Film Reviews by None

SPOILER ALERT

If you like car chases, a high body count, and all-action heroes, then this is a film for you. It made me angry and despairing. Neeson's character is, as said above, a former special agent. When his estranged daughter wants to go to Paris for the summer with a friend, overprotective dad says "I'm not having her put at risk", However, Mum wins, the daughter goes, and needless to say is kidnapped almost straight away by an Albanian gang, who run a human trafficking operation. After a hundred or so deaths and chases, Neeson rescues his drugged-up daughter just as she's being given to an Arab Sheikh as a a special prize, a beautiful virgin. He brings her back to nice, safe America, which the film implies that she should never have left in the first place. Then he encourages her in her ambition to be a singer, by introducing her to a pop Diva that he happened to meet on a personal security job just before the shenanigans started. Estranged wife and new husband are very grateful to him, but it the reactions of the parents of the daughter's friend, the naughty blonde who is now presumed dead, are not recorded. However, she was obviously a bit of a troublemaker / slapper, so it doesn't matter. If you like all Albanians to be portrayed as crooks, and Arabs as corrupt, and girls as naive victims, and American males as superheroes, watch on. Otherwise, you may prefer to spend your credits on something else

I first read the book that inspired this movie - A Friend like Henry - a true life story of one mother's determination to help her autistic children by whatever means possible. I was then disappointed that the film portrayed the family as a wealthy Southern English family living in an upmarket suburb, instead of a Scottish working-class family living on Clydeside and holidaying in Blackpool. Come on guys! give us the reality! Autism does not need to be coated with sugar: many families live with it and know the harsher moments.

In case you're wondering, Henry is the name of the dog,a key figure in the story, and Thomas refers to Thomas the Tank Engine, the storybook character that the autistic son was obsessed with, which became a vital line of communication between parents and child.

Do watch this film if you have an autistic child: do read the book, too, it's probably a greater source of inspiration.