The true and inspiring survival story of a teen horrifically kidnapped, how she manipulates her deranged captor, leaves clues, stays witty in her own mind to control her fear, engineers then ultimately negotiates her safe rescue after enduring six and a half days of hell. Written by

Plot Synopsis:
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Every 24 hrs. after a child's been kidnapped, the chances of finding them alive diminish to almost nil. The true and inspiring survival story of a teen horrifically kidnapped, how she manipulates her deranged captor, leaves clues, stays witty in her own mind to control her fear, engineers then ultimately negotiates her safe rescue after enduring six and a half days of hell. [Mark Wolf]

Taken in Broad Daylight is inspired by the survival story of a 17-year-old girl who was kidnapped by a criminal and taken on a harrowing, six-day multi-state journey. The young teen left clues for police as she tried to outwit her captor. The movie stars James Van Der Beek (Dawsons Creek, Varsity Blues), Sara Canning (Smallville, Kyle XY) and Levar Burton (Roots, Star Trek: The Next Generation). [D-Man2010]

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edwagreen from United States
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Although this is a true story and the victim showed her mettle, there is really nothing basically outstanding in this film which seems to drag on and on.

A much older LeVar Burton does shine as the police officer, a friend of the victim's family, who helps lead the way to her eventual freedom.

A nightmare begins when a recently accepted to college young lady is kidnapped at random in a parking lot by a lunatic, abused by his father, living with a fanatically religious grandmother, and arrested over 20 times for a variety of offenses. The guy is totally off the wall and kidnapped our unfortunate girl as he was lonely.

Ready to kill her several times, she was able to talk her way out of it and you see that the guy may be falling for her until the very last scene-the usual come out and put your hands up.

When you think of it, as difficult as this movie is, it is really routine.

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dbborroughs from Glen Cove, New York
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TV movie about a girl who is kidnapped in broad daylight who manipulates her capture until she can get away. Another based on a true story tale that follows both the girl and her captor and the investigation into her disappearance. Adequately made with good performances, the film suffers in that it doesn't really strive to be much more than it is. It's a TV movie of the week and nothing more. The result is it plays like any number of similar movies even though at times it spins a tale that isn't run of the mill. This could have been so much better had the producers not used the "TV Formula Machine" on the story and let the stories own power speak for itself, I mean isn't that what drew them to the story in the first place? In all honesty unless you've seen very few movies odds are you've seen better.

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Woodyanders (Woodyanders@aol.com) from The Last New Jersey Drive-In on the Left
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Clever and resourceful 17-year-old teenager Anne Sluti (a fine and appealing performance by the attractive Sara Canning) gets kidnapped by the unstable and dangerous Tony Zappa (well played with frightening intensity by James Van Der Beek). Anne uses her considerable smarts to manipulate her captor into keeping her alive throughout her harrowing six day ordeal. Director Gary Yates, working from a compact script by Charlene Blaine and Kim Delgado, relates the gripping story at a steady pace, wisely avoids lurid sensationalism, and grounds the narrative in a believable everyday world. Anne's bold game of wits with her captor creates a substantial amount of drama and tension (the climax with Anne and Tony holed up in a house surrounded by a SWAT team in particular is quite taut and suspenseful). The sound acting rates as another definite plus: Levar Burton as the compassionate Detective Mike Timbrook, Diana Reis and Tom Anniko as Anne's worried parents, Brian Edward Roach as Anne's equally concerned brother Tom, and Alexandra Castillo as determined FBI agent Reynolds. Brenton Spencer's crisp cinematography makes galvanizing use of a constantly moving camera. Jeff Toyne's spare moody score likewise does the trick. A worthwhile telefilm.

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SnoopyStyle
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Anne Sluti (Sara Canning) is a 17 year old girl in Nebraska who gets kidnapped by a crazy Tony Zappa (James Van Der Beek). LeVar Burton plays police detective Mike Timbrook.

It's a slow moving Lifetime movie. The kidnapping is compelling but the story just drags along for far too long. There isn't enough depth in the story. James Van Der Beek isn't menacing enough. He just doesn't act crazy well. Maybe the investigation shouldn't be half the movie. Maybe if this was a tough character study of Zappa. Maybe it should be just a two person play. Maybe if the production value was more than the standard TV movie.

