We check out the new movie, A Kind of Kidnapping, written and directed by Dan Clark (How Not To Live Your Life) which is heading to cinemas on the 13th of July and then to digital on the 24th of July.
30-something couple Maggie (Kelly Wenham) and Brian (Jack Parry-Jones) are struggling with life and are finding it hard to get by without any money, the pair decide to kidnap London politician, Richard Hardy (Patrick Baladi).
But sadly their plans don’t go as smoothly as they would have hoped for and no one wants to pay the ransom which kinds of kills what they were hoping for, but before they let Hardy go, he offers to give them the ransom money himself as long as they pretend to keep him hostage in a move to use them as a PR stunt that he hopes will provide him with the sympathy vote for his campaign and to hopefully become the Prime Minister, but will it all go as planned!
A Kind of Kidnapping is a dark comedy that certainly has that British style of dark comedy that gives you some moments of laughing along with several scenes. The cast works well together, Balidi certainly comes across well as the politician that would probably do anything to get what he wants as Maggie (Wenham) and Brian (Parry-Jones) try to get what they want.
The nice touch with the movie is that way the movie is cut together and it jumps back and forth between the time that Maggie and Brian have Hardy captive and the time before they kidnapped him, this works well in bringing the story in a non-linear way and at the surprises along the way with the lies and deceit.
The movie certainly has those dark overtones of comedy and it can be brutal at times as the kidnappers try as much as they can to get what they want, there is plenty of F-Bombs that I think we are used to these days, but still, there are people out there that do find that offensive, so you have been warned about those.
There are several violent scenes in the movie that work very well for the content of the story, but again these can be a bit of a shock. But you’d expect nothing else from A Kind of Kidnapping as the story does take you on a dark and twisted tale of plans that can and will go wrong.
A Kind of Kidnapping is not just dark in the comedy, it is fairly dark for the cinematography as well, so my recommendation is for the home release of the movie to watch it in a darkened room, but if you are heading out to a cinema to see the movie when it is released on the 13th of July then you should be fine.
I have to say that I really enjoyed the writing and there is some great dialogue throughout the movie, the cast work very well and I did start to build that love/hate feeling with Patrick Baladi‘s Richard Hardy character, you feel sorry for him being kidnapped and then you start to hate his twisted mind as he tries to get the kidnappers on his side to worm his way through parliament and his voters, brilliantly played.
Kelly Wenham and Jack Parry-Jones are great to watch as the kidnappers and there are so many scenes that I did find myself laughing at and then thinking to myself, “Should I really be laughing at that!“. But they both work well together on the screen along with Baladi, the three of them certainly carried the story along nicely.
Writer/director Dan Clark has brought us a dark British comedy-drama that doesn’t pull its punches and one that will have you sympathising with the kidnappers.
A Kind of Kidnapping is a dark British comedy-drama that doesn’t pull its punches and is worth checking out when it comes to cinemas on the 13th of July and then heads to Digital on the 24th of July courtesy of Bulldog Film Distribution.
A dark British comedy-drama that doesn't pull its punches
Movie title: A Kind of Kidnapping (2023)
Movie description: A young, broke couple kidnap a sleazy politician who decides he can spin the story to his own advantage.
Date published: July 7, 2023
Country: UK
Duration: 1h 23m
Director(s): Dan Clark
Actor(s): Patrick Baladi, Kelly Wenham, Jack Parry-Jones
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Summary
A dark comedy that will have you laughing on the side of the kidnappers.
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
