One of the wrost movies I have ever seen

Absolutely Fantastic

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

I rented this last night with just the description of the movie on the DVD box cover. The casting was done very well and as the story unfolds of a woman (Rachel Blake) who meets a handsome man (Sam Neill) in a nightclub and proffers herself for the night, the subsequent kidnapping by him to a remote island seemed par for the course for a low budget movie ... but that's where any notion of predictability ends.The kidnapper's story wasn't a part of this movie. His history and character was left cloaked with mystery. For example, had he done this kind of thing before? And, what was his overall plan? The only thing made clear was that he had stalked her prior to her approaching him for the night and had planned to steal her away. Due to Sam Neill's gentle appearing role in characterization, it became clear he had his own demented agenda of what Melanie (Blake) was supposed to be like, which was displayed by the one act of violently striking her. If he had survived, this movie would have been predictable.After reaching the island and she fatally wounds him and attempts to keep him alive and to return back to shore dragging his dying body in his boat, she snapped. Even during the attempt of nursing him back to health I had mixed feelings about keeping this creep alive and thus, the movie succeeded in pulling me in further. As a result, this movie is more intriguing and psychological with the focus on the victim and various coping mechanisms. After all, when stuck on an island with no phone, electricity, no boat, no radio, and no seafaring knowledge and no land in sight along the horizon, I ask myself, what would I do? After being stranded and alone on the island she identified with her dead kidnapper and fantasized being in love with him. Along comes Bill (Joel Tobeck) arriving on the island and as mentally insane she had become, he takes her to do the vows, which is yet more oddity than irony. In the theme of how the movie unfolded, it made me wonder if Bill was part of her mental incapacitation and/or means of coping... a blend of harsh realities with self-mental death & horror.Focus was on the kidnapped victim for this movie, and in such a circumstance and given all the creative juices for this intriguing film, I gave it a 7 rating since it really is more than the standard fare of predictability and typical action genre. This was and is a "deeper" psychological thriller like no other and Blake's performance in carrying out the twists and depths of her changing mind and coping were done superbly. I felt that Sam Neill's performance was harmonious to what the writer was attempting to project and portray. This is a movie that stays with you for some while after watching, and if that was the intent, then it succeeded. Regarding my dustshelf, this would be a movie I may watch again when in one of my psyche modes.

Yet another film boondoggled by sophomoric "artistic vision." What starts out as a potentially interesting story - a rather hum drum woman who leads a hum drum life meets an unusual, perhaps loony, man on one of her outings to a local singles bar - ends in the most mundane psychotic break ever depicted on screen. This could have been a fairly engrossing dramedy about the desire to be in love, but it went off-topic into a macabre rendition of guilt and mental illness. Though the "need" to be in love becomes the overriding emotion in this story, it is presented in a grotesque, yet surprisingly boring, way. The story physically isolates the characters from the rest of the world by putting them on an island, but the real world is not that far away so it makes the happenings on the island less believable and, in fact, emphasizes the plot holes. The ending is just plain dumb and I wondered if Melanie was really pregnant or if she was having what I believe is called an hysterical pregnancy wherein a woman experiences all the symptoms but isn't really going to have a baby.This is a good movie for insomniacs who won't be kept awake too long. I actually nodded off in the middle and had to rewind, but found I hadn't missed anything important. One star for adequate acting by the principals even though they didn't have much of a script to work with.

I'm not sure what this film is really about but I don't think that it's any of the comments that I've read.There are a number of items to consider. The island appears to be both tropical (palm trees) and cold - the woman is dressed for cold and looks cold.When the woman arrives and awakes, her clothes are there, none of the guy's clothes are around......all of her clothes are around.When she tries to escape, the boat is first at low tide, then afloat at high tide when she succeeds. I'm sure that there's a message there somewhere.She can't operate the boat radio, then she navigates it as a captain.The old flame that reappears....is he killed when she uses the rifle? Are one or both of the men aspects of her personality? He takes and clearly enjoys the candlelit bath.

True is, if I haven't been many years the Sam Neill's fan I'd have never rented videotape with this movie. First I have read user comments at this pages and I thought this movie is something quite modern, unwatchable, not too much comprehensible. Finally, when i have watched it, I was pleasantly surprised. By my mean story about woman who sank up under influence insane handsome man is really great movie. I like this unique mix romance, a little humor, a little horror and psychology used in this movie. It is refreshing and remarkable thing inside the flood many and many constantly similar productions from the all world. If you prefer not traditional story, if you like emotional movies, if you like great camera, and if you don't persist at traditional happy ends, you would love this movie.