'The Factory' DVD Review

A pedestrian thriller that tries to save itself with a twist ending.

The Buffalo Police Department is at a standstill on the case of seven prostitutes who've gone missing over the past three years, but while his colleagues put it on the back burner, Detective Mike Fletcher remains obsessed with the case -- a preoccupation that goes into hyperdrive when his 17-year-old daughter Abby is mistaken for a hooker one night and kidnapped by the serial culprit. Mike suspects a local nurse name Darrell who was at the scene of Abby's abduction and was a suspect in a previous disappearance, but he and his partner Kelsey can't find enough to charge the hospital worker. As the hours tick away, the two cops have just a short time to solve a case that has baffled their fellow officers for years, while Abby struggles to escape from the clutches of a madman.

I've always found it fascinating how certain movies could attract big-name stars and still end up going direct to video. The Factory, for instance, boasts strong leads in John Cusack and Jennifer Carpenter, an able supporting cast that includes familiar faces Dallas Roberts and Gary Anthony Williams, plus mega-producer Joel Silver, whose Dark Castle Entertainment rarely avoids the theatrical route, and yet here the film is going straight to video. It's hard to figure out what drew the talent to this script in the first place. It's a seedy thriller with a plodding, far-fetched narrative full of drab characters -- good and bad alike -- who commit stupid act upon stupid act. It's frankly hard to root for the good guys because the kidnapped daughter is obnoxious and the cop father is so dense he can't see the most obvious clues in front of his face.

I can't say I love the twist ending, but at least it does something, unlike the rest of the inert, predictable plot. The twist itself is actually also quite predictable, given the writers foolishly toss in an unnecessary plot detail that raises a red flag early on. That said, nothing about The Factory is truly horrible -- the cast alone helps rein in the pedestrian script -- but with such a small-scale, uneventful storyline, it's hard to believe this was ever intended to be anything but direct-to-video fare.

The DVD

No special features.

Movie: C-
DVD: F

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