Movies Reviews

The Disappearance of Alice Creed – Movie Review

By Ron Wilkinson Sep 3, 2010, 14:14 GMT

Two men - one in his twenties, the other nearer forty, both intensely focused on the task at hand - line the inside of a transit van with plastic. Shopping, they buy a drill, a mattress, and other supplies.  In a small flat they assemble a bed for the mattress and staple foam insulation and board to the walls and windows of a bedroom. Then, their meticulous preparations complete, they kidnap ...more

Skullduggery is afoot as well as laughs in this footloose mystery thriller.

Kidnappers Vic (Eddie Marsan) and Danny (Martin Compston) are two desperate ex-cons executing that last big play that will pay for their retirement from their lives of crime. Vic is tough as nails and determined to keep Danny in line as he threatens to allow his callow fecklessness to collapse the house of cards that is their kidnapping plan. Gemma Arterton plays the kidnap victim, Alice Creed, who threatens to turn the tables on the hapless pair at any time as they duck and dodge their way to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Eddie Marsan fans will love this film, it is one of his best performances. Fans of “Dog Day Afternoon” will love this film because it manages to encapsulate that same dark horror of dead ends of fate while painting a picture of human frailty and just plain bad luck at which one can only laugh.

It is not clear if writer/director J. Blakeson intended the film to be so saturated with black humor, but the result is a story that has the audience identifying with the crooks more and more as the stakes rise higher and higher. As in the Bette Midler / Danny DeVito classic “Ruthless People” the victim and the perpetrator become shimmering images of the same entity as the balance of power shifts and desperate measures are required to complete what was supposed to be a sure thing.

The pacing of the film is first rate, beginning with careful preparation. The careful preparation and “Mission Impossible” beginning sets the stage for the classic unraveling of the best-laid plans. The film has a sexual undertone in both the relationship of the younger kidnapper with the victim and the homosexual relationship of the two criminals. The film is about this sexual tension just as it is about the tension of committing a terrible crime.

The criminals are put into a position of fighting for their way of life, which we tend to agree with, but doing it in a way that we do not agree with. The result is a physical train wreck of events and the most marvelous crashing of emotions and dreams.

A true indie production, the film appears to use few sets, mostly natural lighting, spare costumes and, of course, only three main actors. The originally planned 2000 shots were paired down to 500 for the sake of time and money. The economy of the production allows the viewer to focus on the acting and the story and both hold up under scrutiny.

Shot entirely on the Isle of Man, the flat, cloudy, moist environment seems to close in on the characters as their fate is played out. A great music score by Marc Canham reiterates the desperation of the story and the passive acceptance of the lethal consequences by the desolate wet countryside and abandoned buildings where the story takes place.

A fantastic thriller on an ultra-low budget. We hope to see more from this truly indie cast and crew.

Directed and Written by: J. Blakeson
Starring: Eddie Marsan, Gemma Arterton and Martin Compston
Release: August 6, 2010 (screened at Tribeca FF April, 2010)
MPAA: Rated R for violent content, pervasive language and some sexuality/nudity
Runtime:100 minutes
Country: UK
Language: English
Color: Color