Frantic

First off, I hate when movies artificially push a band like they did with Grace Jones. They act as if "she" were some global phenomenon that year. They did that with "This Must Be the Place" (at least the name of the movie was related), it was just so forced throughout the movie. After that it was a typical run of the mill, movie of the week thriller.

For anyone whose idea of a thriller is gunfights, fistfights, explosions, fast-paced editing, gratuitous scares and wild "twists and turns," this is not the movie for you. This is a more slow moving, down to earth, realistic drama than anything else. Not my favorite by Polanski or Ford, but it is damn good. Polanski's style can often feel slow-moving and even boring, but once you "get it" and are into it, you like it that way. It's a nice breath of fresh air after watching all these present-day thrillers, which are basically just "big action movies" with slightly fewer explosions and digital FX. Dark, gritty, realistic, subtle and minimalistic, this is a thriller for the film connosieur, not your average teeny-bopper who thinks "Distubia" is the best movie ever made. I'm right. Anyone who disagrees with me is wrong. (:

Don't expect action or lots of fight scenes. Short the requisite Maguffin (in this case the Krytron device), there are few other formulaic devices in this film. Ford's breakaway movie, which moved him away from swaggering, cocky action hero type. The pacing is classic Polanski. A doctor vacationing in Paris with his wife has the unimaginable happen--his wife is kidnapped. What follows is at times slow-paced, but the action which does occur is very believable (and shocking). A very realistic film. If you don't mind long unbroken shots, deliberately slow pacing, and psychological drama, this film may be for you. Not for all tastes, however.

Harrison Ford is a good actor but even he can't bring this movie full of plot holes, unappealing characters, and a boring plot to a climax. It's a big letdown with no twists or turns not even at the end.