Entrapment
Tags: neo noir

Plot synopsis:
Virginia "Gin" Baker (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is an investigator for "Waverly Insurance". Robert "Mac" MacDougal (Sean Connery) is a professional thief who specializes in international art. A priceless Rembrandt painting is stolen from an office one night, and Gin is sent undercover to investigate Mac as the chief suspect. She tries to entrap him with a proposition, claiming that she is a professional thief herself, and promises that she will help him steal a priceless Chinese mask from the well-guarded Bedford Palace. Before agreeing, Mac tells Gin his 'Rule Number One': "Never carry a gun: You carry a gun, you may be tempted to use it." They travel to Scotland and plan the very complicated theft at Mac's hideout, an isolated castle. Aaron Thibadeaux (Ving Rhames), apparently the only ally that Mac trusts, arrives with supplies for the heist. While Mac is busy making final preparations, Gin contacts her boss, Hector Cruz (Will Patton), from a payphone, and informs him of Mac's whereabouts. Little does she know that the island is bugged, allowing Mac to eavesdrop on their conversation. Mac also makes sure to keep Gin's romantic advances at bay, unsure if she is a true partner in crime or an ambitious career woman on a mission.
After they have stolen the mask, Mac accuses Gin of planning to sell the mask to a buyer in Kuala Lumpur and then turn him in. Gin convinces him that her insurance agency job is the real cover and that she has planned an even bigger heist in Kuala Lumpur: $8 billion from the "International Clearance Bank" in the North Tower of the Petronas Towers. During their set-up, Cruz and his team (with the guidance of the stealthy Thibadeaux) track down Gin and confirm that she is still on mission to bring Mac in. Despite the presence of Cruz and other security watching the building, the theft takes place in the final seconds of the new 2000 millennium countdown. Gin pulls the plug on her laptop prematurely and sets off alarms. They narrowly escape the computer vault and are forced to cross the lights hung from the bottom of the bridge linking the two towers. Following a death-defying escape when the cable breaks, Gin and Mac make their way to a ventilation shaft, where Mac explains "Plan B." Using mini-parachutes, they were going to escape down the shaft. Gin has lost her parachute earlier in the escape, so Mac gives her his. He tells her to meet him the next morning at the Pudu train station.
Gin arrives at the station waiting for Mac. He shows up late with Aaron Thibadeaux, who reveals himself with fellow FBI agents. He explains that Cruz is here and that the FBI has been looking for her for some time. Two years ago when Agent Thibadeaux caught and arrested him, Mac made a deal to help the FBI arrest Gin, as she was the primary target all along. However, the aging thief has another plan: to help her escape. Mac slips Gin a gun and quietly explains that he returned only seven of the eight billion dollars they had stolen electronically in the heist. Gin then pretends to hold Mac hostage at gunpoint, threatening to shoot him if the agents follow her. She boards a train and the FBI heads to the next station. Gin jumps trains mid-station and arrives back at Pudu. She tells Mac that she needs him for another job and they both board a train.

Review: However, while Connery is one of a handful of men who have retained their looks and masculine appeal beyond middle age, the likelihood that the luscious Catherine Zeta-Jones, who is at the peak of her beauty here, would fall for him tests the bounds of credibility.
If theft were as easy and casual as Connery and Zeta-Jones make it seem to be, we could all have a lot more fun in life plotting and executing heists instead of commuting and staring at computer monitors..
The women in the office went to go see it after hearing all the fuss, many going just to confirm that "she isn't all that." In a way, it's a bit of a shame because it's a decent heist movie with a good plot and pretty good acting.
It all gets overshadowed by the Catherine Zeta-Jones laser scene that guys will be thinking about for days (Years?).Does any of this make the movie any less entertaining to watch?
Catherine Zeta-Jones is really nice to look at in every way...Connery is an art thief who is able to pass the best security systems, stealing the painting and making fun of the security people by changing the original painting with a picture of Elvis.
The best aspect of Entrapment is the wonderful understated romance between Sean Connery's "Mac" and Catherine Zeta-Jones' "Gin." I thought this was far more moving than many of the swoony full-blown love affairs I've seen in other movies.
Sean Connery, naturally, does his usual outstanding job, but Catherine Zeta-Jones steals the show.
The actors are good, the plot is interesting, the machinery is nice and the close-ups of Catherine Zeta-Jones' butt are great.
While she does struggle trying to keep down her natural Welsh accent, Zeta-Jones makes for a lively sidekick to Connery, and despite the ballyhooed age difference, they work together just fine.Despite a lackluster and forced final, "Entrapment" works better than you may think.
Sean Connery usually is good, Catherine Zeta-Jones was a hot, new commodity at the time, and I usually enjoy heist films.
