As is usually the case when a movie gets bad press, I felt compelled to see it for myself. As a fan of Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman, I was also interested to see just how terrible they were.
In actual fact I think the critics have been a little cruel. As other reviewers have commented, this is no groundbreaking piece of work; it's a home invasion story and highlights the lengths people will go to for money (see Panic Room for more details....!). Yes there is a lot of screaming from Nicole and a lot of people saying "run" and no one runs anywhere, but to be fair if I was in their position, I would likely be in a corner papping myself with fear.
It seems that they follow a similar formula to Panic Room, in that the burglars are pretty brutal and one or two of them seem slightly unhinged, but this is clearly a device used to work up tension as they become more panicked and more unpredictable. In a sense I liked this element, which showed something more of the invaders' humanity; their fears and failings.
All in all this is not an amazing film, but nor is it that terrible. It also isn't half as violent as people make out - there is a fair amount of threat but I have seen a lot worse and I am not a fan of violent movies. So 6/10 seems a fair score, although personally I quite enjoyed it - it was easy enough to watch and I was interested enough to keep watching to the end. But maybe that's just me.
