Nobel Son

Flashy and eccentric thriller stars Alan Rickman as a sneeringly arrogant dad reluctant to pay his kidnapped son's ransom

Nobel Son" loosely straps a story of family disappointment and academic jealousy to a juiced-up caper flick and then speeds off on its way. What comes next is a movie with moments of vengeance-filled enjoyment but also a sense of tonal haphazardness. You can't blame co-writer-director Randall Miller ( "Bottle Shock") for wanting to have flashy criminal fun with his setup.
At the same time an arrogant and rakish scientist named Eli Michaelson ( Alan Rickman) is awarded the Nobel Prize, his son Barkley (Bryan Greenberg) -- struggling to complete a PhD centered on cannibalism -- falls prey to a kidnapping brainiac (Shawn Hatosy) whose venal scheme involves a severed thumb, Mini Coopers and a devastating family secret about Eli. [...]

di Robert Abele, articolo completo (1897 caratteri spazi inclusi) su The Los Angeles Times 5 dicembre 2008