The Vanishing

Rating:
Summary: A surprising movie which gives you the chills
Review: ,,The Vanishing'' is the kind of movie which really keeps you tied to the sofa and doesn't let you use the remote control for even a second. It's a really surprising thriller, but underneath its characters and situations there is a much deeper meaning.
The story is the following: a young couple- Jeff (Keifer Southerland) and Diane Shaver(Sandra Bullock) returns home after spending a weekend near Mountain Saint Helens. At a gas-station, Diane goes to buy some beer but never returns. Jeff doesn't give up the hope and keeps looking for her ,as 3 years elapse... He finds a woman to rebuild his life with (Rita - Nancy Travis), but the memory of Diane doesn't allow him to continue his life. He's permanently asking himself where she is, whether she is dead or maybe living happily somewhere... The thought of not-knowing is too painful.
At the same time, Barney(Jeff Bridges) is a strange chemistry-teacher, with a wife and daughter, apparently a normal, pleasant person, but who is ,in fact, a weird kind of psycho, obssesed with the perfect kidnapping. After three years, he contacts Jeff telling him that he is the one who kidnapped Diane 3 years ago, and that he is willing to let him know the truth, with one condition: to accept being submitted to the same experience as Diane. Jeff accepts to lead the same horrific path as his beloved Diane.
This is the story, mainly, but what really attracted me was the opposition between Jeff and Barney. For Jeff, Diane is the love of his life...while for Barney she is nothing superior to an experiment.Her life means nothing for him. A person can mean so much to someone and so little to someone else... Also, Jeff's drama is the drama of not-knowing...he doesn't know if Diane just abandoned him or if something happened to her...He just wants an answer, and until that happens, his life cannot be the same as before...
Although brief, Sandra Bullock makes a really good and convincing performance as Diane Shaver, the missing girlfriend.

Rating:
Summary: LOVE this movie!!!
Review: I can't compare it to the original since I've never seen it so I'm sure this might not go over well with those like the original film. I love this movie for so many elements. Jeff's (Sutherland) tortured soul, the sweetness and vulnerability of Diane (Bullock), the gutsy, fiesty nature of Rita (Travis) and the downright creepiness of Barney (Bridges). I can't even look at him through most of the movie he's so eerie. This is an edge of your seat thriller from beginning to end and I'd give anything for it to be released on DVD in the US.

Rating:
Summary: LOVE this movie!!!
Review: I can't compare it to the original since I've never seen it so I'm sure this might not go over well with those like the original film. I love this movie for so many elements. Jeff's (Sutherland) tortured soul, the sweetness and vulnerability of Diane (Bullock), the gutsy, fiesty nature of Rita (Travis) and the downright creepiness of Barney (Bridges). I can't even look at him through most of the movie he's so eerie. This is an edge of your seat thriller from beginning to end and I'd give anything for it to be released on DVD in the US.

Rating:
Summary: Thank you Mr. been27
Review: I glad there is someone besides me that is fed up with the insufferable bores who automatically think a film is "intellectual" because it is made anywhere but the USA. In their eyes America can do no right. My other pet peave is the wide screen snobs and their utter distain for any film offered in full frame.

Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Sleeper
Review: I love this movie. It didn't open in the theatres with a bang and a lot of people, I have found, have never heard of this film at all. It's pretty surprising since The Vanishing boasts a pretty strong cast. What I can tell you is that if you haven't seen the European version (I still haven't), this is a wonderful thriller and a must see. I have shown this movie to multiple friends and they all came away loving it. I don't understand with all the horrible and unknown movies making it to DVD these days, why a good film like this hasn't made it to DVD. I can honestly tell you that this is one of my favorite movies of all-time.

Rating:
Summary: Before Your Eyes
Review: It's kind of cool that Dutch director, George Sluizer, helmed both the European and American version of the same story. While I have never seen its overseas counterpart, Spoorloos released in 1988, The Vanishing is a solid film.

Jeff Harriman (Kiefer Sutherland) and his girlfriend Diane (Sandra Bullock) are taking a road trip together. While at a rest stop, Diane mysteriously disappears, sending Jeff on a desperate search to find her. Years later his obsession threatens his relationships with others. His travels take him to many false leads. Things take a turn when he meets Rita Baker (Nancy Travis) and agrees to help him. All the while, we learn that a calculating psychopath named Barney Cousins (Jeff Bridges) is resposible for the kidnapping, and is now after Jeff. History is set to repeat itself. In order to find out what really happened, Jeff must put his own life in the hands of this strange madman.

