Michael Keaton portrays a psychotic killer searching for $20-million in diamonds in "Money Train" director Joseph Ruben's lackluster suspense thriller "Blindsided," alternately entitled "Penthouse North," co-starring Michelle Monaghan. Just about everybody involved in this half-baked crime saga has done better work elsewhere. You cannot watch this potboiler without comparing it with Terence Young's seminal blind woman in peril suspenser "Wait Until Dark," though "Lakeview Terrace" scenarist David Loughery has conjured up a lesser effort.
The film opens in with our heroine Sara Frost (Michelle Monaghan of "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang") as a civilian photojournalist embedded with American troops in war-torn Afghanistan who loses her sight when a female suicide bomber cradling a baby doll in her arms blows up in front of her. The action fast-forwards three years later with Sara in a relationship with a mysterious hunk, Ryan (Andrew W. Walker of "Ambush at Dark Canyon"), who wants to marry her. She keeps holding out. After striking out on her own in New York City to buy some champagne for Ryan, she re-enters her apartment and discovers to her horror that her boyfriend has been stabbed to death. The knife-wielding assailant has stuck around for her, and Chad (Barry Sloane of "Noah") threatens to kill her if she doesn't tell him where Ryan stashed a fortune in cash. The problem here is that Chad gained entrance to an apartment complex without arousing suspicion, and Ryan opened the door and let his former accomplice in crime into his place. This makes no sense, but then most of this generic thriller doesn't make sense. Ruben and Loughery keep things thoroughly contrived. For example, our heroine manages to escape from Chad's clutches, scrambles down a stairway, and never screams or pounds on anybody's door for help. Furthermore, she never trips the fire alarm, because that would have alerted the police. The closest that they come to involving somebody else is the doorman, Antonio (Phillip Jarrett of "Exit Wounds"), who tries to rescue our heroine but winds up getting Chad's knife in his guts.
The action expands momentarily by the confines of the penhouse with a balcony when Sara escapes from the apartment building. She begs everybody that she encounters to help her. Predictably, a helpful guy, Hollander (Michael Keaton of "Batman"), escorts her back to her building while masquerading as a cop. She realizes the horrible mistake that she has made when Chad joins them, and she ends up stuck back in her apartment with two greedy killers. She learns that Ryan stole millions from Hollander and Chad, and they want to find his cache of bills and diamonds. Another flaw in this flimsy thriller is the inclusion of a black cat that is our heroine's pet. Earlier when she came back to the apartment, walking around unknowingly about Ryan's murder, Sara finds her cat Shadow. As a cat owner, I can attest that strangers spook my cats and they won't come back out into the open until the strangers leave. Hollander has no problem scooping Shadow up into his arms. This is unbelievable. Later, Hollander hurls the cat over the balcony. Cat lovers will hate this scene, and they will probably stop watching this nonsense at that point. Okay, spoiler alert, the cat survives a fifteen-story plunge, and it emerges at the end. Meanwhile, it is a cat and mouse game between Hollander and Chad with Sara as the villains struggle to get the information out of her about the whereabouts of Ryan's stash. Little about this by-the-numbers thriller is memorable. Aside from Hollander's lying, the filmmakers don't have any big surprises to enhance the tension. Eventually, Sara's pregnant sister and her NYPD husband show up at the apartment, and Sara manages to send them packing, primarily because her sister's water breaks and her husband has to rush her to hospital.
Michelle Monaghan plays the damsel-in-distress without a clue, while Michael Keaton is wasted in a bland role. Keaton usually blows away his co-stars, but this time he radiates little wattage as a killer. None of the dialogue is remotely quotable. "Blindsided" qualifies as a fair thriller, but nothing that you should waste your time watching.
The film opens in with our heroine Sara Frost (Michelle Monaghan of "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang") as a civilian photojournalist embedded with American troops in war-torn Afghanistan who loses her sight when a female suicide bomber cradling a baby doll in her arms blows up in front of her. The action fast-forwards three years later with Sara in a relationship with a mysterious hunk, Ryan (Andrew W. Walker of "Ambush at Dark Canyon"), who wants to marry her. She keeps holding out. After striking out on her own in New York City to buy some champagne for Ryan, she re-enters her apartment and discovers to her horror that her boyfriend has been stabbed to death. The knife-wielding assailant has stuck around for her, and Chad (Barry Sloane of "Noah") threatens to kill her if she doesn't tell him where Ryan stashed a fortune in cash. The problem here is that Chad gained entrance to an apartment complex without arousing suspicion, and Ryan opened the door and let his former accomplice in crime into his place. This makes no sense, but then most of this generic thriller doesn't make sense. Ruben and Loughery keep things thoroughly contrived. For example, our heroine manages to escape from Chad's clutches, scrambles down a stairway, and never screams or pounds on anybody's door for help. Furthermore, she never trips the fire alarm, because that would have alerted the police. The closest that they come to involving somebody else is the doorman, Antonio (Phillip Jarrett of "Exit Wounds"), who tries to rescue our heroine but winds up getting Chad's knife in his guts.
The action expands momentarily by the confines of the penhouse with a balcony when Sara escapes from the apartment building. She begs everybody that she encounters to help her. Predictably, a helpful guy, Hollander (Michael Keaton of "Batman"), escorts her back to her building while masquerading as a cop. She realizes the horrible mistake that she has made when Chad joins them, and she ends up stuck back in her apartment with two greedy killers. She learns that Ryan stole millions from Hollander and Chad, and they want to find his cache of bills and diamonds. Another flaw in this flimsy thriller is the inclusion of a black cat that is our heroine's pet. Earlier when she came back to the apartment, walking around unknowingly about Ryan's murder, Sara finds her cat Shadow. As a cat owner, I can attest that strangers spook my cats and they won't come back out into the open until the strangers leave. Hollander has no problem scooping Shadow up into his arms. This is unbelievable. Later, Hollander hurls the cat over the balcony. Cat lovers will hate this scene, and they will probably stop watching this nonsense at that point. Okay, spoiler alert, the cat survives a fifteen-story plunge, and it emerges at the end. Meanwhile, it is a cat and mouse game between Hollander and Chad with Sara as the villains struggle to get the information out of her about the whereabouts of Ryan's stash. Little about this by-the-numbers thriller is memorable. Aside from Hollander's lying, the filmmakers don't have any big surprises to enhance the tension. Eventually, Sara's pregnant sister and her NYPD husband show up at the apartment, and Sara manages to send them packing, primarily because her sister's water breaks and her husband has to rush her to hospital.
Michelle Monaghan plays the damsel-in-distress without a clue, while Michael Keaton is wasted in a bland role. Keaton usually blows away his co-stars, but this time he radiates little wattage as a killer. None of the dialogue is remotely quotable. "Blindsided" qualifies as a fair thriller, but nothing that you should waste your time watching.