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Entrapment (Full-Screen Edition) Customer Reviews (16 - 18 of 36 Reviews)

Entrapped by itself.
When this movie was originally released in theatres, I was warned not to see it on the big screen. I was told it was a bad movie, not worthy of watching. I didn't understand why so many people told me that; I mean the film has Sean Connery, contains a seemingly interesting plot, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. There was also a lot of discussion over the fact that Sean Connery was old enough to be Catherine Zeta-Jones' grandfather, yet he was playing her love interest. Luckily, I didn't see the movie in theatres and I am grateful for that.

ENTRAPMENT starts off on the right foot. The film's early scenes are interesting and demand attention. However, about thirty minutes later, the movie takes an unexpected twist into territory it should not have entered: romantic entaglement with bad dialogue and no chemistry. Even though Sean Connery is pushing 75, he's still considered by many to be one of the sexiest men alive. Catherine Zeta-Jones is a beautiful young woman and attracts the eye of many men. Nevertheless, just because two people are physically attractive does not mean that there will be any chemistry between them. In this film the chemistry between Connery and Zeta-Jones is like the chemistry between the same sides of a magnet: instead of uniting, the two objects pull away from each other. Of course, it doesn't help that the movie is full of bad dialogue and many of the emotional scenes of Zeta-Jones are totally forced with no reality or logic to them at all. The screenwriters should have kept to the basics instead of relying on dazzling special effects to save the film.

There are a few good action scenes, especially at the beginning. However, towards the end even those are so blown out of proportion that you begin wondering when the masked superhero will arrive that can match Connery's superhuman skills and foil his evil plans. Overall, ENTRAPMENT is a movie that had a lot of potential, but ending up getting entrapped by itself.

Did I see the right movie?
After reading through other reviews of Entrapment I can't help but feel I saw the wrong movie. The version I saw was a never ending string of cliches embedded into a plot so flimsy it couldn't stand up if it were not for Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones. The direction of Jon Amiel was a never ending series of well worn manipulation techniques that were not even well done. I don't mind being a passive observer, but I do not like to be blatantly manipulated.

Several times during the movie I found it difficult not to laugh out load at the ludicrousness of what I was seeing. For example, in the well advertised scene of Catherine Zeta-Jones wriggling her way through the fake laser beams I couldn't stop thinking "Why doesn't she just crawl" or "What was the point of that move?" It's indicative of the whole movie. It's a scene played for the audience, and we aren't supposed to be there. In another scene between Sean Connery and Ving Rhames, Rhames scolds Connery for changing partners etc. Who is this scene for? We discover later in yet one more feeble plot twist that these two know this conversation is a sham, but rather than playing it out to further some clever hidden agenda it is solely to pull the wool over the eyes of the audience. And as I've stated before, the audience is not supposed to be there.

There are so many good caper movies... It is truly a disservice to the research that went into making those movies to add this fairy tale to the same genre... In short this movie was a waste of time and money.

dull heist caper
The "heist" plot has been a staple of movies down through the decades, including such films as "Rififi," "Topkapi," "Gambit," "How to Steal a Million," "The Hot Rock" ad infinitum. In most cases, the object of the carefully crafted theft usually involved priceless jewels or artwork. In the latest installment, "Entrapment," there are indeed valuable tangible works to be lifted, but, in the style of true '90's thievery, the real goldmine lies in the more abstract vein of computer banking and currency transfer. Alas, the aptly named "Entrapment" falls into a trap of its own making, gussying up a hopelessly conventional script with a display of impressive computer hardware and eyeboggling gadgetry in a vain attempt to overcome dull, barely believable characters and a script totally devoid of the cleverness and wit necessary to carry this sort of story off.

Sean Connery and the beautiful Catherine Zeta-Jones portray accomplished thieves who, after a customary skirmish of mutual doubt and suspicion, decide to steal first a priceless Chinese mask and then $8 billion from the Southeast Bank in Koala Lampur. To give the film's its patina of contemporary relevance, the script inserts timely references to Y2K and the millennial bug - all to no avail. For unfortunately, Connery and Zeta-Jones, though both very charismatic stars in other circumstances, do not register high on the credibility scale here. It is hard to believe that this doddering dolt and this whiny, weepy fashionplate could possible concoct, let alone carry out, such elaborate heists and even gravity-defying stunts. Even less believable are the romantic interludes between this 60-year old man and this 20-something year old woman. The scenes in which Connery trains Jones to perform elaborate tricks of physical dexterity are dull and cutesy - and the final scene of reconciliation (at an empty train station) is so hopelessly contrived that the filmmakers seem to have thrown all logic out the window and allow the characters to perform feats that actually defy the laws of physical possibility.

The basic purpose of "Entrapment" seems to have been to allow two likable actors the chance to cavort in a myriad of eyepopping settings and to dazzle the audience with the latest in technocyber hardware. It's too bad that the less techno value of a solid script driven by smart dialogue and well developed characters was not downloaded into this film as well.

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