DVD Review: 'Kidnapped'

Rick Porter
Zap2It.com

April 24 2007

To watch "Kidnapped" on DVD is to wonder what might have been.

The series, which debuted on NBC last fall, was a casualty of the great serial-drama bloodbath in the early part of the 2006-07 season. Only five episodes aired on the network, with the remainder of its 13-episode order ending up online.

By allowing the show's producers to finish the story, however, NBC did at least allow what viewers "Kidnapped" did capture an end to the story. Consequently, it makes for a pretty satisfying DVD-viewing experience -- albeit one that leaves you asking, Why didn't this show succeed?

It could have been any number of things -- timeslot, timing, viewers unwilling to jump aboard yet another show with continuing stories. The fault doesn't like in the execution, though: "Kidnapped" is a slickly produced, well-acted thriller whose pace rarely slackens. It's frankly a show made for the kind of all-at-once viewing DVD sets can offer.

Jeremy Sisto stars as Knapp -- just Knapp -- a private kidnapping-and-retrieval specialist hired by a very wealthy New York couple (Timothy Hutton and Dana Delany) after their 15-year-old son (Will Denton) is abducted. The FBI is involved too, led by Latimer King (Delroy Lindo), a former colleague of Knapp's on the verge of retirement.

The case, of course, turns out to be a Byzantine web of blind alleys, double-crosses and shaky alliances. But things proceed more or less logically, requiring only a standard amount of suspension of disbelief, and there is surprisingly little fat on the story. That's most likely a function of having to wrap up in 13 episodes instead of the standard full-season number of 22, but at least for storytelling purposes, the shorter run works to the show's advantage.

The three-disc set contains but one extra, a fairly standard making-of featurette called "Ransom Notes." Though it's contained on the second disc, you'll want to hold off on watching it if you don't already know whodunit.

Had things gone better on television, a second season of "Kidnapped" would presumably followed Knapp and King onto the next case. That's not going to happen, but there's some satisfaction to be had in being able to see a resolution.

EXTRAS: "Ransom Notes" featurette
PRICE: $49.95