Movie Review :: Lifetime’s Girl Taken

Lifetime

Lifetime returns to the abduction thriller genre, this time with a movie that has a bit of an icky twist to it, putting trust in a family friend on the line.  

Girl Taken begins with a seemingly unrelated moment as a camper finds a dead body under a pile of wood and brush he was planning to use to build a fire. The one notable thing about the hand seen in the pile is that it has a very distinctive ring on a finger. Cut to the home of Anita Morrell, mother of Rose, preparing for her daughter’s birthday party that evening. Longtime family friend Perry is there to lend a hand, but he can’t stay because he has to get home to his pregnant girlfriend … whom Anita has never met even a year later. He promises she will when Dani feels better. There is also tension between mother and daughter as Rose is expecting her boyfriend at the party, of whom Anita does not approve but she’s willing to give him another chance. But in the middle of the party, said boyfriend calls and gives Rose the worst present ever — a break-up. That pretty much puts an end to night, and Rose is in no mood for her mother’s ‘support” during this tough time. Instead, she sneaks out early the next morning and tries to hitch a ride to the next town over to confront her boyfriend face-to-face. Outside of a local diner, Rose is unable to get a ride but Perry just happens to be inside and sees her (as does the diner’s owner) so he hops in his truck and offers to take her where she wants to go.

On the way he asks to borrow her phone so he can call Dani and then he pockets it, even though she keeps asking him to give it back. Perry tells her he has to stop at his house first, and that will give Rose a chance to meet Dani as well. Rose isn’t happy but Perry does give her phone back, probably because the area has little-to-no-cell service. Dani invites Rose in and while Perry is changing clothes she offers Rose some tea. Which is drugged, knocking Rose out rather quickly. Perry and Dani then discuss their plan to convince Rose to stay with them, but it’s really unclear what the plan is. Is Rose going to be groomed to be Dani and the baby’s caretaker? A sister wife? A sex slave??? Who knows, but they are determined to brainwash her enough so that she will comply, unlike the last girl Perry brought home (who is never mentioned by name but we’re allowed to put some of the puzzle pieces together to guess, later, who she may have been). Rose wakes up and is feeling this whole situation is sketchy, and when she misbehaves by trying to escape once she realizes what’s happening, Perry catched her and chains her up in the barn basement, complete with booby traps in case she somehow breaks free. (Rose is not the brightest bulb though as she tries to break her chains with a brick — against her LEG! Why not use a hard surface like THE FLOOR?!?!) Anita is frantic to find her daughter, enlisting the local sheriff’s office and Rose’s friend Becca. She’s also aided by Detective Henrique … whose own daughter went missing quite some time ago (there’s that puzzle piece, although it’s never made explicit that she was another of Perry’s victims). More puzzle pieces fall into place when some blurry security video shows someone who may be Rose getting into a red pickup truck (Perry has a red pickup truck), and the identity of the dead man is determined by the custom made ring, whose name matches a name Rose saw on a letter in Perry’s house. All roads at this point lead straight to Perry, but could the man who was such good friends with Anita’s late husband truly be behind Rose’s abduction?

Girl Taken is a slow moving, mildly engaging thriller. It won’t have you on the edge of your seat, but it will lull you into a state of interest in the outcome. The story by Mark Sanderson is competently constructed with no real egregious plot points to make your eyes roll. It would have been nice to get some answers about Detective Henrique’s daughter and if she was perhaps the other girl Perry mentioned, but that is left to our imagination. The best thing about the story is that it makes sense. Director Paula Elle just keeps the tension at a mild simmer though, with things only picking up speed once all of the clues begin to be revealed to the other characters (even though some of those clues, like the ring and the owner’s identity, are easy to put together). One of the best moments is when Anita begins to tell Perry about the description of the pickup and sees his pickup and has to change course quickly, but not quickly enough for Perry to realize she’s put two-and-two together. Elle paces the story slowly, perhaps to draw you in so you will be on the edge of your seat leading into the climax, but by that point you might be feeling a little drowsy by the lack of tension. Still, it works as a servicable thriller.

The cast, though, is uniformly excellent. As a fan of Erica Durance since her Smallville days, it’s nice to see her in something different (although it’s also weird to think of her as the mother of a high schooler). She gives Anita a very down-to-earth quality, a devoted mother who has to pull double duty as a parent following the death of her husband (and no, Perry was not involved). She really is totally believable in the role and is the big marquee name in the cast (which makes it all the more odd that she’s not even listed on the movie’s IMDb page, as of this publication). Eric Jicks is also very good as Perry (he and Durance are the only two names listed in the opening credits!), never making him feel like a creep in the movie’s opening scenes even though he is a bit cagey about Dani, actually making us wonder if Dani even exists. Of course his actions become more suspect from the moment he takes Rose’s phone, and Hicks builds up Perry’s creepiness but he never goes too-far-over-the-top, even remaining like the same Perry Anita has known for years when he shows up at her place again after taing Rose. Two nice performances here that help make the movie watchable.

Tavia Cervi is also good as Rose, never allowing her to become a compliant victim, always looking for a way out of her situation — even when it isn’t the smartest way (that brick!) — making the audience sympathetic to her plight while rooting for her to get away. Shiraine Haas gives a good performance as Detective Henrique, even though at first the character feels kind of tacked on to the story, never really a part of the case with Rose until the ring makes her part of that story (and she doesn’t even really know that Rose and the ring are part of the same story until she stumbles upon the girl in the barn basement). Harrison Coe is also very good as Sheriff Beresford, working with Anita and keeping his cool, never being condescending to her even when she takes it upon herself to do some of her own detective work by trespassing on Rose’s boyfriend’s property. Sidney Quesnelle is also great as Rose’s supportive bestie, and then as Anita’s support as she does what she can to help find Rose.

Girl Taken may not be the most engaging thriller to come down the pike, but the story and the acting are solid enough to hold your interest, rooting for mother and daughter to be reunited.

Girl Taken has a run time of 1 hour 27 minutes, and is rated TV-14.