There are movies that leave you feeling unresolved in a good way, and there are movies that leave you feeling unresolved in a bad way. The good way many times leads to multiple viewings, multiple chances to uncover the movie’s connections and twists. You leave the theater still talking about the movie, still trying to comprehend the characters’ motives and the plot’s meaning. On the other hand, movies that are unresolved in a bad way leave you grasping for answers. Such is the case with Don’t Say a Word.
Sure, the film is chock full of suspense, has the right movie stars (Michael Douglas, for instance), and the characters are well-rounded and interesting enough. But there is something missing-namely, anything vivid and unique. It is one of those movies you’ll forget you ever saw when you see it in the video store. You’ll mistakenly rent it again only to remember that you’ve already seen it during painful d‚j… vu of the first scenes. You’ll probably turn it off and watch TV. Let me tell you why.
Don’t Say a Word starts out with a bunch of guys robbing a bank. Nothing new here. We’ve all seen this kind of quick change before; clocks ticking, eyes darting and chameleon-like camera angles. Once the nogoodniks get what they came for, there is little twist in events: cars racing, explosions, etc. Such is the beginning.
Then we are introduced to the protagonist, Dr. Conrad, a psychiatrist played by Michael Douglas. He’s called in by his old friend to work on the case of a disturbed girl (who, by the way, looks a lot more intriguing in the previews), whose psychological barrier no other doctor could penetrate. Things start to go wrong when Conrad’s daughter is kidnapped and held for ransom. The ransom in question is a secret number that only Conrad’s disturbed patient knows. He has to coax the number out of her before time runs out and kidnappers kill his daughter.
Overall, Don’t Say a Word is the same old suspense film. The creators employ a number of overused formulas-a kidnapping, a robbery and a psychotic girl-and throw them together to make a suspense collage. Besides this, the characters seem to lack any sort of driving energy. Why does Conrad leave his old job? Why is the bad guy so obsessed with a secret number? How does it take Conrad two examinations to correctly diagnose a girl who has been misdiagnosed umpteen times? Don’t bother looking for answers to any of these questions, because you won’t find them-in this film at least. That’s the downfall of Don’t Say a Word-no one took the time to actually think about it in the making-therefore we’re left hanging in the end.

**

Popularity: unranked [?]

 Print This Post

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 25th, 2001 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Cadenza. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.