Bound to Vengeance

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Wow, I was going to give this movie about 5 minutes before turning it off and chalking it up as another dumbed-down "girl-turns-tables-on-psycho" movie, but this was a pretty good film for the budget. Now, you have to get past the obvious view that contacting the police would have probably been a safer play . . . but trust me, just accept the fact that she is on a mission, and enjoy the ride. Tina really sold this movie playing the part of Eve. I mean, this is one scary and intense girl! And for once in this genre of film, you actually buy the fact that she could control this guy. Watch out for Tina because she can act and she is "stop and stare" beautiful. Richard was great as the bad guy (good to see him back on screen) and the supporting cast of victims/survivors were all competent in their roles. The directing by Jose Manuel Cravioto in his first English language film (I am assuming) was excellent. Pretty good stuff. 5/10

Saw this at the IMAGINE film festival 2015 in Amsterdam. To present my end conclusion upfront: I left disappointed. The very original plot elements could have made this film stand apart from others in the genre, where usually men are the ones in control and the women suffer. Plus that none of the rescued women thanked her, was a novel plot element too. But it could have been so much better, given all these ingredients. The core of the story, that Eve did not get the thanks she really deserved, is very clear, overly clear in fact along the remainder of the story after having freed herself. Even worse, all her well-intended actions to set the other captured women free, backfire one after another. If she had decided to be selfish, it would have prevented all the fallout we saw now, all pointing to her as the aggressor and guilty party as soon as law enforcement would get involved. In other words, if she had not gone to the trouble of rescuing all the others that were held captured, she could have lived happily ever after. I hope not to have read a morale between the lines here, nor a takeaway message. As a side note, I was particularly annoyed by the repetitious flashbacks with more or less the same images over and over again, showing Eve on a fun-fair with her boyfriend having a good time together. Along the story we get hints that the boyfriend played an unclear role, maybe not directly responsible for her abduction, but got heavily involved in that line of business later on. He insists, on the other hand, that he has searched her for half a year, and lost his job and house in the process. The fine details of what he precisely did (or not did) are not revealed to us. Could have been interesting, but this plot element was dearly missed too.

Yes, there were some interesting things happening in this short (119 mins) low-budget indie. The best part is the opening. It is brilliant. This film basically starts where other films end, that is, with the captive in a white-trafficking ring getting free. That might sound simple but to see it played out is brilliant and astonishing. This reviewer is of the view that many of the insanely positive reviews of this film were because the reviewers were so taken with that opening that they were more forgiving of what comes next. What comes next is simply standard low-budget indie fare, that is to say, scenes shot in little or no light; weak dialog, weak acting, strange camera angles, the whole 9 yards. The many flashbacks, shot with "normal" lighting and in a "normal" environment are designed to provide counterpoint to the horror that the protagonist finds herself in. Yet in reality they simply make the viewer pine for better light and more predictable direction. Other reviewers make a huge fuss about Imlev. In fact she carries the role and works competently with the terrible dialog she is given, but Meryl Streep is not losing sleep over this actress. Which is not to say that given a proper film with a proper script she may yet be able to shine. She looks and sounds like a young Helen Hunt (a plus) and she can clearly handle physical acting (another plus). Bottom line: the opening is so clever and so unusual that it colors everything in the movie that follows. However in the cold light of day the rest of the movie is essentially one big letdown.