Judging by this trailer for upcoming film Kidnap, it’s probably best not to tangle with Halle Berry. After her son is snatched from an amusement park, she sets off on a one-woman crusade to rescue him. This appears to send her on what can only be described as a roaring rampage of revenge, which apparently leads to high-octane car chases and brutal axe chopping, as she harnesses her inner Jason Voorhees and shows these kidnappers that you absolutely do not mess with her kid.
Personally, I think this looks pretty great and I’m a sucker for action movies where villains seriously underestimate the murderous talents of women (You’re Next is a particular fave). The film comes from director Luis Prieto, whose previous pedigree includes 2012’s underrated Pusher (produced by Nicholas Winding Refn), so there’s definitely reason to be optimistic here. At least, before you consider its production troubles.
Kidnap has had a rather tortured path to screens. It was first scheduled for release way back in October 2015, but distributors Relativity had a financial crisis. The film was then bumped back again and again (and again) until they finally lost the rights to distribute it. At that point, it was picked up by Aviron and given its current release date of August 4th. As if to add insult to injury, the movie then leaked online. Did Prieto run over a black cat during production or something?
Of course, behind the scenes shenanigans don’t necessarily affect the quality of the film itself, but I’m sure everyone involved will be happy to finally get Kidnap onto screens and out of their lives in just a few months’ time.
