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Bait

2002, Movie, NR, 98 mins

Bait: Review

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The melodramatics flow like lava in this UK telefilm, whose twisted twist on paternal vengeance spurs a cast of scenery-chewing British actors to delirious heights of excess. After their car conks out in the remote countryside, Pam Raeburn (Sheila Hancock), and her daughter Stephanie (Rachael Stirling, real-life daughter of Dame Diana Rigg) are rescued by Good Samaritan Jack Blake (John Hurt). Because Pam is on the lam from an abusive spouse, she doesn't question the hospitality of this local Jack-of-all-trades, and the two women move into Jack's adjacent cottage. Jack, however, has a missing daughter, and after the police abandoned their search for her, bereaved Jack relocated near his daughter's last known place of employment. And what do you know? Stephanie bears a striking resemblance to Jack's vanished offspring! Keeping the Raeburns in the dark, Jack plans to use Stephanie as bait to flush out the two likeliest miscreants: His daughter's ex-boss, Alfred White (Nicholas Farrell), and Alfred's unstable brother, Vincent (Jonathan Firth). The malefactor could be jealous Alfred, who regularly batters his flirtatious wife, Millicent (Angeline Ball), or clingy Vincent, who goes ballistic when women dump him. Coolly manipulative Jack watches as Stephanie dates Vincent, tires of his possessiveness, and distances herself from him. Meanwhile, as Jack studies the White brothers' pained reactions to Stephanie, Pam's husband tracks down his family, vandalizes Jack's home, and winds up dead. Maybe Jack isn't the only vigilante afoot. The Raeburns skedaddle after discovering Jack's deception, though good-hearted Stephanie, touched by Jack's grief, agrees to bait his trap. The immensely likable Stirling refuses to indulge in the histrionics of her co-stars, and as the other thespians revel in their characters' persecution complexes, Stirling's no-nonsense restraint gives the mayhem a modicum of emotional believability. leave a comment --Robert Pardi
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