KIDNAP: Halle Berry Has Hit Rock Bottom

Remember Halle Berry? The first black woman to ever win an Academy Award For Best Actress. Remember Catwoman? Oh, how people were shocked to see such a talented actress stuck in a truly terrible film. Remember The Call? People were confused as to why she just could not find work to the caliber of her acting. Well, after the disastrous Kidnap, I think it’s finally safe to say that Halle Berry‘s acting career has hit rock bottom. Kidnap almost serves as a warning sign to other Oscar-winning actresses – movies like Kidnap will permanently kill your career.

Karla Dyson’s (Halle Berry) world is turned upside down when her son Frankie (Sage Correa) is kidnapped by Louisianian hillbillies wanting to sell him for millions of dollars. Instead of calling the police, she takes matters into her own hands, and she will do anything to get her son back.

An Editor’s Worst Nightmare

Kidnap starts off like any other straightforward thriller. It introduces us to Karla waitressing, waiting for her shift to end so she can take her son to the local park. But what comes next is truly a horrific scene, and no, I’m not talking about the kidnap. I’m talking about the atrocious editing during the first half of this film. Every time Halle Berry yells ”Oh my god” and speeds up, the film cuts at least 20 times.

It’s hard to keep track of what’s on screen when all you see are little snippets of 1-second shots, and this type of editing is consistent throughout. The most horrendous editing comes at the beginning where Berry hits another car, and every cut of that scene fades to black, looking like a very bad made for TV movie trailer. It’s cut like these that are so jarring, making what’s on screen completely incoherent.

However, what’s put to the screen isn’t anything special to begin with. The cinematography is unlike anything I’ve seen this year. It’s simplistic, uninspired, and worst of all, it’s hideous. Every shot looks blurry, and most of the shots are very shaky. The selection of shots is also limited, choosing either a closeup of Berry‘s clenched teeth angry look or a blurry zoomed up aerial view of some trees in the forest. With cinematography this bad, it leaves the viewer with a sense that maybe the action wasn’t very good, and director Luis Prieto had to mask that fact with shaky camerawork and terrible editing. Whatever the case may be, it gave me a headache, and every time I saw that dang speedometer rise, that was my cue to look away.

One-Track Story With Laughable Dialogue

Regarding the story-line, this action thriller is extremely one note and poorly written. It uses a lot of action and thriller tropes to construct its story, never truly coming into its own. There are even moments where the movie has no idea where to go. It fulfills only the bare minimum run-time, feeling like the writers were making up the script on the spot. All these suggest that Kidnap is just another cash grab of a movie. There’s no passion radiating from this film whatsoever, and it fails to justify its existence.

Like everything else, the dialogue is also laughable. It has Berry yelling the same things over and over again, including but not limited to “Oh god!”, “Help me!” and “My son’s been kidnapped.” On top of that, she’s constantly talking to herself and to God without actually saying anything important. It doesn’t give the viewer an insight into her personality, nor her character. It’s mostly there to highlight the obvious – Karla is very angry and loves her son so much.

Hollywood Is A Tough Business

Berry gives one of the worst performances of the year, and it kills me to say it while remembering her Oscar-winning performance. Why can’t she get back to that level, you may ask? Well, Hollywood is no doubt a tough business and Berry, like all black actresses, is struggling to find work. Lupita Nyong’o has spoken out about the lack of roles for black women, and even with an Oscar in her hand it’s not easy. There continues to be systematic racism in Hollywood, and if it helps create movies like Kidnap, then we’re all suffering.

Though, Berry has been in this business for a while even before the push for diversity. Looking back at her career, you can see she was never given the roles a white actress of her caliber was given. It’s pretty sad to see such a great actress get roles like these. If anything else, Kidnap is a cry for help to include women of color in bigger and better films.

Kidnap: Conclusion

Even with sympathy for Halle Berry, Kidnap is still an atrocity, in contention for worst movie of 2017. Its horrendous editing and ugly cinematography makes this action thriller unwatchable, while the simplistic déjà vu story doesn’t give anyone a reason to pay to watch this disaster. Despite that, Berry should still prepare her acceptance speech, but this time, it’ll be on the stage of the Razzie Awards.

What are your thoughts on Kidnap? Is it a fun action thriller B-movie or a disaster not worth watching?

Kidnap was released on August 4 in the US. For all release dates, click here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-Ht8VRPRvU