Can Ryan Reynolds save The Captive from being too dark?

MOVIE REVIEW: The Captive is a bleak and dark drama about the abduction of a child. But can the inclusion of Ryan Reynolds lift the mood?

The Captive (MA15+)

Director: Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter)

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Mireille Enos, Scott Speedman, Rosario Dawson.

Rating: 3 stars

A gone girl and an ever-present hurt

There is a mountain of missing-child misery to be scaled by The Captive.

The air gets mighty thin as you get closer to the peak. Some may prefer to turn back to a place where they can breathe easier.

Fair enough, too, especially if you are not in the mood for Canadian director Atom Egoyan’s trademark brand of clinical no-escapism.

Ryan Reynolds stars as Matt, a father understandably driven to a state of permanent despair by the unsolved abduction of his young daughter Cassandra.

Matt only took his eyes off his daughter for a relative instant while buying dinner for his family. Now the girl is gone. All that remains is pain.

As the years pass, and a chill sets in on the case, the person responsible for the kidnapping proceeds to further taunt Matt, his wife (Mirielle Enos) and local police with the vaguest of clues.

In spite of some inelegant (bordering on insensitive) scripting choices, this eerie drama exudes a grip that does not let go easily.

The unpredictable manner in which the director moves back and forth across a wide 8-year timeframe does take some serious concentration to follow.

However, if you are prepared to put in the effort and look past some worrying deficiencies, there is still much to reflect upon (and recoil from) here.

Originally published as Can Ryan Reynolds save The Captive from being too dark?