Released: September 2014
Director: Alan White
Run Time: 96 Minutes
Rated R
Cast:
John Cusack: Benjamin
Ryan Phillipe: Steven
Rachelle Lefevre: Shannon
Jacki Weaver: Reigert
Human trafficking is serious business. A multi-billion dollar industry, human trafficking sees people of all types being smuggled into various countries for various reasons: Sex, labor, or organs. In any case, it’s a serious problem plaguing our world. It’s hideous and the victims are silent, being threatened with their lives or the lives of their families. In 2010, the country of Haiti was hammered by one of the most devastating earthquakes the country had ever seen, leaving well over 100,000 people dead. In the aftermath of the earthquake, the homeless and the children became easy targets for violent criminals and human traffickers. Some of these children are exploited to scam rich people out of money in adoption fraud cases. In any event, there have been numerous films centered around human trafficking. Taken, Abduction of Eden, and Spartan are just some of the many movies dealing with the practice. Here, we have another movie about human trafficking that looks like a potentially decent thriller. Alas, it’s pretty much a by-the-numbers affair. The film is Reclaim.
Opening at a nearby orphanage, Steven and his wife, Shannon have just signed papers to adopt a 7-year old Haitian girl. The head of the orphanage tells the couple it will take a few days to process everything and get the child a proper passport. Spending a couple of days at a local resort, they encounter Benjamin, a man claiming to be in Puerto Rico for business. Not feeling comfortable around the man, Steven, Shannon and their newly adopted daughter relocate to a different hotel on the island. Steven goes out for a drink, and gets attacked by a local. After leaving the police station, they head back to the hotel. In the morning, they discover that the daughter they adopted has vanished. Attempting to locate her, they discover the website they found her on no longer exists and neither does the office where they did business. Like I said above, Reclaim is a pretty by-the-numbers thriller. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s bad, just predictable. When you have names like John Cusack and Ryan Phillipe attached to a movie like this, you expect one of those two to be the bad guy. You can tell right off the bat that it’s Cusack.
Reclaim borrows from other thrillers in terms of how things play out. It telegraphs exactly where it’s going next. The thing about thrillers is their level of unpredictability. I love films that tend to pull the rug out from under your feet. You have no idea where it came from, and if it’s done right, it’s a very effective tool at getting you invested in the story and characters. Reclaim doesn’t even ATTEMPT to surprise you, and that’s where it falls hard on its face. It does nothing to advance the genre, and retreads the path of better movies. It’s too bad, because the talent involved here is actually rather impressive. John Cusack is quite a flexible actor and has a heck of a career. Ryan Phillipe is also an accomplished actor. Rachelle Lefevre….well, she’s pretty. She overdoes it at times and that really pulls you out of it. John Cusack is the one to watch here. While Cusack really comes across as a nice guy in real life, he does a pretty decent job playing the bad guy. His character is there only for the money and is getting short-changed by his boss as well, so he’s kind of strung-out to a certain degree. He doesn’t go full blown crazy, surprisingly. He keeps it pretty cool and low-key, which adds to the character’s menace.
While Reclaim is utterly predictable, it’s surprisingly still an intense ride with some pretty decent car chases. Phillipe doesn’t play a Bryan Mills-type character, but rather an ordinary guy caught up in an extreme situation. Unfortunately, the other characters are pretty dumb. Steven easily loses an armed thug through the slums. The police detective isn’t entirely reliable or willing to believe Steve or Shannon. The writing is pretty lousy. It’s not entirely surprising given that the writers hired for the film are clearly inexperienced. The rest of Reclaim is technically sound. The camera angles and wide-shots are used pretty well. We also get to see some of Puerto Rico’s environment which is pretty spectacular. I feel bad ragging on this movie, because a good chunk of it does seem pretty competent, but the rest of it is a jumbled mess. I love a good thriller, and a thriller about human trafficking can produce some pretty intense moments. Reclaim just doesn’t seem like it really gives the subject the respect and attention it needs. I honestly can’t recommend this movie over something like Taken or Trade. Those are two completely different kinds of movies. One’s an action flick and the other is a drama, but both are pretty intense in their own way. If you need a thriller dealing with this particular subject, there are better options out there. Reclaim isn’t terrible, but it’s mediocre and completely forgettable. I’d give this one a pass. 6/10.