What do you get when you put together two beautiful stars (Catherine Zeta-Jones and Sean Connery), exotic locations, and a plot full of action and suspense? A great movie, right? Well, I’m sure that is what 20th Century Fox was hoping for with the movie Entrapment. Either that or they were counting on the appeal of the actors to at least draw a crowd.
When a priceless Rembrandt is stolen in New York, a beautiful insurance investigator, Virginia “Gin” Baker (Zeta-Jones), persuades her boss (Will Patton) to let her track the world’s greatest thief, Robert “Mac” MacDougal (Connery), by posing as a thief herself. She travels to London to trap Mac, luring him with a plan to steal a Chinese mask worth forty million dollars. Their adventures take them to London, via the Western Isles of Scotland, and Kuala Lumpur. Together they plan an almost impossible heist, scheduled to take place at the dawn of the new millennium. Along the way you realize that no one is precisely who they seem.
Despite all of its twists, turns, and high-tech gadgetry, the movie lacks the thrill and excitement generally associated with Connery’s films. If you go to this movie expecting a James Bond-like adventure, you are in for a disappointment. Connery plays a sixty-year-old man and, despite his lingering good looks, sixty is still too old to be a heartthrob action star and definitely too old to be matched up as the love interest of the young and vibrant Zeta-Jones.
I was disappointed by the under- development of the supporting characters. Golden Globe Award winner Ving Rhames plays the part of Mac’s associate, acclaimed actor Will Patton (No Way Out, Armageddon) is Gin’s boss, and Maury Chaykin (Dances With Wolves, The Mask of Zorro) plays a black marketer.
The most disappointing part of the movie is the performance by Zeta-Jones. This script is all wrong for her. In Zeta-Jones’ last film, The Mask of Zorro, she sets off fireworks; in Entrapment, she only manages a couple of sparks.
Overall, Entrapment is not a complete let down. It does have some good action scenes and, despite the mediocre plot, it is somewhat enjoyable, but this is due mostly to its incredibly attractive stars.
+ Denise Howard
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