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Entrapment (film)

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For legal practice, see Entrapment.

Entrapment
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJon Amiel
Screenplay byRonald Bass
William Broyles, Jr.
Story byRonald Bass
Michael Hertzberg
Produced bySean Connery
Michael Hertzberg
Rhonda Tollefson
Starring
CinematographyPhil Méheux
Edited byTerry Rawlings
Music byChristopher Young
Production
companies
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • 30 April 1999 (1999-04-30) (United States)
  • 27 May 1999 (1999-05-27) (Germany)
  • 2 July 1999 (1999-07-02) (United Kingdom)
Running time
114 minutes
CountriesUnited States
United Kingdom
Germany
LanguageEnglish
Budget$66 million
Box office$212.4 million[2]

Entrapment is a 1999 heist film directed by Jon Amiel and written by Ronald Bass. It stars Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones and includes Will Patton, Ving Rhames and Maury Chaykin. The film focuses on the relationship between an investigator and a professional thief as they attempt a heist at the turn of the millennium.

Simon West and Antoine Fuqua were both in talks to direct before Amiel was hired.[3][4] Principal photography took place from June to October 1998 at locations in Britain and Malaysia. The score was composed by Christopher Young, and British singer Seal performs "Lost My Faith" over the end credits.

Entrapment was released theatrically in the US on 30 April 1999 and in the UK on 2 July. It received mixed reviews from critics, and grossed $212 million worldwide on a $66 million production budget.

Plot

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Virginia "Gin" Baker is an investigator for Waverly Insurance. When a priceless Rembrandt painting is stolen from an office building in New York one night, Gin pursues Robert "Mac" MacDougal as a suspect, believing him to be a longtime professional thief specializing in international art. Mac quickly deduces that Gin is investigating him and confronts her. She claims that she is also a thief and proposes she help him steal a priceless Chinese mask from the well-guarded Bedford Palace.

Mac agrees and brings Gin to his isolated castle on a Scottish island to plan and train for the heist. Aaron Thibadeaux, apparently the only ally that Mac trusts, arrives with supplies for the theft. Mac, unsure of Gin's motives, keeps her romantic advances at bay and they clash repeatedly as they train and prepare.

While Mac is busy making final preparations, Gin contacts her boss, Hector Cruz, from a payphone and gives him an update, unaware that Mac has the entire island bugged and he is listening.

Mac and Gin break into Bedford Palace and Gin carefully maneuvers around security lasers, having carefully practiced how to do so for weeks. She steals the mask and escapes with Mac, but before they can get away he interrogates her while threatening to drown her if she does not admit that she works for Waverly Insurance and is planning to entrap him.

Gin convinces Mac that she's a thief, her insurance agency job is the real cover and that she has planned an even bigger heist in Kuala Lumpur worth over $1 billion. Mac agrees to go to Malaysia with Gin, where she lays out her plan to steal $8 billion from International Clearance Bank in the North Tower of the Petronas Towers on New Year's Eve, taking advantage of an electronic security gap she's created.

In Kuala Lumpur, Gin is confronted by Cruz for disappearing on him, and she convinces him that Mac is planning the bank heist and her investigation is ongoing. His romantic feelings for Gin growing, Mac attempts to call off the heist, but Gin persuades him to continue.

Despite the presence of Cruz and other security watching the building, the theft takes place in the final seconds of the new 2000 millennium countdown, but Gin pulls the plug on her laptop prematurely and sets off alarms. She and Mac narrowly escape the computer vault and are forced to walk along the lights hung from the bottom of the bridge linking the two towers. Gin and Mac make their way to a ventilation shaft, where Mac forces Gin to escape without him, promising to meet her the next morning at Pudu train station.

Gin waits for Mac and initially fears he has been caught or killed, but he soon appears with Thibadeaux, who arrests Gin. Mac admits to Gin that she had always been the target, and he has been cooperating with the FBI for some time to avoid incarceration, but that Cruz has only just been told the truth.

