Taken in Broad Daylight

Based on true events, Taken in Broad Daylight follows chipper teen Anne Sluti (Sara Canning) as she’s abducted by a mean-spirited survivalist (James Van Der Beek’s Tony Zappa) and essentially forced to become his wife – with the film also detailing the ongoing attempts of several law enforcement officials to bring Anne home safely. Director Gary Yates has infused Taken in Broad Daylight with a persistently low-rent vibe that’s exacerbated by Charlene Blaine and Kim Delgado’s simplistic screenplay, with the movie’s black-and-white sensibilities effectively holding the viewer at arm’s length virtually from the get-go (eg Anne shares a laughably convivial relationship with her parents and brother). This aspect of the proceedings pales in comparison to Blaine and Delgado’s head-scratching refusal to have Anne ask Tony why she’s been kidnapped, as the two characters dance around the question for an absurdly prolonged period of time – which, in turn, ensures that the viewer can’t help but dwell on this issue for much of the movie’s opening hour (Tony’s inevitable response, which finally comes around the 60-minute mark, is hopelessly anticlimactic). It subsequently goes without saying that the rape that comes late in the proceedings stands out like a sore thumb, as the rather unpleasant sequence stands in sharp contrast to an atmosphere that’s otherwise consistently superficial and eye-rollingly amateurish (ie the movie hasn’t earned the right to offer up such a nasty interlude). By the time the film arrives at its standoff finale, Taken in Broad Daylight has certainly established itself as a thoroughly wrong-headed endeavor that boasts little in the way of positive attributes – with the last-ditch effort at transforming Tony into a sympathetic figure emblematic of everything that’s wrong with the movie.

* out of ****