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Avg. Critic Score: 24 out of 100 Generally unfavorable reviews Metascore^® based on all critic reviews

Information for Parents:

not for kids

Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

70

Village Voice |
Roland Joff creates a visually interesting and aurally unsettling vibe, and the story from B-movie maestro Larry Cohen keeps it simple. Read full review
50

Variety | Joe Leydon
Destined to be better remembered for its grisly billboard imagery than for its relatively tame torture-porn tropes, Captivity is a thoroughly nasty piece of work that nonetheless earns credit for generating modest suspense after a predictable but effective plot twist around the 50-minute mark. Read full review
42

Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman
Roland Joff brings an artful video-grunge look, and not much else, to this "Saw" clone. Read full review
30

The New York Times | Jeannette Catsoulis
The movie has been thoroughly eclipsed by "Captivity" the marketing. Read full review
25

New York Post |
Captivity is torture porn without the sex. Cuthbert squirms, screams, weeps and pleads for her life with great conviction. Slick, sick sleaze. Read full review
25

The Onion A.V. Club | Scott Tobias
In a genre where killers love to play head games, it's a clever idea (Cohen's?) to have this one remain mute, but that leaves Cuthbert to carry much of the psychological load, and there's no substance to her character, apart from the suggestion that she's being punished for her vanity. Read full review
25

Boston Globe | Ty Burr
A wan, derivative entry in the torture-porn cycle. Read full review
20

The Hollywood Reporter | Frank Scheck
The end result doesn't even satisfy on its own sleazy terms. Not only does it lack the satirical nihilism of the "Hostel" films or the admittedly clever torture machinations of the "Saw" series, it doesn't even provide its target young male audience with the requisite nudity. Read full review
20

Los Angeles Times |
It's the movie business equivalent of encountering someone you once knew begging for money on the street. Read full review
0

Austin Chronicle | Marc Savlov
Captivity is the kind of film that gives torture porn a bad name. Read full review

Metacritic link View more reviews for Captivity on Metacritic

Information for Parents

Common Sense Media says not for kids Dreary, cliched "torture porn." Yuck.

What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this bloody, torturous (literally and figuratively) horror movie is in no way for kids. Brutal, grisly images -- focused on the kidnapping, captivity, and torture of a model by a killer who resents her "beauty" (and has flashbacks to a sexually abusive mother) -- are nonstop. Expect to see shooting, stabbing, smothering by sand, bondage, hitting, and teeth pulling by pliers. The model is forced to wear skimpy clothing, swallow blended human entrails, and take needles of knockout drugs in her arm. There's one brief but suggestive sex scene; and, in addition to doping his victim, the killer drinks several times while observing her. Language includes repeated uses of "f--k" and more.

Families can talk about the trend of "torture porn." Why is this sub-category of horror movie (which also includes Saw, Hostel, and others like them) so popular right now? Is there a particular statement you think filmmakers are trying to make? If not, what's their motivation? Is "violence for violence's sake" enough of a reason to make -- or see -- a movie? Families can also discuss the movie's messages about beauty. Why is Jennifer victimized? Why does her tormentor resent her appearance? How does Jennifer feel about the way she looks?

The good stuff

Positive messages: Model seems arrogant and shallow -- but also self-knowing -- in her interviews; kidnapper is inexorably sadistic and brutal.

What to watch for

Violence: Unrelenting violence and/or threat of violence. Repeated images of bloody wounds and body parts (in one especially gruesome scene, a victim is force-fed bloody, blendered body parts, including an eyeball shown in close-up, until she passes out). Violent acts include acid funneled through a tube (which causes the victim to explode), pouring acid onto a victim so her face burns, dragging and tying up an unconscious woman, a victim screaming and throwing furniture, a victim strapped to a chair and forced to watch another victim showered by acid, threatening displays of "Hanging Man" tarot card and a bloody doll, confinement in a glass box filling with sand, shooting victim's dog in front of her, flashback of a young boy stabbing his mother repeatedly in the stomach, pulling teeth with pliers (very bloody mouth), stabbing, shooting with shotgun (in a couple of scenes), smashing with bat, and spraying poisonous cleaner in face.
Sex: Model images show sexy poses (cleavage and breast, no nipple); kidnapped model wears revealing and (in one blurry profile image) no clothing; flashback shows substance-addled mother lying on bed telling her young son that "It makes Mommy feel so good" when "Mommy touches you" sex scene late in the film shows male on top, thrusting (not explicit, but disturbing, as the scene is observed by kidnapper on surveillance monitor); creepy discussion of being "inside her" suggestion of an incestuous relationship between two brothers; suggestions of sex in kidnapper's scrapbooks.
Language: Plenty of nasty language to enhance the ugly imagery, including "f--k," "damn," "s--t," "a--hole," "bastard," and "piece of crap."
Consumerism: The model is herself a brand in the movie; Palm Pilot is mentioned.
Drinking, drugs and smoking: Jennifer has a drugged drink at a club (the image warps to approximate her perspective); kidnapper drinks wine several times; Jennifer is drugged (by needle) and passes out while in captivity; kidnapper's mother appears in flashback, extremely high and discussing her sexual abuse of her son; cigarette butts appear in ashtray.

Common Sense Media An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.