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Don't Say a Word
By Dave DePino
"That plot's been done a million times," was the response of a friend when I said I had just seen Michael Douglas's new film "Don't Say A Word." Well, it has been. It's the kidnap-the-kid-to-get-something-out-of-the-parents' plot. So? If you strip any film down to a short, one sentence plot description, you'll find that there's very few plot skeletons to hang a story on, and they all have been used a million times. The trick is how you build the story around the skeleton. Here, they have given an old tale, a shot of adrenaline. This film will keep you entertained and at the edge of your seat, if you are willing to make believe you don't see the flaws.
In the film's opening flashback scene, we see a jewel heist pulled off ten years earlier. Something went wrong--a gigantic ruby disappeared amongst the thieves.
Flash forward to the present. Dr. Nathan Conrad (Michael Douglas) is an Upper West Side Manhattan shrink who is quite well off. He used to work with poor psychiatric patients in state-funded clinics with much success, but he "moved uptown" where the money is. He's married to Aggie (Famke Jannsen), a woman much his junior (what's new). Aggie's leg is in a cast with large metal rods to hold it in place. She is bed-bound. They have a bright and beautiful, eight-year-old daughter, Jessie (Skye McCole Bartusiak).
Nathan is contacted by one of his colleagues from the early days, Dr. Sachs (Oliver Platt). It seems there is a special case of a very young woman, Elizabeth (Brittany Murphy), who brutally slashed a man and is out of her mind. If they can't figure her out in a few days, she will be warehoused forever. She hasn't spoken to anyone, but she says to Nathan, "You want what they want, don't you? I'll never tell any of you." Her case is, or was, Nathan's specialty. He's intrigued by her and her statement.
When Nathan gets home, he and Aggie discover that Jessie is missing. The phone rings. The ransom for their daughter is that Nathan probe Elizabeth's mind before she is institutionalized. She has locked in her mind six numbers that are, apparently, of major importance to some pretty terrible people.
The voice on the phone is Koster (Sean Bean), one of the thieves we saw in the opening. His threat to Nathan is cold blooded with no room for negotiation. Koster and his cohorts know every move Elizabeth, Nathan, and Aggie make. Nathan has to work fast to gain Elizabeth's trust in order to send her back into her past.
Added to the mix is a beautiful NYPD detective (Jennifer Esposito) who, thankfully, has no love interest in Nathan or he in her. She's just doing her job and doing it well.
On the plus side, the plot takes some very clever and well thought out twists. The dialogue is realistic and the action seems to fit well into the story. On the minus side, there are holes in the story and an important scene must have been lost on the cutting room floor. Even so, this film holds up as a good mystery-thriller worth seeing.
Douglas, a solid actor always, is at his best when he is playing an everyman rather than some oily, rich guy with a trophy wife. Here he is rich but down to earth, and his wife is much younger, but their marriage doesn't feel like a trophy situation. They don't seem to have been taken over by affluent, pseudo sophistication. It looks like they have a real family. Maybe it's because the two have very few scenes together. Jannsen offers up a typical loving mother and wife, but when her child is taken, she springs into action. It's refreshing to see a woman as more than helpless in an extraordinary situation. Murphy brings just the right pitch of fear, paranoia, and panic to her situation as she digs deep into Elizabeth's psyche. Bean is outstanding as Koster. You can feel the blood in his veins turning to ice as he manipulates everyone to accomplish his goal. This role could have easily fallen into melodramatics, but didn't. Bean is an actor whose work has been over- looked for too long. Following this film, he will be seen in two other starring roles for major features including "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring."
Based on Andrew Klavan's book, screenwriters Anthony Peckham and Patrick Smith Kelly do a fine job, generally, but why the holes in the script? Scripts sometimes go through such a hack-job that it is difficult to place blame. Gary Fleder's direction keeps things buzzing with fast pacing as well as keeping his actors on the same page of the film's emotional level--all in total balance.
So, though not perfection, this movie is worth the time. If you like it, tell a friend; if you don't, "Don't Say A Word."
As suggestions for video rentals, may I suggest two of Sean Bean's earlier triumphs. First the 1988 "Stormy Monday," which takes place around the selling of a jazz club steeped in political chicanery. The performances and direction are top notch. Included in the cast are Melanie Griffith, Tommy Lee Jones, and a wonderful turn by Sting. Second is the 1986 biographical "Caravaggio," following the wildness of the Renaissance painter and his lust for art, models of both sexes, and all out depravity. Nigel Terry and Tilden Swinton complete the cast. This beautifully photographed movie gives the drama the visual flavor of one of Caravaggio's magnificent paintings.
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