Women are stepping up to action roles this summer, from Gal Gadot and Charlize Theron to Kate Mara and Mandy Moore.  Now it’s Halle Berry’s turn, playing a mother whose young son is kidnapped in Kidnap.  Its blunt, prosaic title is apt, since the film is rather one-dimensional and unsurprising.

Luis Prieto’s film is fairly exciting, as we follow Karla Dyson (Berry) as she follows the people who have kidnapped her son Frankie (Sage Correa) at a city park.  She sees them leaving and chases them, leading to highway mayhem before a tense showdown where the kidnappers reveal themselves.  The couple who have taken Frankie are, typically, presented as heinous, slovenly white trash, making it easy to root for their destruction, but it also seems like the easiest way to structure this story.

What works is Karla’s resilience and quick thinking as she tries to control her emotions and save her boy.  Films like this ask viewers to get riled up and fight back, too; I feel as if I would have done things differently at a couple of points — especially the first showdown scene — but I might have lost the boy by doing so.  “What would you do?” is a valid question raised by these circumstances, and overall it is hard to fault Karla for her decisions.  In any case, the immediacy and power of the story is strong and not subtle.

But the film is also lazy on key details (what happens to the dog?) at key points, while the conclusion is a bit muddled.  To be fair, an extra bit of suspense is generated by Karla’s breathless call to the cops, and other possibilities are unlocked.  Yet the film routinely avoids complexity in favor of simplicity; it isn’t deep, although it is elemental.  Despite having to talk to herself a great deal for plot exposition Halle Berry is fine, and the other players are solid.  Kidnap is not elegant or particularly stylish; it’s more like a punch to the gut.  But it’s a pretty powerful punch.  ☆ ☆ 1/2.  27 August 2017.