Personal deity, forgive me; it’s gonna take more than 90 minutes for me to forgive a serial murderer. Yes, I know he didn’t start out that way. Yes, I know there is love in his heart somewhere. Yes, I know he wants to see his infant before he dies. But … c’mon; he shot three people and put an officer in a coma when we meet him; then he carjacks at least four vehicles and holds a woman hostage and does a few lines of meth … and in real time that was … today. Or yesterday at the latest. I’m not quite ready to let the court system be the end of it, dig?
Fresh off his Oscar-snub, David Oyelowo has a dream this time around, too. Now, it’s less about the brotherhood of man and more about a stiff elbow to the jaw. And while Oyelowo seemed content with passive resistance from jail one state over, here in Fulton County, Georgia, he punches a correctional officer to submission and then shoots the judge and a court reporter (really, the court reporter? It’s one thing to go after a judge; we’ve even seen that already this year, but, essentially, a stenographer? C’mon, man) and then departs for sweet Atlanta freedom.
Captive actually gave us two cases of those wishing to claw their way out of Hell in the face of parenthood. Brain Nichols (Oyelowo) seems to change his violent tune after spying his new baby; meanwhile, addict Ashley Smith (Kate Mara) is trying to get clean to earn back her daughter. The movie settles on Nichols Stockholm-syndroming Smith in her new place in an effort to lie low after his spree.
Like a schizophrenic, Captive can’t quite decide whom to focus on. Is this story about the redemption of the new mother, the veteran mother, both, or neither (instead, just some empty metaphor for us)? Ashley seems the most important player for a while. We see her at a support meeting, at work, flashbacks with the kid, flash-presents with the kid, the standard promise to make a child-related event or fail parenthood for life, etc. And just in case you were worried there wasn’t gonna be some good God in this film, Ashley also tosses a copy of The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. Her toss doesn’t take; the book finds creepily its way back to her.
The hostage interplay is the best part of the film as we’re led to wonder who is more deserving of our sympathy – are we more forgiving of the guy who shot up a 
courtroom or the woman who seems to have chosen drugs over her child? There’s a true examination of bias in this ride. The film actually makes us believe Ashley has chosen drugs over her child, which for all Brian is guilty of, you know, triple homicide, at least he didn’t snort up instead of parenting. Although, he does do that later, of course.
Captive is the rare subtle Godsquad film – which is to say it only beats God over your head about three or four times while it has your attention. Awful as it is to say, this makes Captive a whole lot better than films which can’t seem to go two minutes without some good screen prayin’. Unfortunately, this also means that Captive isn’t quite as good as your standard hostage film, either.
Brian gets himself in too deep-le
And finds religion without a steeple
Hey, you have a son
Meet before you’re done?
Too bad you shot up three people
Rated PG-13, 97 Minutes
D: Jerry Jameson
W: Brian Bird, Reinhard Denke
Genre: Finding self, God … not necessarily in that order
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Prison counselors
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Policemen
