A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

A different way of telling a story

Blistering performances.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

In "The Clearing" (2004) Robert Redford plays a rich executive in the Pittsburgh area kidnapped by a working class guy (Willem Dafoe) while his wife (Helen Mirren) tries to handle the situation.Those hoping for a conventional Hollywood crime thriller will be disappointing by "The Clearing." This is a reflective adult drama/mystery about a kidnapping, based on a true story that occurred in Holland in 1987.While decidedly low-key, there are interesting psychological elements rooted in class warfare (the executive and kidnapper's relationship) and the nature of happiness in marriage and the stumbling blocks thereof (the executive, his wife and another woman). The three acting giants make the drama believable and compelling. There's only one roll-your-eyes part (the aftermath of the fight between two guys; you'll know what I mean when you see it).The movie has left some people confused, but it's pretty straight-forward and everything is there if you pay attention. The two story lines are not parallel. One takes place over the course of a single day and the other over several days and, ultimately, the better part of a year (you'll note the seasons change).The city scenes were shot in Pittsburgh and the forest scenes in the Asheville, NC, area. Some parts were shot in Atlanta as well.The film runs 95 minutes.GRADE: B+

I was looking forward to this - Redford, Defoe & Mirren, all great actors, all in the one film. But this is not one they can be especially proud of. First off, why was Redford made to look like Donald Trump? The resemblance is so unmistakable that it couldn't have been accidental. Maybe it was meant to convey the fact that he's a millionaire? But it instead irritated me - I kept wondering why they didn't try to make Mirren look like Ivana! Then there was the amount of the ransom demand - $10 million. When she heard that, Mirren's character didn't gasp, and start going on about how they couldn't possibly raise that much in a couple of days, she'd have to mortgage the house, talk to the accountants about selling shares and so on. Instead, she simply agrees to it. That is just not believable. Sure her husband's a millionaire, but he had that much in liquid assets he wouldn't be driving himself to work, and he'd have a security staff to protect him from kidnap. And a canny businessman like him would anyway make sure that all his assets would be in an untouchable company trust or something similar (especially if he's lately been messing around and might face a divorce!) There is no way his wife would be able to lay her hands on that kind of money in just three days. Then there's all the soppy stuff about families and relationships - that family was like no family I know; where's the arguments, the distrust, the dragging up of bitter memories? Instead, it was all soft-focus hugging and tears. Dafoe's character, the way he was represented, was unstatisactory as well. This man was depicted as a loser, to frightened to leave an unhappy marriage r even get a job. Yet he was bright and organised enough to meticulously plan the kidnap; he even remembered nearly word-for-word a conversation he had had with the Redford character years before. So why exactly was he such a loser? Whereas Redford's character was presented in a completely positive fashion; he was a nice, sensitive, considerate guy even though he had clawed his way to the top of his company and made lots of financial deals. Sorry, but guys like him are NOT nice! On the plus side, the scenes with Redford and Dafoe were mesmerising; two fine actors teasing their way through their characters and slowly building up a relationship. The slow building up of tension, the "what is he going to do, is he telling the truth or not?" questions kept me gripped. If the film had been stripped down to just these two, I would have been happy.

What a terrible load of rubbish. A waste of good actors. A waste of a film crew. A waste of film!!! A waste of time for anyone watching it. It is just such a heap of garbage!!!!The movie grabs you in the first few minutes with what promises to be a thriller. From there on it goes steadily downhill with a very weak storyline, some lousy directing, and a mawkish puerile ending.All I can say to anyone with this movie on DVD is bin it or burn it quickly. Don't insult anyone by giving to them.I would sue the makers for mental torture and stress if I had the means.Avoid this movie at all costs.

It seemed to start well, the acting was perfectly fine but everything else about this film stinks.. There were so many plot holes and lack of attention to detail Spoilers ahead - 1 - They seem to be walking through the woods for days and remain clean shaven?.2 - Why didn't the police try to track Redford through his mobile phone which is switched on through the first part of the film?.3 - Towards the end of the film the kidnapper appears to know exactly whats going on in the hotel where Mirren is with the ransom money and then when she's in her car.How is this possible?.He's in the middle of the never ending wood with Redford?.4 - If the kidnapper was planning to kill Redford why the days long trek through the woods?.Why not just kill him at the start?...The people who wrote and directed this lousy feature should hang their heads in shame.Redford almost finishing off his kidnapper, then turning his back for a few minutes to let him recover and find the gun has been done a million times, usually in grade Z horror movies.The part at the end where Mirren see's him appear to say he loves her was cheesy and embarrassing.Unless your a lover of bad movies avoid this one.