DON’T SAY A WORD: An intense thriller in which a man must retrieve a six-digit code from a psychotic patient in order to get his kidnapped daugh- ter back. Starring Michael Douglas, Brittany Murphy, Famke Janssen and Oliver Platt. Directed by Gary Fleder. Now playing at GC Fenway 13.
It seems odd to see Michael Douglas play the good guy for once, but that’s what he does convincingly in Don’t Say A Word, an edge-of-your-seat thriller. Dr. Nathan Conrad’s (Douglas) beloved daughter is kidnapped during the night, and only he can decipher the mystery of her disappearence. With talented actors and actresses, Don’t Say A Word never leaves a dull moment.
Conrad, a respected psychiatrist in New York City, is put in the middle of a dilemma when he wakes up on Thanksgiving morning to find that someone has broken into the house and kidnapped his daughter Jessie (Skye McCole Bartusiak). The kidnappers are one step ahead of him and phone him before he can call the police. It seems that a patient of his, whom he received one day prior, has a dark secret she has been hiding for 10 years – and only Conrad can get that secret out of her.
With a strikingly close resemblance to Ransom (1996), Conrad pulls the same type of moves as Mel Gibson’s character in that movie, except this time instead of money, it’s his daughter at stake. Since calling the police is out of the question, Conrad must rely on his wits, as his wife, Aggie (Famke Janssen), lies in bed with a broken leg and a secret camera watches down on her from multiple angles.
Conrad is constantly followed by the perpetrators of the kidnapping and is on a time limit to get the secret, a code, out of the patient, 18-year-old Elisabeth Burrows (Brittany Murphy). Burrows, who has not uttered a single word in the past 10 years, has experienced over 20 different psychotic episodes in as many hospitals.
Bringing Burrows into a deep and painful memory of watching her father’s murder 10 years ago, Conrad rushes to get the secret code from her. Of course, he manages to get her to speak and watches her have an emotional breakdown, as he is the first one to discover her secret, but “she’ll never tell anyone.”
As tension builds between Conrad and Burrows, Aggie Conrad decides enough is, enough. She painfully takes matters into her own hands and finds out where her daughter is due to a mistake made by the kidnappers. All the while, a case is building as a NYC detective trails the suspects.
One may question the importance of this code? As the viewer sees in the action-packed beginning sequence, this all rests in the hands of a rare diamond that was heisted by the kidnappers from a bank and, oddly enough, stolen by his accomplices. This kidnapper, Sean Bean (Patrick Koster), will do anything to get his diamond back. And this means taking Burrows back to excruciating and haunting memories, which are quite clear to us in her agonizing flashbacks.
The end of the film contains somewhat of a twist; however, if the viewer is astute, he/she will be able to predict the final outcome. Overall, the film is quite exceptional involving an extraordinary cast. Don’t Say A Word is undeniably worth the ticket price.
Rating: B+
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