Product Description

From the producer of SIN CITY and ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO! Sexy Mía Maestro (TV's ALIAS, FRIDA) stars in this gripping crime thriller where every second is life and death! In Caracas, the most dangerous city on earth, kidnapping is a profitable and thriving business where gangs target upper-class citizens whose families are able to pay ransoms quickly and quietly. But when Carla (Maestro) and her fiancé are snatched by three brutal thugs, nothing goes as planned in a deadly game where the players must make every move as if it's their last! Acclaimed by critics for its intense action and gritty realism, don't miss this riveting underworld adventure!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #55217 in DVD
• Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
• Released on: 2006-01-03
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: Spanish
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 86 minutes

Amazon.com
Kinetic, chaotic, tense, violent, dangerous: these are words that could describe both Secuestro Express and Caracas, Venezuela, where the film takes place. The title of writer-director Jonathan Jakubowicz's 2004 film refers to the "express kidnappings" rampant in Caracas, and it depicts a particularly brutal one, involving a lovely young woman (Mia Maestro), her loathsome, metrosexual boyfriend (Jean Paul Leroux), and the three ghetto thugs who abduct them with the expectation that the couple's wealthy fathers (one of whom is portrayed by Ruben Blades) will quickly cough up substantial ransom money. Much goes awry after that, including murder, beatings, encounters with covetous cops, and various other vile and unforeseen developments, as the drug-fueled, disorganized, squabbling bad guys attempt to complete their dirty deed. Jakubowicz was apparently once kidnapped himself, and Secuestro Express certainly conveys the terror of the experience, in part through his use of digital video, quick, jarring edits, and split-screen effects. Some of this bravura technical hoo-hah seems excessive. On the other hand, there are plenty of Venezuelan moviegoers who've declared the events themselves to be frighteningly accurate, which may bring comfort to President Hugo Chavez. Chavez delights in being a thorn in the side of the United States, and it's a safe bet that after seeing this raw, discomfiting film, most Americans will give his country a very wide berth. Bonus features include deleted scenes, a "making of" documentary," and Jakubowicz's audio commentary. --Sam Graham

Customer Reviews

I am from venezuela
This is an awesome suspense and action movie, representing the reality of venezuela, when you see it you will be amazed and everybody I know that actually lives here (my friends and family went out of the cinema shocked of the country we are living in), the sad part IS ALL TRUE and it's one of those movies you can't leave the cinema to go to the bathroom you will be hypnotized and wondering in EVERY PART what's going to happen next. It's so realistic that Venezuelan government has forbidden the movie to be played on cinemas other than the capital, and the film will not be released for the national market

At last a Venezuelan movie I can relate!
There's so much to say when seeing this movie, specially because I live in Caracas - Venezuela and have been a victim of the cotidianity of this place.
This movie pictures a reality often ignored by people that don't confront it day by day. Poverty can become an influence, envy can become a lifestyle and hate its just a reality among us. Its a hard critic to the differences in society, of the degradation in our lives, and just so makes you thing about the importance we often give to being wealthy or poor, to have possesions or to be bare...
This movie its completelly different from previous Venezuelan productions, shows the young vision of a new filmaker and brings new blood into a genre that in our country is not well placed... Films that is...
The actors, many well trained and some amateurs, like Budú, Niga & Trece, show perfect characterizations, and the camera work, even when inspired in many new time movies, shows a different proposal.
In the country of Telenovelas, with movies like Secuestro Express, that make such a critic & studied composition of reality, one might think, maybe its time to forget about the narrow little box and expand to the big screen.

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This film was very well made and I would reccomend it most people. However, that is not the purpose of this review. Many people suggest in the other reviews that this film is a accurate repesentation of Venezuelan life. While this is accurate and does happen, one should not take away the impression that all Venezuelans have been kidnapped- or that anyone visiting Venezuela will be a target. True, it is necessary to take precautions that some cultures (specifically Americans) are not accustomed to. Yet, remember this is a film about crime set in Venezuela, not a film about the entire culture of Venezuela.