Rajesh Karkera

A good thriller is clever, not contrived.

Alas, that little bit of wisdom seems to have escaped the makers of the Michael Douglas starrer Don't Say A Word.

For though, the film with its appropriate tagline (I'll never tell), flawless cinematography and extraordinary action sequences, makes for a nice package; the mindless idiocy of the plot makes you want to tear your hair out.

The plot is so incredibly stupid that the list of the holes would probably be longer than the screenplay itself.

But before I blabber on, permit me to narrate to you the goings-on:

Dr Nathan Conrad (Michael Douglas) is a successful psychiatrist with beautiful wife (Famke Janssen) and cherubic daughter. Perfect family life comes to standstill on Thanksgiving morning. For a bunch of bad blokes, led by Patrick Koster (Sean Bean), break into Nathan's apartment and kidnap his daughter.

You see, a patient of Condrad, Elizabeth Burrows (Brittany Murphy), knows the secret whereabouts to a jewel Koster lost 10 years ago. The baddies hope that with Condrad's daughter as the pawn, the erstwhile doctor will help them recover the missing jewel.

Now all this is simple enough to comprehend. But what escapes my understanding is how criminals just out of confinement mount a surveillance operation that becomes the envy of the CIA.

The film, set in New York City, makes good use of the city's landscape to create a thrilling sense of claustrophobia. But that doesn’t last too long. For when the action leaves the confines of the city and moves to a nearby cemetery, the film it loses its excitement and the audience's interest.

Credit is due to Director Gary Fleder, however, as he puts up a good show at the showdown when bad guy Patrick Koster goes down.

Don't Say A Word isn't a great film. It's debatable if it's even a good one.

Just don't expect any surprises. I did.