My wife and I saw this online (Amazon, Netflix, don't recall which). While I can't really say it is "enjoyable" because of the subject matter, it is a well-made and worthwhile story. Again Ryan Reynolds shows us he isn't just a pretty face.
It is a Canadian production throughout, and set on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. Ryan Reynolds is a working man, a landscaper, Matthew. He has a bright, pretty daughter who is 9, just about to turn 10. Going home after his daughter's ice skating practice one day he stops briefly at the local pie shop for treats, his daughter stays in the back of the extended cab truck, and when Matthew returns she is gone. No idea where she is.
Rosario Dawson is the police chief of the small community, he goes there to report his daughter missing but instead of doing an immediate all-out search they question him over and over, seemingly assuming he wasn't telling the truth, that perhaps he was responsible for her being missing. New investigator, Scott Speedman as Jeffrey, is especially distrusting.
(Honestly, this part of the movie I disliked, it didn't seem realistic to me that the law-enforcement officers would immediately take that stance, plus I am not a Speedman fan, to me he is a lousy actor.)
Anyway that's the way Egoyan wrote the story, the daughter really was kidnapped, and the story spans about 8 years. We don't actually find out what all she was subjected to but it is hinted that she was used for online porn, where children are forced to "perform' while subscribers watch live. And as she got older was used to help recruit younger children.
The movie is primarily about the father, Matthew, never giving up, continuing to hold hope that his daughter was alive and he would find her. It is a bleak movie in many ways but we found it a worthwhile watch.
SPOILERS: We learn relatively early who the kidnapper is, and that he has installed hidden video equipment to be able to watch the parents real-time, as part of his perversion. When the daughter is about 17 and being cooperative he allows her to meet with her dad, in a secluded location, in the snow. When he tries to take her away the kidnapper comes out of hiding and shoots Matthew with a tranquilizer dart. Eventually Matthew used clues his daughter gave him to track down the guy, who dies in a shootout, but frees his daughter. The daughter is finally safe.
It is a Canadian production throughout, and set on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. Ryan Reynolds is a working man, a landscaper, Matthew. He has a bright, pretty daughter who is 9, just about to turn 10. Going home after his daughter's ice skating practice one day he stops briefly at the local pie shop for treats, his daughter stays in the back of the extended cab truck, and when Matthew returns she is gone. No idea where she is.
Rosario Dawson is the police chief of the small community, he goes there to report his daughter missing but instead of doing an immediate all-out search they question him over and over, seemingly assuming he wasn't telling the truth, that perhaps he was responsible for her being missing. New investigator, Scott Speedman as Jeffrey, is especially distrusting.
(Honestly, this part of the movie I disliked, it didn't seem realistic to me that the law-enforcement officers would immediately take that stance, plus I am not a Speedman fan, to me he is a lousy actor.)
Anyway that's the way Egoyan wrote the story, the daughter really was kidnapped, and the story spans about 8 years. We don't actually find out what all she was subjected to but it is hinted that she was used for online porn, where children are forced to "perform' while subscribers watch live. And as she got older was used to help recruit younger children.
The movie is primarily about the father, Matthew, never giving up, continuing to hold hope that his daughter was alive and he would find her. It is a bleak movie in many ways but we found it a worthwhile watch.
SPOILERS: We learn relatively early who the kidnapper is, and that he has installed hidden video equipment to be able to watch the parents real-time, as part of his perversion. When the daughter is about 17 and being cooperative he allows her to meet with her dad, in a secluded location, in the snow. When he tries to take her away the kidnapper comes out of hiding and shoots Matthew with a tranquilizer dart. Eventually Matthew used clues his daughter gave him to track down the guy, who dies in a shootout, but frees his daughter. The daughter is finally safe.