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65
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64
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63
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62
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60
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58
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58
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57
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57
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
57
Flash of Genius
55
House Bunny, The
54
Quarantine
54
Get Smart
53
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53
Lucky Ones, The
52
Longshots, The
51
Mamma Mia!
49
Family That Preys, The
47
Swing Vote
47
X-Files: I Want to Believe, The
46
Lakeview Terrace
45
Blindness
43
Meet Dave
43
Death Race
43
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41
Beverly Hills Chihuahua
39
Nights in Rodanthe
37
Miracle at St. Anna
36
Space Chimps
36
Righteous Kill
36
Fly Me to the Moon
35
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
35
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
35
Mirrors
34
My Best Friend's Girl
27
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26
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24
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20
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15
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82
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82
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82
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81
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80
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80
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79
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78
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76
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73
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73
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73
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72
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72
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72
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71
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68
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68
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66
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64
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63
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62
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61
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57
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Lower Learning
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Secuestro Express
Miramax Films
MPAA RATING: R for strong violence, drug use, sexuality and language
Starring
Mía Maestro,
Rubén Blades,
Carlos Julio Molina,
Pedro Perez,
Carlos Madera,
and
Jean Paul Leroux
Secuestro Express -- the business of quick kidnapping perpetrated by two or three organized thugs who chose their victims among the upper-class in Latin America. This film tells the frightening story of one young couple's ordeal as they careen through the underbelly of Caracas, Venezuela in the hands of three thugs who've made them their latest payday. (Miramax Films)
| GENRE(S): |
Action
|
Drama
|
Foreign
|
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Jonathan Jakubowicz
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Jonathan Jakubowicz
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: January 3, 2006
Theatrical: August 5, 2005
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
90 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
Spanish (with English subtitles) |
| LANGUAGE(S): |
Venezuela |

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
80
The New York Times
Laura Kern
The constant threat of violence and rape is difficult to endure, but the unpredictable Secuestro Express is more than just a dizzying thrill ride laced with small doses of pitch-black comic relief.

80
The Hollywood Reporter
Sura Wood
Jakubowicz's direction is assured except in the film's final moments, when he makes a clumsy attempt at sociopolitical philosophy that is delivered by an omniscient narrator. It's an indulgence that threatens to undercut the ferocity that precedes it.

75
New York Post
V.A. Musetto
There's nary a dull moment in the semi-autobiographical Secuestro Express (secuestro means kidnap), as Jakubowicz pleases the eyes with closeups, sped-up scenes, hand-held camerawork and other stylized tricks.

70
TV Guide
Ken Fox
This is pulp with smarts and a social conscience.

67
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
Zips along at an urgent pace, both tantalizing and repulsing as it goes.

60
Empire
Anna Smith
Illuminating as to the reality of being a victim of crime in a dangerous society but not exactly absorbing entertainment.

60
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
Jakubowicz has aptly said of his film that "the beauty of Secuestro Express is how localized it is. The more local it becomes, the more universal it becomes." The truth of his remark resonates throughout this fast and furious film.

60
Variety
Robert Koehler
Assuming the victims' point of view in the type of kidnapping that's now epidemic in Latin America, Jonathan Jakubowicz's Kidnap Express depicts a nocturnal Caracas with tense energy.

50
Chicago Reader
Andrea Gronvall
Slick, violent thriller that could seriously dampen tourism to Venezuela.

50
Chicago Tribune
Robert K. Elder
Exploits the epidemic of kidnapping in Venezuela without offering solutions or insight--only sophomoric platitudes. Jakubowicz's talents as a filmmaker are many, but crafting an articulate, well-examined social theory isn't among them.

50
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
There's no denying the movie's visceral impact: It's too bad, though, that Jakubowicz isn't aiming for anything other than sensation.

50
New York Daily News
Elizabeth Weitzman
Jakubowicz successfully portrays a country corrupted beyond repair by financial inequality. But the sadism that drives the story is so gleefully nasty, it overshadows any rational arguments he's trying to make.

50
Dallas Observer
Luke Y. Thompson
It's a skillfully made film, but not especially fun to watch, and the apparent thesis that poverty justifies such acts doesn't quite wash.

40
Village Voice
Nona Willis-Aronowitz
A focus on a timely social problem paired with an archetypal class-war tale would be a winning combination for Secuestro Express, were it not for the movie's strangely exploitative nature.

40
LA Weekly
Scott Foundas
Too often, though, Jakubowicz falls back on his relentlessly pirouetting DV camera, attention-deficient editing and ear-splitting sound effects as a substitute for real tension, or a more piercing inquiry into the bubbling tension between South America's haves and its poverty-stricken have-nots.

25
San Francisco Chronicle
Walter Addiego
Has more in common with a horror movie than with a genuine political work.

10
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Nathan Rabin
Writer-director Jonathan Jakubowicz does his best Quentin Tarantino impersonation, loading the film with percussively profane dialogue, smug adolescent nihilism, rampant drug use, pop-culture references, homophobic invective, and empty stylistic excess.


The average user rating for this movie is 8.9 (out of 10) based on 26 User Votes
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