Cast: Seth McTigue, Roy Huang, Brennan Keel Cook
Critics Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
Writer-Director: Seth McTigue
Duration: 1 hour, 22 minutes
Genre: Thriller, Drama
Release details: Theatrical Release July 8, 2022 (2 Weeks, 6 cities: NYC, LA, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit)
VOD Release July 12, 2022
Story
An elaborate surprise stunt for a birthday, leads to a disaster when career criminals hired to stage a fake kidnapping goes awry.
Review
When has kidnapping ever gone right? – a staged kidnapping for a surprise birthday party goes horribly wrong, when a man secures a crew to stage a fake kidnapping of his baby brother, a thriving millionaire, apparently loved by all. But little does he know that the fake kidnapping crew has a plan of their own. The thing about thrillers is that you literally can’t give a lot away, hence we’re keeping it short. Let’s just say ‘Take the Night’ is padded with a lot of back-stories of all central characters and director Seth McTigue’s debut film is full of twist and turns. It also throws light on each character and their mind-sets and backgrounds, giving us a peek into why they are doing what they are doing.
Even though it may be a tad predictable ‘TTN’ has a way of staying ahead of the curve. Also, crisp editing and going easy on the melodrama ensures that the pace of this thriller remains constant. The narrative beautifully blends one scene into the next, and keeps you hooked.
As a first time writer-director-producer-star Seth McTigue does a solid job in balancing the character drama and suspense. The camera work by Rainer Lipski is good as he uses New York City serves as a backdrop to enrich the screenplay. The performances are good too, and most are aptly cast. Seth himself has done a fine job as an actor.
There are times you feel the film could have been crisper and less predictable. Overall, ‘Take the Night’ has what it takes to be the thrilling one night saga of a chaotic kidnapping.
ReviewRon 