The Feature:
Where to begin, where to begin… "Trapped" is an overcomplicated story about a couple, their kidnapped daughter, and the kidnappers. Karen (Charlize Theron) and Will (Stuart Townsend) are the perfect couple. They are rich and have a daughter. Life is good until Will goes out of town leaving his wife and daughter alone. Enter Hickey (Kevin Bacon). Along with his brother (I think it was his brother, which shows you how engaging this movie was), they kidnap the daughter. Hickey stays behind with Karen to make sure the ransom goes on as planned, and eventually try to seduce her (I know, I know). Meanwhile, Hickey's wife, Cheryl (Courtney Love), informs Will of the kidnapping, and keeps him occupied. Confused yet?

The one thing that sums up "Trapped" is that it tries way too hard. Throughout the movie, roles are reversed, as Will and Karen turn the tables on the kidnappers. Unfortunately, the plot is so convoluted, that any interest I had in the movie was immediately destroyed a minute later with its mediocre storytelling. I wanted to like this movie, but couldn't. Not even for Charlize Theron.

So let's get back to the movie now. Karen's daughter is asthmatic, which adds an element of urgency to the situation. Hickey tells Karen that the whole kidnapping process takes 24 hours, so there isn't fishy about the $250,000 withdrawal from her bank account. Yeah, okay. Anyways, Will is able to dominate Cheryl, and eventually have her cooperate with him locating where his daughter is being held. After that, everything is so stupid that I actually dozed off while watching it. No wonder they didn't allow anyone to review the movie before it was released theatrically.

Video:
Columbia Tri-Star presents "Trapped" in Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1. Colors and flesh tones are sharp. The print is near flawless, with no grain or artifacts present. Ironically, it feels like a waste for "Trapped" to have this good a transfer.

Audio:
The audio is presented here in Dolby 5.1 Surround. Columbia Tri-Star usually does a good job with the audio on their DVDs, and this one is no exception. Dialogue is crisp, and the tense background music sounds great through my speakers. There are no audio dropouts here as well. Also, there is a French audio track present on the DVD.

Menus:
An animated DVD menu combines the face of a clock with scenes from the movie. The DVD menu offers the choices of "Play Movie", "Audio Set Up", "Subtitles", "Scene Selections", "Special Features" and "Trailers."

Extras:
As expected, Columbia Tri-Star did a great job of packing extras onto this DVD. There are two commentaries; one with Director Luis Mandoki and Writer Greg Iles, a Making Of Featurette, 5 Deleted Scenes, an Alternate Ending, Filmographies, and Trailers. The commentary with Director Luis Mandoki is informative, but he often takes long pauses, and seems to be devoid of any energy whatsoever. Seriously, his voice is sleep inducing. The commentary with Greg Iles is a little better. He discusses the interesting differences between the movie and his book. But much like Luis Mandoki, he has a tendency to pause throughout his commentary, and lacks the appropriate energy one would think he would have considering his novel was made into a big budget movie. The 20-minute Making of Featurettte is standard fluff, with interviews with the cast and crew. The deleted scenes are shown in rough cut form, and really don't add much to the movie. The Alternate ending wasn't really even an alternate ending, as it was exactly same as the one in the movie, but with a few differences. As for trailers, there's one for "Trapped", "Enough", "Hollow Man", "I Spy", "Panic Room", "Spider-Man", and "xXx."

Final Thoughts:
I'm sorry, but this DVD is a stinker. An excessive amount of extras does not make a bad movie better; always remember that. Therefore, if you actually liked this movie theatrically, then yes, run out and buy this DVD. If you're a fan of the genre or looking for something new to watch, then give it a rental.