Lorraine and her son are in the car one night on a way back home when they must stop at a gas station for some frozen pizza and gas. It's the perfect opportune for a thief Roy to get in their vehicle and force the woman to help him get out of the state.It started good, Stephen Dorff plays his part very well but as the story goes along it becomes too jaded and with shabby dialogs. Also near the end when Lorraine an ordinary mother is able to steal so easy a car, handle a riffle while she is driving is so theatrical. So in conclusion what she is after? The thief money? in stead of making worries for her life she is able to go with a dangerous killer to steal his share? You could watch this movie for the first 20 minutes or so but after it goes to pieces and you realize that you just wasted time on a film that the story can only happen in movies.

When thinking of an 'escape' type film, the things that would generally come to mind would be intrigue, mystery, schemes and deadlocks. It is a pity then that 'Carjacked' contains none of these. In an atmosphere and complex that fluctuates from amicable chatting to sudden gun pointing for the majority of the film, the whole production, the events and the characters seem either too far fetched or too devoid of life to be believable. Usually an actress with personality, Maria Bello portrays an inherently imploded single mother struggling with life. Her character remained detached whilst her emotions were too difficult to read. The hijacker, who was really responsible for carrying the film, acted by Stephen Dorff, is not menacing and instead of a cunning bank robber, is presented as a simple petty thief, which does take away credibility, even if his demeanour is a dangerous cool. The dialogue between the two protagonists comes across as very unnatural, so much so that the movie may well have been better off without it. Whilst watching, you will likely find yourself throwing your hands in the air multiple times wondering how Bello's character Lorraine could not escape rather than find yourself absorbed in the intrigue of the plot. Dorff may well have been referring to the film as well when he refers to Lorraine as 'a whole other class of something else'. Although, he forgot to add, 'in blandness'.

I've been watching a lot of 'thrillers' lately that seem to fly through theatres and straight to video faster than a taco in an intestine. Most of them have been average and then some are just barely watchable. Carjacked seemed interesting enough but it turned out to be more of a laughable B-Movie mistake that was slapped together and poorly made, directed and acted. Sherry and Michael Compton co-wrote this script and I have to assume it was made as some sort of cruel joke because it isn't the story that is necessarily bad, its the details in the film. The characters are annoying and the most likable character is the carjacker through most of the movie. Then when the woman who spends the entire movie trying to supposedly 'protect' her son finally gets away from the carjacker (even though she had MANY times to do so) the first thing she does is...call a school board to find her son...not the police because that wouldn't make sense? Every decision she makes is a laugh out loud joke that will have you rolling your eyes through the whole movie. While the dialogue in the movie isn't terrible, the details drag this through the mud.Maria Bello is better than this crap. Her character is whiny and annoying and even though the film would have you believe she has some sort of epiphany and fights back, she doesn't. She gets lucky and makes a bunch of really stupid decisions that ends up okay for her. Bello is awful in the role because the role is awful. Stephen Dorff's performance as the bank robber and carjacker is sort of up and down. Sometimes its a good role, and sometimes he's as annoying as Bello. Their chemistry is barely existent but the dialogue between them is okay. Youngster Connor Hill is okay as Bello's son but he doesn't get a lot to work with and is victim to the same bad script as the rest of them.The only thing that makes the film even remotely watchable is a few solid action scenes that come out of nowhere to surprise you, and a decent premise that gets lost in all the other crap. Director John Bonito has two credits to his name...the other being The Marine. So maybe the film makers wanted this to be some kind of bad B-movie Grindhouse type film but they failed at that if that is the case. The movie is just all around poorly made. There is no reason to sit through this even at a 5/10 because the only slightly redeemable qualities won't make up for the hour and a half you won't get back. 5/10

I generally like kidnapping films. Especially the ones that include lots of gas stations. Despite the good acting by Dorf and Bello the plot is too stale. In addition add the lack of tension you really get a "meh" film in your hands. Also, the film was going well realistic until the 30th minute but they had to put that lame "twist" at the end and arm Bello with a shotgun. Puh-lease! All in all, this film could have been something much more riveting with this cast. However, no matter the quality of your cast; if you fail to write a decent scenario you are condemned to fail.