Bait (2002)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: C- Film: B-
When a mother (Sheila Hancock) and daughter (Rachael
Stirling) breakdown on the road, only to have a good samaritan (John Hurt)
intervene by picking them up and bringing them to his house. Then they decide and are allowed to stay a
while, but the dysfunctional situation gets worse thanks to secrets held by all
involved in Bait. Instead of a
Horror film, or a psychological drama, we get a well-acted work in which each
of the people involved have to make decisions about how much misery they can
handle in their lives and at what points it may be too late.
Writer Daniel Boyle (NOT the director Danny Boyle) comes
up with some believable material, but it is the actors who bring it up to a
level above what is there, as this could have easily went flat in the hands of
lesser talents. Director Nicholas
Renton handles the talent and story in a way that is competent, if not leaving
any distinguishing marks. It is a good
sit-though that is worth your time, especially if you like the cast. Again, we would like to note that Stirling,
who made such a splash in Tipping The Velvet (reviewed elsewhere on this
site) is the very talented daughter of Diana Rigg and if you catch this for any
other reason, it should be to see a rising star. To say anything else would be to give away too much.
The letterboxed 1.85 X 1 image is not anamorphic and has
some slight detail troubles as a result.
The film in general has a look without many vibrant colors. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has not
surrounds to speak of, but is almost state of the art in fidelity, even
subtracting to excessive compression of the Dolby itself. The only extra is a set of profiles of much
of the cast, which is not bad.
- Nicholas Sheffo
