A Thriller with Just Three Actors: Kidnapping Stella (2019, DE)

After finishing a romantic comedy (well, to be fair, it had more drama than I could handle - Love Happens with Jennifer Aniston, and let me know if you’d like me to review that one too- ), I was ready for something completely different. With the weekend about to start, I wanted a thriller to switch the mood.

I scrolled through some decent-looking options, but most of them were part of a series, and I was really in the mood for a movie. Preferrably a short one (not 2 hour long!))

That’s when I came across Kidnapping Stella.
The title sounded promising, so I decided to give it a try.

The movie starts in ... silence. For the first few minutes, you see two guys getting ready for something bad, but they do not talk. There are no voices at all, and this really gives the film a different vibe. You do not know what will happen, so you anticipate it... The film is evidently a not-so-high-budget movie, but I said to my self... Lets go on!

As soon as the characters began talking, I realized the film was in German. Honestly, one of the reasons I continued watching it was the fact they spoke in German, because the last few years I barely have the opportunity to talk or listen to it.

Before I went on with the movie, I also decided to check IMDb, where I saw that it had a 4.9/10 rating (so I thought: okay, it might not be that bad). That gave me another reason to keep watching.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8613876/

Story: Snatched off the street and held for ransom, a bound and gagged woman uses her limited powers to derail her two masked abductors' carefully-laid plans.

Two guys kidnap a woman, and the reason is one - ransom. One of them looks like a real criminal, strict and bad, while the other one looks innocent, kind of cute and that he really cares.

With only three actors carrying the entire film, the focus is on the dynamics between them, the kidnappers’ conflicting motives and the victim’s desperate attempts to outsmart them.

It is an interesting story unfolded between those characters, both the friendship of the criminals and also between them and their victim. Secrets are revealed but also hidden (at least for sometime)

The actors were unknown to me, but they did a good job in their roles, believable, honest, and solid enough to keep me engaged. There are a few interesting plot twists and secrets revealed along the way, which pull the viewer back in and make you wonder what will happen next.

Would I recommend it? I’m not entirely sure. It’s not a masterpiece, but if you enjoy thrillers with mystery, tension, twists (and don’t mind watching in German), then you could check this out.

For me, it lands somewhere around a 4 to 4.5 out of 10.
Not terrible, definitely watchable, and maybe even a good choice if you’re with friends and want something you can watch and discuss during the slower-paced moments.

If you need spoilers, come find me on discord or on twitter and ask me :)

Let me know if you watch it please!!!

Posted Using INLEO