"Entrapment" tries to accomplish too much and ends up leaving such huge plot holes that the film feels rushed and absurd.Gin (Catherine Zeta Jones) takes on the role of an insurance agent/undercover thief who hooks up with Robert (Sean Connery) a rich career criminal to execute a couple of huge international heists.
A certain sunny sloppiness almost redeems Jon Amiel's throwback caper flick.Connery and Zeta-Jones not only look great together, they work well together, too.Connery and Zeta-Jones are such fun to watch together it almost doesn't matter how little sense the movie makes -- and their relationship is far more gleefully perverse, weirdly chivalrous and surprisingly interesting than the trailer makes it look.Cleverly updates the formula with a sprinkling of fun, fin-DE-millennium touches.Entrapment luxuriates in the best Hollywood big bucks can buy: superb sets and cinematography, spectacular locations, expensive stars.
Sean Connery cashes a check, and Catherine Zeta-Jones becomes an early front-runner for a Razzie worst-actress-of-the-year award in this unimaginative and often laughable movie.While there are a couple mildly interesting heist scenes, the movie throws most of its energy into trying to build sexual tension between its two uninteresting lead characters who--as in so many bad movies of recent years--were born half a century apart.
Apparently, the writers felt that they could make up for writing a by-the-numbers heist script by ending with the tired thriller cliche of a-half-dozen-pointless-plot-twists-that-make-no-sense.On the plus side, there were several things I learned about the business of cat burglary from this movie: (1) If, after you steal a piece of art from a museum that is swarming with police, you and your partner feel it necessary to stop outside and scream at each other at the top of your lungs, don't worry.
Confusing, derivative, and underwhelming teaming of two attractive stars, Sean Connery and Catherine-Zeta Jones, who look good while encased in this glittery, shallow box.
Okay, okay - let me admit right off that I had no expectations for this film (it had been so universally panned) and saw it on the cheap merely to ogle Catherine Zeta-Jones for a few hours (does that make me a bad guy?) However, within a very short amount of time I became hooked - this is just a really entertaining story, well told, well shot, and totally enjoyable from start to finish.
The heists in this movie were all meticulously thought out and grippingly presented - and the extended middle sequence where Connery is training Zeta-Jones is just really interesting.
It reminded me, in a weird and distant way, of those Yoda-Luke Skywalker sequences in Empire Strikes Back, and emphasizes how seldom Hollywood movies (particularly action ones) ever show anyone in the process of learning something: characters either know what they're doing ahead of time, or pick up skills with alarming speed, usually in the heat of conflict.
Entrapment is no mere Grandpa romances the baby-sitter movie (like Bulworth, or Six Days Seven Nights, or just about any Woody Allen film) simply because the focus of their relationship is always the cat-and-mouse game of accomplices in crime (who don't trust one another) not the mating dance of  horny singles.
Both stars are certainly attractive, of course, and the filmmakers know it and emphasize it, but the fundamental relationship takes its cue from Mac's (Connery's character) advice early in the film to the effect that there can be no romance between thieves.
(If only the other heist film this past summer, the inferior but far more lavishly praised The Thomas Crown Affair, had stayed true to this maxim, we might have had more great sequences like the beginning and the ending, and been spared the long, looooong middle section where nothing happens save for Rene Russo and Pierce Brosnan getting it on, improbably and boringly, in as many situations as possible.)To sum up: tight plot, exciting action sequences, great looking stars, and some nifty twists and turns along the way - all without the curse of a boring and improbable romance slowing everything down.
Most of them had vivid memories of Sean Connery playing the always charismatic 007, and Catherine Zeta-Jones exchanging sparks with Antonio Banderas in The Mask of Zorro.But is chemistry between a man and a woman just, physical, sensual, and sexual ?I find the movie entertaining, as it shows 2 people enjoying doing what they like best.
While, at the same time, she turns from intellectually admiring him to actually liking him on her side.Admittedly, it is an uneasy chemistry between Connery, the Scott gentleman and Catherine, the Welsh with long brown hair and eyes, but the film offers enjoyable action moments interspersed with occasionally good dialogue and exchanges between the two leads.Watch "Entrapment" !
(You saw it all in the previews.) The only compelling aspects of the completely 2-dimensional characters were due to the fact that he's Sean Connery and she's Catherine Zeta-Jones.
And Sean Connery is FAR to old to get anywhere with Catherine Zeta-Jones, if you know what I mean.And the ENDING.
One of the worst endings I have ever seen in a motion picture (the train goes by and they disappear into thin air) which completely ruined the mood of the film and left me feeling like I had been watching a fantasy or sci-fi movie.
Then it turns into this utterly silly movie with Connery and Zeta-Jones as super-thieves who slink around in black stealing things...
