Gary Fleder is not an imaginative director, but always delivers the goods.   The film starts, like most thrillers do, with action.   This time, it begins with a bank robbery and then cuts to a happy person who is about to enjoy a holiday with his family.  The person turns out to be a successful psychiatrist, called Dr. Nathan Conrad, who is played by Michael Douglas.  Of course there is a but, like all thrillers, it has to hint of bad things to come and this time the film shows a body in the river, as he drives on past blissfully unaware.   No guesses what is coming...  Sean Bean plays a very convincing bad guy as Patrick Koster who kidnaps the doctor's daughter, called Jessie, played by Skye McCole Bartusiak, on Thanksgiving morning!  The good Dr. is then horrified to discover that the abductor's demand is that he breaks a catatonic young girl who knows a secret...  Now what could that be?  "I'll never tell."   As predictable as the date that Christmas falls on, this film nevertheless is surprisingly entertaining.  One thing I have to ask is, why is Hollywood using so many actors from the UK, as bad and evil people?  Anyway, back to the review,  this film because it lacks imagination gets two stars.   Worth a watch, but not very memorable compared with other films of its type.  

Cast first credits only:- 
Michael Douglas plays Dr. Nathan Conrad, Sean Bean plays Patrick Koster, Brittany Murphy plays Elisabeth Burrows, Skye McCole Bartusiak plays Jessie Conrad, Guy Torry plays Martin J. Dolen, Jennifer Esposito plays Detective Sandra Cassidy, Shawn Doyle plays Russel Maddox, Victor Argo plays Sydney Simon, Conrad Goode plays Max, Paul Schulze plays Jake, 
Lance Reddick plays Arnie, Famke Janssen plays Aggie Conrad, Oliver Platt plays Dr. Louis Sachs, Aidan Devine plays Leon Croft and Alex Campbell plays Jonathan.

Film Review by Patrick Trollope.

Film Age Rating In The UK

    Sound Mix:- DTS / Dolby Digital

 Our verdict 2 stars out of five stars.

Running Time:- 113 mins.