The Disappearance of Alice Creed

Though it transpires primarily within the confines of one small location, The Disappearance of Alice Creed has been infused with a cinematic and surprisingly expansive sensibility that ensures it never quite becomes either as stagy or as claustrophobic as one might’ve assumed. The movie follows a pair of criminals (Eddie Marsan’s Vic and Martin Compston’s Danny) as they kidnap a young college student (Gemma Arterton’s Alice) and hold her for ransom, with the bulk of the proceedings subsequently revolving around the three characters’ ongoing efforts at one-upping each other. Director J Blakeson does a superb job of instantly luring the viewer into the proceedings, as the movie opens with a fantastic (and dialogue-free) stretch in which the two thugs make their various preparations for the upcoming abduction (eg they ready the van, soundproof the room, etc). It certainly doesn’t hurt that Blakeson has cast a trio of fantastic performers in the movie’s only roles, with Marsan delivering another in a long long of stellar and downright hypnotic performances (Compston and Arterton more than hold their own opposite Marsan, as well). And although screenwriter Blakeson does offer up an almost incredible amount of twists, The Disappearance of Alice Creed does begin to demonstrably run out of steam somewhere around the one-hour mark – with the disappointingly conventional finale ultimately ensuring that the movie concludes on a fairly underwhelming note.

**1/2 out of ****