B-movies (sometimes a letter grade or two lower) starring A-list actors have become the bread and butter of the video-on-demand world. It is rare that such movies make it to theaters anymore, and Kidnap, although a durable example of the genre, shows why. The taut, tiny thriller simply lacks the authority to make anyone go to the effort to see it in a movie theater; watching Halle Berry chase down kidnappers in her minivan is no less gratifying when watched on your couch at the push of a button.
This flick could just as easily be confused with Berry’s 2013 thriller, The Call. Here, Berry stars as a single mom and waitress whose 6-year-old son is kidnapped from a New Orleans park. Berry’s mom transforms into action-movie mode, using her minivan to stalk the white-trash kidnappers in their white-trash-mobile. Director Luis Príeto keeps his foot on the gas and quickly passes some cringe-inducing moments of Berry talking to herself while in pursuit. For her part, Berry is believable and beautiful, despite several deadly automobile crashes; need we ask more of a movie star giving a paycheck performance?
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