As a train arrives at the station, Mac slips Gin a gun and documents to help her escape the country. She pretends to hold Mac hostage at gunpoint, threatening to shoot him if the agents follow her. She boards a train and the FBI heads to the next station, while Mac remains behind. Gin reappears, explaining she jumped trains mid-station, and is happily reunited with Mac, proposing they attempt a diamond heist together.

The Petronas Twin Towers, where the final heist scene takes place.

Cast

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Filming locations

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Duart Castle, the location of MacDougal's hideout.

Principal photography took place from June to October 1998. Filming locations for the film include Blenheim Palace, Savoy Hotel London, Lloyd's of London, Borough Market, London, Duart Castle on the Isle of Mull in Scotland, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur (with other filming completed at Pinewood Studios) and the Bukit Jalil LRT station. However, the signage at this station that was used for the movie was Pudu LRT station instead of Bukit Jalil.[5][6]

Reception

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The film was a box office success, grossing over $87 million in the US and $212 million worldwide. According to the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 40% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 85 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "A poorly developed plot weighs down any potential chemistry between the movie's leads."[7] At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 54 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[8] However, critics such as Janet Maslin of The New York Times,[9] New York Magazine,[10] the Chicago Sun-Times,[11] Variety[12] and Desson Howe/Thomson of The Washington Post[13] praised the film. CinemaScore gave the film a "B" grade from an A+ to F scale.[14]

Roger Ebert gave the film three of four stars. "It works because it is made stylishly. The plot is put together like a Swiss watch that keeps changing time zones: It is accurate and misleading at once. The film consists of one elaborate caper sequence after another, and it rivals the Bond films in its climactic action sequence. The stunt and f/x work here does a good job... Most of the movie's action is just that—action—and not extreme violence." Ebert noted about Zeta-Jones, "I can only reflect, as I did while watching her in "The Mask Of Zorro," that while beautiful women are a dime a dozen in the movies, those with fire, flash and humor are a good deal more scarce."[11] "There's a tummy-churning tradition of pensionable movie blokes getting paired up with beautiful babes..." complained OK! in its review. "We barely believed Sean and Michelle Pfeiffer in The Russia House; a decade later, Sean and Catherine Zeta-Jones? You gotta be kidding. The film's alright-ish."[15]

Responses from the Malaysian government

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Following Entrapment's release in June 1999, the Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad accused the film of presenting a distorted image of Malaysia. Mahathir took issue with the film splicing images of the Petronas Twin Towers with slums from Malacca.[16] The Malaysian Government had assisted Twentieth Century Fox with visa processing, customs clearance, telecommunications and security in a bid to promote Malaysia as a film location.[16]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Entrapment (1999)". AFI Catalog. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  2. ^ "Entrapment (1999)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  3. ^ Petrikin, Chris (22 May 1997). "Fuqua to helm Connery in 'Entrapment' for Fox". Variety. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  4. ^ Petrikin, Chris (8 March 1998). "Fuqua escapes 'Entrapment'". Variety. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  5. ^ "Filming Locations for Entrapment". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
  6. ^ Manan, Daz (3 July 2017). "Bukit Jalil LRT station's Hollywood connection". Malay Mail. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  7. ^ "Entrapment (1999)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  8. ^ "Entrapment Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  9. ^ Maslin, Janet (30 April 1999). "'Entrapment': They're a Devilish Match, but Who's Conning Who?". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  10. ^ Rainer, Peter (10 May 1999). "Some Like It Hotter". New York. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  11. ^ a b Ebert, Roger (30 April 1999). "Entrapment Movie Review & Film Summary (1999)". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  12. ^ McCarthy, Todd (26 April 1999). "Entrapment Movie Review". Variety. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  13. ^ Howe, Desson (30 April 1999). "Take No Pensioners". The Washington Post. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  14. ^ "Find "Entrapment"". Retrieved 1 September 2024.
  15. ^ MacDonald, Bruno (19 May 2000). "Film & Video: DVD sales releases". OK!. No. 213.
  16. ^ a b "Entertainment Entrapment rapped by Malaysian PM". BBC News. 22 June 1999. Archived from the original on 17 February 2020. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
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