It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

As an executive is held captive by an employee, it's up to his wife to deliver the ransom. Even tho it has a majority of flaws as a whole 'The Clearing' packs a talented Cast that tries their best and do a pretty good job for the most part. Dafoe and Redford are excellent in the main roles and Mirren is fantastic as the wife in the supporting role. Where the film struggles is within it's narrative i mean the whole cheating thing and that back and forth with what happened between the 2 men kinda bored me at times but the good perfomances still made me go on with the film plus there's a deeper meaning with the film and how money and happiness is difficult to be earned but as i wrote the narrative was kinda messy at times and it does hurt the movie from it's overall more potentials as a whole. (6.5/10)

Not quite your average kidnapping drama in this relatively unknown film from the mid-2000s, but be prepared for intense moments. Loosely based on an actual murder case from Brazil, Pieter Jan Brugge directs an A-list cast in the story of a businessman abducted by a vengeful engineer while the businessman's wife awaits the safe return of her kidnapped husband.Robert Redford takes on the role of the kidnapped victim, Wayne Hayes, a successful businessman whose life is rockier than most people know. We learn he had cheated on his loving wife with a younger woman and has a strained relationship with wife Eileen and their two grown children. Redford brings his usual gravitas to the role, but manages to inject a vulnerability of sorts into Wayne; demonstrating what a disadvantage he is at in the hands of his captor. However the actor brings an intelligence that combats the ideals held by his kidnapper and challenges the odds of survival at every turn in order to escape. Wayne nearly bests his captor at every chance he gets, the only resource at his disposal to try and survive.Future Oscar winning actress Helen Mirren portrays Redford's wife, Eileen, though not quite with the same talent the British star is known for. We know very little about Eileen besides what we see from her role as wife and mother, but her background is left obscured from us. Eileen does maintain calm under the initial pressure of Wayne's kidnapping thanks to Mirren's trademark stoicism, but eventually the gravity of the situation dawns on her and Eileen begins to worry more and more. We watch as Eileen must confront the demons of her husband's infidelity which doesn't give Eileen much closure in the matter, but eases her guilt. It's truly haunting to see a strong actress like Helen Mirren break down by the film's end when she realizes what has happened to the husband she supported and loved.Playing the role of the kidnapper is the ever reliable Willem Dafoe. Here the actor brings a restraint to the part of disgruntled former engineer Arnold Mack. There are some secrets hidden away in Dafoe's performance as throughout the film, we begin to uncover Arnold's reasons for disliking Redford's Wayne even after there is an uneasy trust built between them, but we don't quite learn exactly why Arnold has kidnapped Wayne. However it soon becomes clearer through the subtlety of Dafoe's performance and the actor's trademark intensity (which is kept low-key without ever veering into over the top) why Arnold has done what he's done and it becomes a matter of time wondering whether the desperate engineer will kill his captive, will Wayne kill Arnold or is Wayne gonna make it out? Again the narrative is based on an actual case that ended tragically. The movie does a mediocre job at replicating the events in a loose fashion, but thanks to the acting talent involved it is watchable and engaging. The dialogue between actors Robert Redford and Willem Dafoe is well written, giving small insights into their characters and ramps up the tension as we follow them further and further into the woods.A good little thrill ride.

The makers of this film didn't know whose story it was; Redford's, Mirren's or Dafoe's and in any event were unable to bring any of the possible stories to a satisfactory conclusion. The implication at the end is that the Mirren character who has lost her husband in a mindless killing should be contented with a scribbled note on a piece of paper in recompense. Hello! Having a ghostly Redford appear to her at the end was a real cinematic copout!This film started well but eventually disintegrated into a narrative slough. Least satisfactory film I have seen in some time.

i don't know what is on the director mind. After watching this movie I fell like I just wasting more than an hour of my life. I thought I will fell gratefully if I watch Tom and Jerry instead of this unbelievable movie. There is nothing good in this movie, I just don't get it, why its rating not that bad (6.0) . I think there are a lot of retarded give high vote to this movie, which of course it doesn't deserve any of those!! If this movie deserve to be rated 6/10 so maybe Tom and jerry should be rated 30/10. This is the way i express my depression toward this damn movie it totally kick my dick off, luckily i just watch it on DVD instead of movie cinema, because i don't think i will react normally after the end of the movie which will let others to think that i was a psycho.