Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Matho The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

robbierunciman Normally in a box like this you would say how much you enjoyed or hated a movie, in this case I think the word 'enjoy' is too pervy. I think that the film maker presents a gritty drama about a crime phenomenon in South America without judging anyone, who is the bad guy, obviously the flaky boy friend. I always watch these movies in hope that the world they show does not exist and the film is over egging the pudding, but sadly things you read elsewhere show how true it is and like many other movies from South America, they show the disparity in wealth between the haves and have nots'. In the past, we could be smug about our societies not being like that, but I am not so sure anymore. I thought that the acting was believable especially from the victims, I am not sure about the hoodlum with principles considering the cruelty of everything else the 'bad guys' did.

Arturo Serrano Sorry for those who thought this movie was great, but I completely disagree. And sorry for those who think that being a Venezuelan I should support Venezuelan cinema, but I will support when it starts delivering consistently quality products. This movie is full of clichés: 1. The guy who sells drugs is Colombian. 2. Of the three thugs (malandros) only the one who is middle class has some compassion for the girl. 3. The gay characters are GREATLY unsympathetic 4. Too many robberies in one day 5. The two policemen at the end.. just gross and besides the point. Besides all this I though the story was too flat. If you think about it nothing happens. The story is this: a couple is kidnapped and the kidnappers ask for a ransom that is paid by her father while the guy runs away leaving her behind. But he is finally killed by the two guys. Thats it!!! God Jakubowicz read Aristotle's Poetics!!! Jakubowicz's lack of modesty is obvious when he denounced that his chances of winning an Oscar were taking away from him when the Venezuelan organism that nominates the movies didn't nominate it. Dear friend, Almodovar won an Oscar even though his movie hadn't been nominated by the Spanish government, so your argument is fallacious. And besides, you admitted to not having seen the movie that had finally been nominated so, how do you know yours was better?? His argument was that his movie had been a success in the box office. Do you know why?? We are so pathetic that Venezuelans went to see the movie because it was being distributed by a bog studio... So we Venezuelans thought "If the "gringos" are distributing it, it must be good" God, I hope Jakubowicz doesn't read this... if you do please forgive me!!! I really and honestly have a big success with I understand you are making in Hollywood (although strangely IMDb.com doesn't mention you as director in a new project).

clsid The movie is one of the best action movies I've seen coming out from Venezuelan cinema. I have only two problems with this movie.First is that they portray Venezuelan society as totally corrupted and while there is corruption, is not like the wild west either. I lived in that city for a long time and nothing ever happened to me. Of course, don't be flashy about things you might have (cell phone, cars, watches) in troubled neighborhoods, but I find that is the same thing you have to do in a lot of areas of Washington DC.Second issue is that I'm still trying to figure out what it is the purpose of adding footage of a coup d'etat. It only served the director to get sued in Venezuela by the guy who was shooting in that initial scene and of course, government reaction because of the one sidedness of the footage, it would be interesting that they show the street blockades with burning tires that these "citizens" established throughout the city that basically confined everyone to their homes (including sick people in need of attention) and was the main reason of police action. I guess the director is antichavez like most upper-class people in Venezuela, but mixing politics seems unnecessary to me in this case, since at the end you get to see why Chavez is there in the first place, which is the huge inequality left by the so called democratic governments throughout Latin America.

George Parker "Secuestro Express" translates roughly as "quick turn-around kidnapping" and, according to the makers of this film, is becoming an increasingly common crime in Latin American. The film is a gritty, grainy, low budget flick about three thugs who kidnap a beautiful woman with and her boyfriend to get some fast cash via the secuestro express methodology. Although the film is full of meaningless thug talk and inconsequential filler, when it does finally get down to business - about an hour into the run - it grabs and holds on thanks to a powerful performance by Maestro who busts some serious acting chops demonstrating she's much more than just another pretty face. As a cap, this little flick drives home an important social message which may be food for thought for those who care to think beyond the film. Okay but nothing to get excited about and fraught with the usual subtitles, obvious budget constraints, etc., Secuestro Express makes for a worthy watch for those who like their crime flicks straight up with a twist and a message from south of the border. (B)