Search - Oxygen on DVD

Marla R. (Marla-R) from SEDALIA, MO
Reviewed on 2/16/2012...

"Harry Houdini" has kidnapped and buried alive a rich businessman's wife. He demands $1 million in cash from the woman's husband in return for the release of the location of her burial site before she runs out of oxygen. He also states that if police involvement is initiated, he will ensure she is never found alive. As expected, however, police involvement is initiated and Detective Madeline Foster is assigned with the task of finding the buried woman as soon as possible, together with catching Houdini.
It is quickly realized though that Houdini, in fact, wanted the police to get involved so he could commit a second kidnapping - that of Foster. When Houdini is finally caught as the result of a car chase involving him and Detective Foster, he embroils her into his terrifying psychological world as she attempts to get him to reveal the location of his buried victim. When Foster's initial interrogation of Houdini proves unsuccessful, the FBI are assigned to take over the case, although they do not have any more luck. In a plot twist, it is revealed that Houdini has already committed a murder, that of his accomplice. He now has nothing to lose and the police realize the death of the buried woman would not be as significant as first thought.
However, Houdini offers them a final lifeline - if he is allowed to talk to Detective Foster, alone, he will allow his victim to be recovered alive. The police, now just puppets in Houdini's plan, give into his request and Foster is again embroiled in a psychological adventure of self-discovery with Houdini at the helm. Troubled, Foster begins to reveal her darker side to Houdini and he sees a kindred spirit in her. Just when she thinks she is getting through to him, Houdini persuades her that they are more alike than she ever imagined.
Captivating wait till you see the ending. I have watched this movie over and over again!

A pretty dumb flick...

Baberufus | West Jordan, UT USA | 08/05/2010

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I was glad to see Adrien Brody graduated on to bigger and better things after making this flick. This is just a really LAME movie. *SPOILER ALERT* OK, this woman is buried alive and it's been 24 hours, probably more than that before she is uncovered. All science points to the near-certainty that she is dead by then. When she's found, she is not only not gasping for air, she PLAYS dead for a few seconds and then magically SPRINGS out of the box and knocks Houdini silly with her flashlight. HAHAHAHA! And I thought HE was supposed to be Houdini! * END SPOILER ALERT* And that was great how a dozen cops were staked out at the graveyard, and when Houdini escapes, no one is around to cut him off and arrest him--they just let him go. And then the world's greatest cop played by Tierney takes off after him in a high-speed chase without wearing her seat belt--brilliant--I hope they gave her a ticket, despite the fact that she got instant karma by hitting her head on the steering wheel, allowing Houdini to walk away. And how about those effective interrogation techniques employed by the police force? "You won't talk, oh, OK, I'm sorry to have bothered you."--that's what they must have said. How about punching the crap out of him like in other movies? A woman's life is at stake here, for crying out loud!

And what was with the rough sex crap? That had nothing to do with the main story. They clumsily attempted to somehow tie that into the story when Houdini and Madeline were talking "privately", but it just didn't make much sense. And a dumb ending...OK, Madeline saved the day, but now she's back to moping around feeling sorry for herself for being a sex addict outside her marriage, and that's it. PFFFFFT (the sound of a movie fizzling at the end).

OVERRATED movie, if you ask me."