If you watched the original, this falls way short despite being shoved into Netflix. Original was a ticking bomb. Remake didn't try to do anything new, every scene , every sequence and dialog was copied.
Zero for originality.
Skip and watch the original
83 Reviews
Frustrating and disappointing
FrenchEddieFelson29 July 2019
Warning: Spoilers
The film begins well and then switches to mediocrity when Stella (Jella Haase) almost gets rid of one of his gaolers while she is handcuffed and he is armed with a revolver. Finally, I did not understand the ersatz of smile, at the end, when Stalla discovers the bundles of bank note. Is it because she is reassured that her father paid the ransom or because (... pathetic option ...) she plans to start a new life?
It's well played and well filmed thanks to a neat photography but the script is weak and daft. As a synthesis: frustrating and disappointing!
It's well played and well filmed thanks to a neat photography but the script is weak and daft. As a synthesis: frustrating and disappointing!
Lots of flaws but the biggest one is...
Just-A-Girl-1430 July 2021
...it's mostly just boring. The characters are dumb and hard to relate to. The two kidnappers are so overwhelmingly incompetent that there is no way they could pull it off (unless of course the dad and police are even dumber which apparently they are). Stella is annoying. Screaming and moving like an idiot, missing multiple opportunities to escape. There are plenty plot holes and inexplicable behavior but again the biggest problem is that it's just boring and as a viewer I couldn't care less if or who would survive. My advice: skip it!
Horrible, horrible!!
zamboni-3663317 August 2019
Warning: Spoilers
I was doing laundry and figured I'd watch this while waiting and folding. Watching my dryer would have been more entertaining. It started out okay and then took a nosedive for the worse. Nothing happens. Nothing I cared about anyway. The dialogue was flat. The ending was strange. I guess she takes the money and runs. The hell with daddy paying the ransom. I'm going to take daddy's money and make a new life or something. I never got the impression she hated her father. It made no sense. Skip this bomb.
Okay, but not up to the original
Wizard-814 July 2019
When I came across this movie on Netflix, I said to myself upon reading its description, "Hey, this sounds familiar." In the first two minutes of watching the movie, my suspicions were confirmed - this German movie is a remake of the 2009 British movie "The Disappearance of Alice Creed", which I had seen years earlier and remembered enjoying. I was not sure if this remake was authorized or not, but I was interested all the same to seeing an interpretation of the original story by filmmakers of another country. This remake does mostly follow what happened in the original, though it does throw in some new twists, as well as eliminate a few plot points. On its own terms, the movie is okay, being not boring, and acceptably acted. Yet I remember the original movie being more rawer and gritty than this remake, partially due to its lower budget. Because of that I found the original movie to be a lot more compelling than this somewhat more glossy and slicker remake. So far, the other user reviews of this remake have largely been very negative. While I don't think this remake is deserving of such harsh reviews, at the same time it is definitely a few notches below the original. So if you have a choice between seeing either movie, I would say watch the original.
Wow
hellax24-114 July 2019
The writers suck
gideonzack13 July 2019
To be honest I love most Netflix flicks, like I am mother etc. this flick made me angry. I don't want to spoil it but it is what it is. The writing sucks. Actors can't act when their direction and writing are awful. Come on Netflix. U can do better. Dark was so good in German. The writing is worse than a lifetime movie. Get it together and don't feature it as an "original".
Senseless script towards the end
arti_rules17 August 2019
One off the post scripts after the first half which was interesting. The writer and director put a gag of laughs after the first half to a hour which were very interesting. They could have made an amazing movie but turned out s**t
FUN TO WATCH. UNPREDICTABLE. SEXY.
benighted200513 July 2019
There's some amazing editing, very good sound effects, the lovely touch of German to this film that makes the overall ingredient more plausible. I would venture to all say that when you see a low rating for a Netflix film, it's always a good idea to come and read some reviews for perspective. I'm saddened that many people won't watch because of the low-rating. Anyway, Im doing by bit in telling you, KIDNAPPING STELLA is slick and great fun. Cheers to me.
Tight and mean
pmtelefon28 November 2020
"Kidnapping Stella" is not for the faint of heart. There's some rough stuff in this movie. It's not gory but it shows a kidnapping for what it is. It's not a trip to the park. The cast is very good. The movie also looks great. "Kidnapping Stella" held my interest throughout. I don't know if I'll ever go back to it but I'm glad I watched this movie.
1* No No No
SpaceCowboy8931 January 2021
The 2 burglar guys from the kevin alone at home movie were EINSTEIN'S compared to these two ( the girl isn't smarter eather ) the dialogue omg who wrote this? he needs to go back to the writing school, i had better conversations with a 3 years old , then they have in the movie , there is nothing suprising as well , but many times you just facepalm yourself , save the time don't watch its my lowest rankd movie on imdb and i watched rly bad ones , trust me its a waste of time.
Bad.
