Release Date: April 30, 1999
Starring: Sean Connery, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Ving Rhames, Will Patton, Maury Chaykin, Kevin McNally
Directed by: Jon Amiel
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox Films Corp.
MPAA Rating: R (some language, sensuality, violence, drug content)
Heist thrillers often engage the escapist fantasies of moviegoers. Today's variety, a none-too-subtle tribute to the credit of Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum, are a myriad of fast-past technothrillers which give the viewer a "behind-the-scenes" look at modern thieves. For two hours, we get to see the whole gambit of compact supergadgets and personality-altering methods that these dubious heroes use. One of the best of this kind, 1997's The Saint, was exciting and well-rounded with both a story and the supercool thief gear. That kind of adventure is much above the silly goings-on in the latest Sean Connery-starrer, Entrapment, which features nothing but a meaningless plot and relatively limited coolness.
Directed by Jon Amiel (Copycat and The Man Who Knew Too Little), Entrapment not only has to survive on an unnecessarily complex plot, but it has to survive without explaining crucial plot points. We're introduced to our two leads, insurance investigator/undercover thief Gin Baker (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and multimillionaire master robber Robert MacDougal (Connery) -- otherwise known as Mac. Gin tracks Mac down after he runs off with a famous Rembrandt, and in an undercover ploy, requests his help in stealing various other high-ticket items like an ancient Chinese mask and eight billion in cold cash. She entices him by vaguely alluding to some sort of "record" that he might hold if he pulls the jobs off, but it's never made clear what the current record is or why it's worth it.
Other plot points and supporting characters come and go on a frequent basis but with little finesse. The script, written by Ronald Bass (Stepmom) and William Broyles Jr. (Apollo 13), has little awareness of itself in a complete sense -- it's as though it was written in parts with nothing to link the various sections. For instance, Ving Rhames enters as Thibadeux, a mysterious character who can't decide if he's simply Mac's supplier or Mac's partner-in-crime as well. Will Patton has even less screentime as Gin's boss, but the role makes little sense. Finally, there's a muddled relationship between Gin and Mac: in addition to some torrid romance, they can't seem to decide whether to like each other or to hate each other. Either way, they never make much ground with the audience.
Perhaps the reason they don't make much ground is the lack of good dialogue. Fortunately, the movie sports some exciting action scenes, and so the dialogue doesn't drag the film down too much. But action scenes can only carry the movie so far -- especially if there's not too many pyrotechnics involved -- and after awhile the whole situation becomes boring. Entrapment is a clear example of high-minded intentions being steamrolled by reality: although the idea of a fast-paced heist movie with two big names involved may have looked good on paper, there's really not a lot of substance to it. The box office staying power of this feature is sure to be just as nil.
all contents © 1999 Craig Roush