Don't Say A Word
Cast
Michael Douglas .... Dr. Nathan R. Conrad
Sean Bean .... Patrick Koster
Brittany Murphy .... Elisabeth Burrows
Skye McCole Bartusiak .... Jessie Conrad
Guy Torry .... Dolen
Directed by
Gary Fleder
Rater # has description and review.
Rater #1
Has Not Seen Movie
Rater #2
6/10. Gary Fleder is the director to turn to if you want a generic thriller
with a small twist. Kiss the Girls was a kidnapping movie, but one of
the victims escaped. Imposter had the main character believed to be
an alien. Runaway Jury was a typical courtroom drama with someone on
the outside. And now Don't Say a Word is a regular thriller about a
child kidnapped. However, the one main "twist" is that to have the
daughter released, the father (Michael Douglas) has to find a six-
digit number from one of his patients (Brittany Murphy) before 5
o'clock that day. Betcha didn't see that one coming.
There is really nothing in Don't Say a Word that's especially
original. For the most part, it's just a typical child-in-danger
scenario where the father (who always has a prominent job) cracks and
does whatever he can to save her (the child is always female). The
turn in the movie was welcome, although the movie doesn't really
start until about 30 minutes into it, which went by quite quickly.
The rest of the movie seems to drag on and on, but I digress. There
is always one kidnapper who is a little kinder, and almost folds
under pressure. The mother is always handicapped in the beginning but
soon rises to the occasion. There are a whole lot more clich�s I
could go through, but I think I'll stop.
I can understand how Don't Say a Word would be Murphy's breakout
role, but it doesn't really show how she could become today's "it-
girl" that she is now. This role isn't one that teenagers could
identify with. Come to think of it, I couldn't identify with her. I
couldn't read her face; tell what her emotions were. For a role that
required the audience to feel with her and feel what she was going
through, it didn't work. Douglas acted, well, as Michael Douglas.
Nothing new.
As in all generic thrillers, there are some good, tense scenes
(although it's obvious what would happen), but nothing new. When, at
the end, we find out what the numbers stand for, they throw it in our
face and there's even a line like, "I KNOW the number's for a�", when
they never even mentioned it before. Lastly, I could have done
without the multiple flashbacks. It would have been more effective
without them. To wrap it all up, Don't Say a Word is not a bad movie,
it's just generic.
Rated R for violence, including some gruesome images, and language.
Running time: 113 minutes
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