When summer arrives, thriller movies roll in. Kidnap is a heart-stopping action movie starring the Academy Award-winning Halle Berry playing Karla Dyson, and Sage Correa playing her son, Frankie. Halle Berry, 51, is known for her role as Catwoman and also as Leticia in Monster’s Ball. Sage Correa, 9, started his movie career with the Tempting Fate, although he only played a small part in the film.

Kidnap is about a mother named Karla whose child becomes the victim of a kidnapping. After a hard day of serving rude customers in a restaurant, Karla promises Frankie a fun trip to the park. During their visit, Karla receives a phone call from her husband who wants to take custody of her son. And, to make matters even worse, Karla does not see Frankie sitting on the bench that she left him on. After calling his name in distress for a couple of minutes, she finally hears the call of her son. With her own eyes she sees him being thrown into a car by a kidnapper, and from that moment on Karla was on a heart-stopping mission to save Frankie. The remainder of the movie involves enthralling scenes involving Karla chasing the kidnappers.

The film has Halle Berry as the strong female lead and throughout the movie, you can personally feel the amount of pressure and stress she is facing. Although the film has a slightly overused plot, the acting and action scenes make up for it.

I believe that without the amazing performance from Halle Berry this movie would not be able to stand well on its own. What truly stood out to me the most was how Berry’s motherly affection was so believable and made you think through her situation. All the instances of pain, affection and crisis were permeable throughout the movie. It had a lot of cheesy lines, but the acting helped make them feel less cliche.

When evaluating its reviews, Glenn Kenney, a Rotten Tomatoes reviewer, said, “Kidnap isn’t schlock, it’s garbage.” Many people believed that the film did not live up to what was expected. Despite the negative reviews, Kidnap did well at the box office as it grossed $29.4 million on a $21 million budget, which is impressive considering it did not receive many advertisements.

Kidnap was given a rough score of 34% on Rotten Tomatoes, and The New York Times wrote “We see Karla find her best weapons in blunt objects, and to its credit, Kidnap is a blunt movie.” I believe that although Kidnap was not the best movie, it was suspenseful throughout. “I really felt engaged and on the edge of my seat during the movie,” said Arsham Keshavarzian (Jr.). “But I have seen better action/thriller movies.”