Review: Atom Egoyan's Lurid, Silly 'The Captive' Starring Ryan Reynolds, Mireille Enos, Rosario Dawson & More

This is a reprint of our review from the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

Have you ever Xeroxed a picture repeatedly until the image became so degraded that only the highest-contrast elements of the original remained? Imagine doing that with Denis Villeneuve’s “Prisoners,” the other Canadian-directed, child abduction movie, and you’d get something like Atom Egoyan’s “The Captive.” Retreading "Prisoners" territory to an extent that at times makes you wonder if they’re two parts of some sort of Canadian auteur experiment that no one else is in on, what is lost in the transfer, however, is any of the Villeneuve film’s subtlety or shading, and we are left only with its most lurid, credulity-stretching highlights, with all other texture blasted out to snowy blankness. Populate this sketchy version with the bargain-basement versions of the other film's leads (Ryan Reynolds instead of Hugh Jackman, Scott Speedman instead of Jake Gyllenhaal), add in a villain so...