OldManWrigley15 July 2019
Went into this not having read any reviews or watching any trailers, it was shoved down my throat on Netflix so much I decided it looked good enough to give it a try.
Bad idea. The movie is bad. Someone reviewed it and used the word "sexy". I don't know how. It's not sexy, it's not good, it's not suspenseful, it's just bad. The whole time I kept waiting for some type of twist, or something to make this better. It never was there. I thought the acting was fine, but all around, I'd recommend a pass.
Bad idea. The movie is bad. Someone reviewed it and used the word "sexy". I don't know how. It's not sexy, it's not good, it's not suspenseful, it's just bad. The whole time I kept waiting for some type of twist, or something to make this better. It never was there. I thought the acting was fine, but all around, I'd recommend a pass.
A WASTE
funkjunk-0065713 March 2021
not bad
salila-7892514 November 2020
I slept in the first 10 minutes
Xristos-Lamia11 October 2021
Ransom blues
anil-kulkarni-108-856632 October 2020
This is a smart and nifty two hander that gets increasingly claustrophobic as the plot unfolds.
This is exactly similar to another British film the name I don't recall which has Olga Kurulenko in a similar plot.
Anyway turns out that one of the criminals is known to the victim. Once the breach occurs in the plot, it starts unraveling for the kidnappers. It's a slow burn that doesn't transgress it's plot moorings. Will worth your time.
Couldn't help but think this movie has been done before but better
KoolCatReviews5 April 2020
I felt I knew the plot of this movie as soon as I started watching. It was very similar to a few other movies. There is some clever screen play with some tension here and there but by the end it feels flat to me. As with tittle of the movie it's very obvious and full on. There is nothing really anything unexpected. I still can't understand certain characters and how the situation even came to be. The plot holes are alarming. We never get to feel sorry for the character and by then end you will feel indifferent.
Finally A Good German Production
pierre-restel14 July 2019
I believe that many of the reviewers on this platform don't get it because they aren't German speakers. I'm German and a native speaker and this is adrenaline pure. Maybe I can relate to this more because I speak the language and I actually lived in Berlin recently. The writing and the acting do not suck! My heartbeat could not slow down during the movie. This doesn't happen often in movies and this film got it right. It's not merely about the kidnapping but rather also about the human psyche what a tensed situation like this can do to you, to us, i.e. finding an unethical way to get quick money mixed with human ethics, fear, confusion, and the scary reality to commit a crime with all the ramifications that can come with it. I saw some Stockholm Syndrome in the film as well. I completely disagree with the reviews. I think Netflix did well on this. Netflix USA is not only about U.S. movies but also about the artistic visions from film artists around the world and Netflix realized that this was a German artistic vision good enough to be promoted on the Netflix platform. I applaud Netflix for that. It's a film worth watching and the acting felt completely authentic. Good job!
Better than the original
candi3699 February 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Reading the reviews here it seems I am the only one who thought this film was better than The Disappearance of Alice Creed. The acting in Kidnapping Stella was better, there was more believable tension between the two kidnappers and there was a more realistic connection between Stella and Tom. Tom's conflict between the kidnapping and his feelings for Stella was a lot stronger and his fear of Vic had more of an impact than the characters in Alice Creed. In Alice Creed, I didn't particularly care for any of the characters, including Alice who had somewhat of an attitude that made her less sympathetic or Danny who couldn't make his mind up about what side he was on. Whereas in Kidnapping Stella, I felt myself rooting for Tom and somehow wanted it him to survive. The inclusion of the pregnancy and what happened between Tom and Stella in their relationship added a bit more depth in the plot and better context or backstory, whereas Alice Creed didn't tell us really anything about the characters. In addition to this, Vic in Kidnapping Stella was far scarier and more intense than Alice Creed's Vic who couldn't get through a sentence without the F word.
All in all, both movies were pretty mediocre but I enjoyed this one more than Alice Creed and I at least cared a bit more about what happened to the characters. My only gripe with Kidnapping Stella is that the dialogue is pretty much word-for-word; they made some slight but great changes to the plot, but could've been more adventurous with the dialogue.
All in all, both movies were pretty mediocre but I enjoyed this one more than Alice Creed and I at least cared a bit more about what happened to the characters. My only gripe with Kidnapping Stella is that the dialogue is pretty much word-for-word; they made some slight but great changes to the plot, but could've been more adventurous with the dialogue.
Stolen!
africe4 August 2019
This movie is an exact copy of "the kidnapping of alice creed"! They don't even call it a remake! Wtf??? Is the industry really coming to this? When I saw netflix pushing this I expected them to give credit to the previous movie. But nope! They act like its an original. Shame on these lowrate thieves. 😡
Writers should disappear
cbruch_c13 July 2019
This was without a doubt the worst movie I ever wasted 25 minutes on. I started fast forwarding through the screaming, bathroom break scenes. One thing is for sure script was short for actors. Screaming, profanity and perpetual putting masks on, locking and unlocking doors were all it contained.
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