The action takes place on (not in) New York skyscrapers, beautiful castles, high tech museums and all over Kuala Lumpur and Catherine Zeta-Jones and/or Sean Connery are in every single scene.
It seems like Connery's character was a father figure for Zeta-Jones and was proven in several scenes throughout the film.
"Entrapment" is a movie for people who like a good suspenseful thriller that makes you think and doesn't have a resolution until the end.
Furthermore, it contains a surprise ending that will the audience will enjoy."Entrapment" worked for me because it showed Sean Connery at his best and Catherine Zeta-Jones as a star on the rise..
It has two excellent actors - that I thoroughly enjoy watching - in the leading roles: Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones, but it could just as well have been Michael Douglas/Sharon Stone or Tom Cruise/Nicole Kidman.
Sean Connery and Zeta-Jones had no chemistry, and the action wasn't thrilling or convincing.
Saw this at the cinemas in 1999 and was pleasantly surprised, plus have watched again a bunch of times.The movie revolves around Mac (Sean Connery), a brilliant art thief.
I loved the chemistry between Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones and they were very believable characters.
The ridiculous age difference between Catherine Zeta-Jones and Sean Connery makes the film totally unbelievable.
If the Connery/Zeta-Jones "romance" weren't such a turn-off to begin with, the characters fail to retain any sympathy throughout the film.
"Entrapment" is strictly a star-vehicle for Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones in which they play a pair of world-class, super-cunning, art thieves.
There are a couple of well-choreographed and photographed heist scenes, and the film moves along as a passable caper flick (although the developing sexual chemistry between Zeta-Jones and Connery is a little creepy, and thankfully short-lived).
Sean Connery, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Will Patton, and Ving Rhames star in one of the best movies I've seen all year.
Sean Connery, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Will Patton, and Ving Rhames star in one of the best movies I've seen all year.
Sean Connery is Robert MacDougal a jewel thief; Catherine Zeta-Jones is Virginia "Gin" Baker, an insurance investigator sent to capture him.
Sean Connery is Robert MacDougal a jewel thief; Catherine Zeta-Jones is Virginia "Gin" Baker, an insurance investigator sent to capture him.
It seems like Connery's character was a father figure for Zeta-Jones and was proved in several scenes throughout the film."Entrapment" also includes great support from its co-stars Will Patton and Ving Rhames.
Patton and Rhames are so good it is difficult to tell whether or not they are part of a conspiracy to steal the mask or they are really tracking Connery and Zeta-Jones.This is a movie for people who like a good suspenseful thriller that will make them think and doesn't have a resolution until the end.
In this movie ,Connery is a jewel thief , that Catherine Zeta Jones wants to capture.
But that said the films real saving grace is the two fantastic lead performances.Sean Connery is great (as usual) as the aging cat burglar, and has charm and charisma to spare, spreading both around in good measure, but the real surprise here is Catherine Zeta-Jones who gives a head turning performance and is every bit the match, both in character and screen charisma, for Connery in her best, and most natural performance yet.
Zeta-Jones seems to be going from strength to strength and handles her role here with ease and skill and is a definite talent on the rise.Supporting players Will Patton and especially Ving Rhames both give good support, while Maury Chaykin is passable, if a touch cheesy, but this is really a two person show, with both Connery and Zeta-Jones igniting the screen and dominating the film to great effect.Overall Entrapment is nothing remarkably new, but that said it still makes a good bet for good, old fashioned entertainment and has enough thrills, twists and charm to more than sustain it's length, plus two top notch performances, and as such is a hell of a lot of fun at the end of the day.8/10 One Man's Opinion..
Entrapment casts Catherine Zeta-Jones as an insurance investigator anxious to earn her spurs in the business by capturing notorious thief Sean Connery.
Here we have a movie that's made without anything remotely shocking, exciting or surprising about it.The only thing worthwhile about it is Zeta-Jones in a body stocking.Connery looks too old and tired to be a 1st class burglar and he probably should stick to less physically challenging parts in the future.A mainstream film with no surprises whatsoever..
Before I went to see the over-advertised movie Entrapment that attempted to attract male viewers with Zeta Jones' body shot, I was excited for a fast paced action thriller similar to the early James Bond films with a romantic edge with the spicy Zeta Jones.
The version I saw was a never ending string of cliches embedded into a plot so flimsy it couldn't stand up if it were not for Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
For example, in the well advertised scene of Catherine Zeta-Jones wriggling her way through the fake laser beams I couldn't stop thinking "Why doesn't she just crawl" or "What was the point of that move?" It's indicative of the whole movie.
Since the only trailer I had seen focused mainly on Zeta-Jones' body, I expected a mindless mental thriller.As the movie progressed, I was actually impressed by the plot, which held quite a few unexpected twists, although some of the nuances of the script seem quite contrived (the scene on the castle roof is an example.)However, the actors let this film down.
