Entrapment (film)

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Entrapment
Entrapment movie poster
Directed by	Jon Amiel
Produced by	Sean Connery Michael Hertzberg Rhonda Tollefson
Written by	Ronald Bass William Broyles Jr. Don Macpherson
Starring	Sean Connery Catherine Zeta-Jones Will Patton Maury Chaykin and Ving Rhames
Music by	Christopher Young
Cinematography	Phil Meheux
Editing by	Terry Rawlings
Studio	Regency Enterprises
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	April 29, 1999 April 30, 1999
Running time	113 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$66,000,000 US (est.)

Entrapment (1999) is an American film directed by Jon Amiel, and starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Filming locations 3 Critical reaction 4 Malaysian reaction 5 In popular culture 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Plot summary

Virginia "Gin" Baker (Zeta-Jones) is an investigator who works for a top close agency. Robert "Mac" MacDougal (Connery) is an international art thief who likes a challenge. A priceless Rembrandt painting is stolen from an office one night. Gin gets herself sent to investigate Mac as the chief suspect. She tries to entrap him with a proposition, claiming that she is an art thief. She promises that she will help him steal a priceless Chinese mask from a well-guarded palace. They travel to Scotland, and plan the complicated theft at Mac's hideout, an isolated castle on a small island. While Mac is busy making final preparations, Gin contacts her boss, Hector Cruz (Patton), and informs him of Mac's whereabouts. Little does she know that the island is bugged, allowing Mac to eavesdrop on their conversation.

After they complete the theft, Mac accuses Gin of planning to sell the mask to a buyer in Kuala Lumpur, and then turn him in. Gin convinces him that her insurance agency job is a cover up, and that she has planned an even bigger job in Kuala Lumpur: $8 billion from the International Clearance Bank in the Petronas Towers. After having orchestrated the theft—to take place in the final seconds of the New Year's Eve Millenium countdown—Gin and Mac escape via hanging Christmas lights and ventilation shafts. While Gin has lost her parachute in the escape, Mac gives her his. He tells her to meet her the next morning at the station at 6:30 AM. The next morning, Gin arrives at the station waiting for Mac. Minutes away from the planned time, he shows up with Cruz and the FBI. Mac nearly hands Gin over to the FBI, knowing that she was a master thief herself. He explains that the CIA has been looking for her for some time. When he was caught, Mac made a deal with the agency to help them arrest Gin. Still, the aging thief has another plan to let her go, as he is getting old and she has got her life ahead of her. Gin persuades Mac to come with her. She holds Mac hostage threatening to shoot him if the agents follow her. But she tricks them and boards a train, leaving them behind. As the CIA agents walk away, another train arrives, and Gin suddenly appears. She tells Mac that she still needs him for another job.

[edit] Filming locations

Filming locations for the film include:

• Blenheim Palace
• Savoy Hotel London
• Lloyd's of London
• Borough Market, London
• Duart Castle on the Isle of Mull in Scotland
• The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur
• The Bukit Jalil LRT station

Note: The set for the Petronas Towers was built on Pinewood Studios

[edit] Critical reaction

The film opened to mixed or average reviews^[1] as described by Metacritic. Rotten Tomatoes lists the film as receiving only 37% positive reviews.^[2] Critics focused on a scene where Zeta-Jones worms around a net of laser beams. The camera lingers on her buttocks through much of the scene. Critic Scott Weinberg said "OK, if you own a TV then you've seen that scene. You know the one. It's when Catherine Zeta-Jones squirms her beautiful rear down onto the floor to avoid a laser alarm system. It's shown on the commercial, the preview and in the movie itself like 7 times. The challenge is this: Build a movie around it."^[3] The laser scene was choreographed by Paul Harris, who also choreographed the wand to wand combat sequences in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Other critics such as The New York Times,^[4] New York Magazine,^[5] the Chicago Sun-Times,^[6] Variety,^[7] and Desson Howe/Thomson of the Washington Post^[8] praised the film.

The film was also a box office success, grossing over $87 million domestically.

[edit] Malaysian reaction

Complaints arose that the movie depicted Malaysia as a backwards country and was misportrayed. The controversy arose from one scene in particular, where a shanty town in Malacca was superimposed over a tilt shot of the then recently constructed Petronas Towers.

[edit] In popular culture

• The film was parodied in the 2001 film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back; one scene featured four female leather-clad crooks trying to steal a bag of diamonds at an exchange center. In order to get through the security lasers (which are blue instead of red), they perform backflips. Unfortunately, the heist goes wrong when one of them farts, setting off the alarms.
• The film was also parodied by Danish dance-pop group Aqua in their video for the song, "Around the World", where the band members try to steal a valuable red jewel.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Entrapment at the Internet Movie Database
• Entrapment at Allmovie

Preceded by Life

Box office number-one films of 1999 (USA) May 2, 1999

Succeeded by The Mummy

v • d • e Films directed by Jon Amiel 1980s Queen of Hearts (1989) 1990s Tune in Tomorrow (1990)  · Sommersby (1993)  · Copycat (1995)  · The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997)  · Entrapment (1999) 2000s The Core (2003)  · Creation (2009)