Captives (1994, R)

I didn’t know much about this film, but it caught my eye when I was browsing the PC options on Netflix – it’s hard to go wrong with Tim Roth. Overall, an all right film. Interesting mix of romance and suspense.

In Captives, a young dentist named Rachel starts falling for a patient. A complicated situation anyway, but made significantly more complicated by the fact that she works in a prison. Nearly all his movements are monitored, and anything between them puts her job on the line. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg…

PC plays Simon, Rachel’s ex-husband. They’d had a practice together, until he had an affair and they split up (this is presumably why she’s beginning her exciting new job at the start of the movie.)  Oh, and the hair is crazy.

He does a fine job – the dynamic between he and Rachel is tense and awkward – but there’s not much to it. Except for a voicemail, he’s only in one scene.

On a side note, this film features two other actors with Who cred – Annette Badland (Blon Sitheen from series 1) and Colin Salmon (Dr. Moon from the Library two-parter in series 4.) Further proof that no British actor seems to be separated by more than two degrees from any other.

Accent Watch

A slightly shaky RP – some of the R’s and OO’s sounded more than a little Scottish.

Recommend?

In General – Maybe. It’s an interesting setup, and the central performances are compelling, but it gets kind of Lifetime in the second half.

PC-wise – For completists only. Like I said, cheating ex with limited screentime; not much to write home about.

Warnings

Plenty of sex and violence, along with some profanity and pretty tense situations.