This surprisingly taut thriller has a large cast of recognizable actors and a few twists along the way, including the choice to take the viewpoint of the kidnapper instead of the victims. Not all of the film is perfect, but I was thoroughly entertained for the entire 91 minutes. That being said, there is little about The Entitled which will stay with me.
Our narrator anti-hero is Paul Dynan (Kevin Zegers), a good kid who comes from a poor family and has struggled his whole life for the chances that are handed to others. After he fails at yet another attempt in a corporate job, Paul finds himself pushed back to the working class and takes action to change that. Along with his two gullible sidekicks, Paul kidnaps three socialite teenage kids (Laura Vandervoort, Dustin Milligan, John Bregar). The few scenes we have with these three prior to the kidnapping inspires no pity or interest for them. There is much more focus on their fathers (Ray Liotta, Victor Garber, Stephen McHattie), who are extorted for money as ransom for the lives of their children.
There may be a few too many characters thrown into a screenplay this simple, but perhaps that is just to make it more difficult to guess the final twist of the film. It doesn’t really matter either way, but there are a few too many scenes where we are forced to listen to pointless exposition simply to introduce the many characters. It becomes difficult to remember all of this, and the twist seems much less profound as a result. We don’t feel as though the answer has been right in front of us the whole time, as a good twist should.
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