteen minutes of the film with no explanation as to how the police suddenly were able to find kidnapped Detective Nicole with no confession or help from shot and dying Mika. No real answer as to why Cass's hints to her dad about their last conversation, word choice of "gimmick" over "trick", helped him solve the case. The final third of this film had plenty of action, yet felt too rushed as it moved to a happy ending without viewers seeing what happens. Perhaps these jumps were left on the editing room floor. This wasn't the greatest film in the world, but it was an interesting and entertaining way to spend almost two hours so this viewer is comfortable giving the movie a single thumbs up. ** Review originally posted to Amazon reviews on January 18, 2017. **
