Trapped (1989)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Powerful

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Caught this movie a long time ago. You have to really pay attention as there are many quiet scene that tell you a lot. There are actually three story lines going on at one time. You do find out why the killer is killing, you do find out who these people are and how the building and their jobs are all intertwined. I watch this movie at least 4 times a year, along with Dark Harbor (the flick with Alan Rickman & Norman Reedus). These movies are great as they make you pay attention and think, you have to listen to the dialog to figure everything out.Kathleen Quinlan is both beautiful and very talented. She does a great job as the woman running from the killer. Bruce Abbott is both good and talented as the spy. He can be both tough and understanding. They make a great couple on screen. They are also married in real life. As I said, love this movie, stands well on it's own.

First, Let me clear up a misconception left by a previous reviewer:THIS MOVIE IS NOT 'DIE HARD' AND DOES NOT TRY TO BE!That being said, Its remarkably similar to 'The Face of Fear', Except for in the beginning, she's alone. Trapped carries suspense very well. The acting, while not the best, does well to put you in the movie. Its very easy to see yourself, almost alone, running though a labyrinth of corridors and doors trying to find a way out. One of the things that 'Trapped' does better then 'The face of Fear' is use dead-quiet scenes to convey the vast and oppressive building itself. Indeed, the building seems to have a character of its own, aiding the madman on his rampage.The madman, whom its almost possible to sympathize with, says little thought the film, adding to the creepiness. Not quite my best suspense film of all time, but quite good. The male hero is almost an anti-hero when we learn that he's in the building doing espionage.All in all, a well done movie that deserves recognition.

Although this movie undoubtedly is not of any great quality it has stuck with me more than most movies. In the fifteen years since I saw it I have retained not only the broad plot, but some incidentals as well. So what was it that made it all stick with me? Quite simply the heroine Kathleen Quinlan, and not really her per say but the fact that she "saves the day" not her male counter lead. I had never seen a movie, and don't remember many since, that have strong male and female leads where it is the female that gets the glory moment at the end of taking down the protagonist. Sure there are movies with strong female leads that save the day but more often than not if there is a strong male lead beside them, the man gets that honor - not the woman, regardless of her characters strengths, and opportunities to do so. This is probably a sad way to remember a movie, by what so many other movies lack, but despite Trapped's obvious flaws this is something in its credit

I hate this movie. It is a blatant attempt to rip off "Die Hard", and fails miserably. Some guy is in a building killing everyone. We don't know anything about him, we don't know his motivation, he just apparently wants to kill people. So we have a woman trapped in a building with a killer and MONKEYS. And all this has to fill a couple of hours. The plot has serious credibility problems, and the ending is stupid and pointless. Avoid this movie unless you have seen all the other movies about people trapped in a building. Even Anna Nicole Smith's "Skyscraper" is better.