Not even the beautiful Zeta-Jones and the sexy voice of Sean Connery can carry this cookie-cutter type action adventure film.
Sean Connery sleep-walks through his part and Catherine Zeta-Jones was just there to look pretty (the story sets her up as extremely smart, yet her character plays dumb the whole movie).I couldn't even swallow the storyline - tallest building in the world, millenium bug testing, corrupt 'cops', old master-thief and young beauty in a love tryst...I mean, come on!
Sean Connery is a very handsome sexy man but really............Catherine Zeta Jones???
The chemistry between Catherine Zeta-Jones and Sean Connery is magnificent.
Afterall, Sean Connery has long been hailed as one of the most sexiest men alive, despite the fact he's now in his 70's, and Catherine Zeta-Jones is, well, just breathtakingly beautiful.It is not just the steamy connection that the two have on screen that makes this film worthwhile.
In one sequence Connery and Zeta-Jones are dangling from a cable that's about to snap at the top of the world's tallest building while Millennium New Year's fireworks are going off.I would definitely recommend this film to anyone who enjoys an action movie laced with charm and sophistication..
Yes, Catherine Zeta-Jones is good looking and Sean Connery used to be The James Bond.
Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones in a cat-and-mouse thriller.
But then the way Catherine Zeta- Jones and Sean Connery make their generation gap work is incredible.
Entrapment takes us back to the good old movies where elegant, charming thieves stole the money and our hearts.The two charismatic actors, Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones, bring a lot to this movie in addition to action: humor, romance, charm.The movie keeps you on the edge of your seat.
Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones are sexy and suave as a pair of art thieves who find themselves falling in love.
Sean Connery stars with Catherine Zeta-Jones (Mark of Zorro) in this Thomas Crownish heist adventure.
There are surprise twists throughout, but they come off more as blunders than plot turns.Catherine Zeta-Jones, known now for "Chicago" and being Michael Douglas' wife, got her big break in this film, playing a cat burglar who works for the FBI, who goes on an undercover mission to arrest another cat burglar, Sean Connery, only to surprise him by telling him she's a cat burglar as well, and to pull off a heist together with the sixty-year-old, for there to be only one more crucial plot twist that I'm assuming you've guessed by now."Entrapment" is one big headache.
The film is basically one long excuse to see Catherine Zeta-Jones sliding across floors and bending her rear in tight-fitting leather outfits, and for Sean Connery to act as if he is still sixty.
But there are some things I don't believe, as well.I don't believe Catherine Zeta-Jones would fall for Sean Connery's aging body.
It is possible for Sean Connery to do a bad movie.and the #1 thing I learned from Entrapment.1.
There is nothing good in this movie, in which the cliches are only outnumbered by the glaring plot-holes.Basic plot summary: Sean Connery plays a 70-year-old cat burglar (no giggling, now) named Mac who is being pursued by a number of people, including the young maybe-a-cat-burglar-maybe-a-cop played by Catherine Zeta-Jones.But is he really being pursued?
Gin, an insurance agent with the curious skills of a cat burglar (Catherine Zeta-Jones), is sent by her employer (Will Patton) to wiggle into the company of aging British master-thief "Mac" MacDougal (Sean Connery).
It truly is only a product of its times.For a basic plot summary, "Entrapment" sees insurance agent Virginia Baker (Catherine Zeta- Jones) on the trail of notorious art thief Robert MacDougal (Sean Connery).
I have to say that Zeta-Jones and Sean Connery are trying very hard to do something out of paper thin screen play and not very interesting plot.I tries to like this film but I could not.
"Entrapment" is a heist-cum-thriller movie concerning an aging but agile thief Mac (Sean Connery), who along with a beautiful femme fatale crook Gin (Catherine Zeta Jones) commits robbery worth billions, but with lots of deception and betrayals and twist along the way.Cast-wise, Astounding.
Golden Globe winner Ving Rhames, as seen in M:i trilogy as well as Dawn of the Dead is star in this film surprisingly.Frankly speaking Catherine Zeta-Jones is too young to match with Sean Connery.
The chemistry between Sean and Catherine Zeta Jones was believable, and acting above par for all.
In the best tradition of Hitchcock's "To Catch a Thief" it's a well balanced movie.Sean Connery is in his top form when mixing duty with humor.Catherine Zeta-Jones is amazingly subtle in her role.
This time with Connery playing Mac (a master thief who doesn't like "complications"), and Zeta-Jones as a resourceful yet petulant insurance fraud agent.
Sean Connery plays a master thief thought to be long retired while Katherine zeta jones is his foil, an insurance investigator assigned to his case.It's a great action film with plenty of twists and turns.