This file was generated 2002-09-03 03:17 GMT. This movie's information hasn't changed since 2001-09-02.

Scott Ventura >> Movie Commentary >> June 2000 >> Entrapment

Entrapment

Movie Commentary by Scott Ventura

Details

Scott's Rating:
3 / 5
Times Seen:
1
Viewing Date:
June 2000
IMDB Name:
Entrapment (1999)
Director:
Jon Amiel
Keywords:
action, crime
Made:
1999
MPAA Rating:
PG-13 for some language, sensuality, violence and drug content.

Familiarity

Entrapment came out nine weeks before John McTiernan's Thomas Crown Affair. Both had leading men who'd played James Bond. Both had a sexy insurance agent sent after the leading man. Both had a man back at the office trying to win them over and keep them in line at the same time. Heck, there's even a slight facial resemblance between Denis Leary and Will Patton. I was certain of the similarity of the two plots for a while, but I realized a bit late that the movie had tricked me. Of course, had I seen Entrapment when it hit theaters instead of over a year later, I wouldn't have been as likely to make these connections. Of course, Entrapment plays on the expectations set up in the trailer, leading to my incorrect assessment of the opening scenes.

Set Pieces

As far as I can tell, the selling points of Entrapment are a few set pieces: the opening caper, the laser dance, and the Malaysian break-in. Should I include a romance between Catherine Zeta-Jones and Sean Connery on the list of draws? No. All are well done, entertaining, and involve fairly sexy gadgets, even if I'm extremely suspicious of their feasability. The rest of the film is comparative fluff, and wouldn't be missed if it were on the cutting room floor, except that the travelogue aspect would be lacking. The script does little to flatter the acting talents of Connery and Zeta-Jones, but it's interesting anyway.

Nitpicking

DVD Comments

The Entrapment DVD promises little and delivers less. There are apparently biographies of the five cast primaries, but when I got to the screen to pick one, I couldn't move the selector off of the "Special Features" control to return me to the previous menu. I don't know if this is a programming mistake that goes unnoticed on DVD-ROMs or just a fluke with my player. The movie can be watched with choice of Spanish or English subtitles and two mixes of English audio. I noticed one typo in the English subtitles, "London" with a lower case 'l'. There is a trailer each for Entrapment and Rising Sun. Entrapment's is widescreen; Rising Sun's is fullscreen. The end credits are absurdly difficult to read both because they are small and because they suffer from excessive color bleed. The scene selector arrays the screen's scenes vertically, so there aren't too many dimensions of movement to decipher. Having the scenes on one axis and the screens on the other works very well.

See the IMDB information on Entrapment's DVD or compare prices at DVD Price Search.

Other Opinions




Copyright 2000-2001 by Scott Ventura. All rights reserved.