I have never really been a fan of Jeff Bridges over the years. He's OK. But I have to say he really does an effective job at creeping out as the unkept Barney. The only other performance that rivals his work here, is his turn in Starman. His subtle mannerisms take hold. Sutherland is intense as well and shows us why he wouls soon make a great Jack Bauer on TV's 24. Travis provides spunky support as Rita. Director Sluizer obviously knows the material. Like the foreign version, the film is based on Tim Krabbé's novel, The Golden Egg. This script does have its predictable side though--and even with fine acting--that's hard to ignore at times.

The DVD has no extras on it. That also is touph to forgive and brings down the over all rating. Recommended just the same.

Rating:
Summary: The original was better
Review: Jeff Bridges is of course, always great but the ending is too Hollywood so I recommend watching the original version.

Rating:
Summary: "The Vanishing"
Review: Kiefer Sutherland, obsessed with girlfriend Sandra Bullock's disappearance three years earlier, is contacted by crazed kidnapper Jeff Bridges just as he tries to move on with his life and new love Nancy Travis.

This remake of the better Dutch film is nicely directed and paced, and well acted by Travis. However, there is something off-putting about the film, which happily tries the viewer's common sense on many an occasion.

(R)- Strong physical violence, gore, profanity, some adult situations

Rating:
Summary: This movie doesn't vanish
Review: Well, what can I say? Other than I was deeply impressed with how a film can create so much suspense with hardly any action or nail biting scenes. The only other film that can create such a docile form of suspense is Hitchcock's "Rear Window." The suspense of this film is brilliantly done, because as we follow the main character, we are asking the same questions he is and we never lose interest.

Dianne (Bullock) mysteriously vanishes while her boyfriend Jeff (Sutherland) is waiting for her outside some gas joint. When she doesn't show, he calls the police and goes through the typical missing person's routine of anxiety. We feel for Jeff instantly because the panic in both his expressions and performance are real. He's scared, worried, and with good reason.

Well, things begin to look up temporarily for Jeff when he meets Rita, who becomes his new girlfriend despite being unable to find Dianne. But hold on, Jeff still loves Dianne, and wants to still find her even though he is just beginning a new life with Rita. This emotionally tears at Jeff and he finds himself torn between a woman who he loved that is gone and a woman who he is loving and is there.

Now bring in the kidnapper Barney (Bridges), who kidnapped Bullock as an experiment and without malice. Barney is the most well done character in this film, because he we don't hate him, not initially, even though what he is planning to do and does is wrong. We like him but we don't. He seems harmless but what did he do to Dianne?

This movie is one of those that tears at you. You're torn along with Jeff over Dianne or Rita. You're torn on the character of Barney: just eccentric or flat out evil? You're torn on Jeff's biggest decisions. This is a highly entertaining movie because you love the suspense these divisions create. You want to find out what happened to Dianne and what Barney is really all about.

Now, the bad news. I gave this film four stars for two distinct reasons. The first is because I never did fully grasp why Barney wanted to kidnap someone. Although I praise his character, the one flaw in it is motive. He wants to kidnap as a form of experiment, but surely there must be something else, something deeper. The movie tries to explain his deep down reasons to why he does what he does but it is muddled and difficult to fully understand why. I guess one could rest at ease by just labeling him a typical looney.

The second problem I have with this movie is that I think it's a one time watch. Meaning, you'll see it the first time, think it's great, but then never watch it again. It's because this movie survives by portraying the unknown. You don't know anymore than Jeff does about what happened to Dianne, so you watch in eager anticipation. But once you know what happened, is it ever even remotely as entertaining to see it again? Sure, you can say this about any movie. The difference is that this movie's only and biggest draw is, again, the unknown.

So I do recommend this movie, to those of you who like psychological thrillers, and love movies that keep you wide awake with subtle suspense and tremendous believability in both plot and acting. But beware, it may not be the kind of film you'll want to see again and again. Because this movie never vanishes from your memory.

Grade: B+

Rating:
Summary: Don't judge a remake by the original!
Review: While everyone seems to be blasting this film for being a "holywood ripoff" i think if you take another look you might discover something else. For me, I had never seen the orginal 1988 version, so i had nothing to be expecting when watching this. I loved the movie, sent shivers down my spine. Just how far would you go to find out the truth? Anyways, the actors were all very well cast and did a fantasitic job! I loved this movie, gave me the creeps. I suggest you open your mind up to a remake!