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5/10

Stars: Greg Kinnear, Jim Caviezel, Barry Pepper, Joe Pantoliano, Bridget Moynahan, Peter Stormare, Jeremy Sisto

Director: Simon Brand

Five men, one of them badly wounded, wake up in a locked-down warehouse. None of them can remember who they are - but they gradually realise they're involved in a plot to hold hostages to ransom. It looks as though two of them are victims and three are members of the kidnap gang - all overcome by the same chemical fumes that caused them to lose their memories.

The edgy bickering between them is well maintained by debut director Brand. but scenes outside the warehouse are less well handled, and some of them unnecessarily break the tension.

There's a double twist at the end which may leave you scratching your heads and unsure of exactly what was going on, but the plot is in any case shot through with more holes than the characters at the climax: what newspaper, for example, would carry a kidnap story without pictures of the victims? And have none of the amnesiacs any identification on them? The biggest mystery of all is that, with phones in the building, the men don't call the police long before they suspect that some of them may be crooks.

The main cast members do their stuff well, although some of the minor acting is a bit dodgy. Well done in parts, this is curiously unsatisfying as a whole.

David Quinlan

USA 2005. UK Distributor: Optimum Releasing. Colour by CFI.
85 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 0, Swearing 2.

Review date: 07 Apr 2007