5) Entrapment

Entrapment (1999)

Director: Jon Amiel

Starring: Sean Connery, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Ving Rhames, Will Patton

I haven’t been well the last day or two so I wanted to watch an old favourite rather than something new which would require undivided attention. A friend of mine recently rewatched Entrapment and told me how good it was so I decided that was the way to go.

Insurance worker Virginia Baker (Zeta-Jones) goes undercover to try and catch legendary burglar Robert MacDougal. She presents him with an offer that is too good to turn down, an opportunity to steal $8 billion from the International Clearance Bank. But just who is getting played?

The premise of the film allows for some great sequences. The training sequences which take place in MacDougall’s castle are interesting and fun and focusing on the meticulous manner in which MacDougall prepares for the job help make his reputation as a master burglar despite his age believable. Entrapment has three major burglary sequences; the first being an introductory sequence in a city office block, the second in an old palace/museum and the third being the films showpiece, the burglary of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. Each of these burglaries is complete with all the high tech gizmos you would expect a multimillionaire super-burglar to have in their arsenal.

I remember when I first saw this film at the cinema’s finding it a bit difficult to accept the sexual chemistry between Connery and Zeta-Jones (they did receive a 1999 Razzie nomination for Worst Screen Couple). He was easily old enough to be her father. But watching it now, armed with the knowledge that she married an old man in real life, somehow makes it more acceptable. Maybe she just has an old man fetish?

Entrapment is not a great movie by any means, but not all movies need to be great movies. This is one of those fantastic movies which is just fun. Pure escapism. It’s your perfect ‘Friday Night at the Movies’ film.