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jamesbarnshaw from United Kingdom
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A lot of the reviews are moderately negative. I would have to agree to some extent with them. eg - it may be a run of the mill kidnap film. But for me James van der beek made this film very watchable indeed. I've grown up in the generation of Dawson's creek, so that was all i've really seen him in. Except from another good turn in The Rules Of Attraction. His performance in this was outstanding. What i consider a fairly realistic interpretation of a sociopath/kidnapper. But how do i know whats realistic for that character? LOL. Give this film a watch, it may have been done before, but van der beek makes the difference between bad and good in my opinion. 8/10.

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Kristen Cerone
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I feel that Taken in Broad Daylight was a well-put together crime film. From the beginning, I was drawn in by the immediate trauma that was the kidnapping of Anne Sluti. I wanted to know what would happen next and more importantly, why Tony Zappa took her in the first place. There was a constant mystery throughout the whole film of whether or not she would be saved and see her family again. This kept wondering and interested in what would happen in the next scene. Furthermore, the constant fearful emotions were very relevant for the audience because these types of feelings are what anyone would feel if they were in the position of Anne Sluti. Also, the movie allowed me to use my psychological mind to dissect the actions of the perpetrator and try to determine why he committed his crime. Gary Yates did a great job of putting together a film that would thoroughly expose our fears of violent crime such as kidnapping and allowing the viewers to put themselves in the position of the main characters and truly feel the agony that they were feeling.

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Robert J. Maxwell (rmax304823@yahoo.com) from Deming, New Mexico, USA
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Every judgment is relative to something else. I was unhappy with the film because I expected more, based on a review I'd read. I'd expected more of a police procedural. Instead, it's the usual story of a young girl kidnapped, raped, and otherwise degraded by a smiling young maniac who drives her from her home in Kansas to Wyoming, while he quotes Robert Service. ("A bunch of the boys were whooping it up/ in the Malamut Saloon.") I wanted action, not fancy egghead LITerature!

We can believe most, if not all, of her suffering. God knows we see enough of it. Sara Canning, as the real-life victim Anne Sluti, is beaten unconscious, bound with duct tape, blindfolded and teased, sexually violated, half drowned, and made to eat an oatmeal cookie. We don't learn much about James Van Der Beek, as Tony Zappa, except that he was raised by his Bible-thumping grandma, he is a genuine imbecile, and has been a bad boy all his life.

Anne Sluti, on the other hand, is a good girl. She must be, otherwise there might be shades of gray in the movie, which we must avoid at all hazards. The point of the movie is to make the audience weep with sympathy and hate the perp. We don't want them to think. There are endless close ups of Anne Sluti's mother's anguished face. The actress, Diana Reis, seems to have been chosen for the role precisely because the default expression of her features seems to be "agonized preoccupation." And I could almost hear, in my mind's ear, the writers wishing ruefully that the real-life heroine could at least have had a more proper name than "SLUTI". I mean -- after all. Couldn't she have at least been given a decent name? Like Angelica Primrose?

Some of the story, though it's supposed to be real, I simply can't swallow. The villain, Tony Zappa -- that's a proper name for a heavy, and it must have made the writers glow with satisfaction -- forces his captive to make a phone call home, claiming that she simply decided to take off on her own and she wasn't kidnapped. She tells the waiting police, who are taping every word, that "it was time for equality vacation." The cops twig to it at once. It's not a slip of the tongue, not a parapraxis, it's a clue. "Equality." And one of the states next door is Wyoming, whose motto is "The Land of Equality." So that's where she is now -- in Wyoming. A thousand far-flung dots are connected in an intant.

I don't believe it. Do you?

You have never seen such suffering. Except in every other movie ever made about young women in jeopardy.

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Dean Goulev from United Kingdom
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I don't want to sound like an amateur film critic like most of the above, so I'll just say that this film is god-awful, with weak, unconvincing performances all round (particularly the captor). It's like watching a long-winded reconstruction on a crime phone-in show. Avoid at all costs. Clean the oven or something. Dear o dear. There really isn't anything else I can add. I could try but I'd just be waffling. OK, OK, Sarah Canning is half decent I suppose. But it ends there. It really does. Maybe give the oven a miss. wipe the tops of the cupboards or something. Or maybe watch another film altogether if you're that desperate. It really is bad.

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myspecialparadise from Hawaii
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The acting is quite superb, when it comes to the two main characters ... unfortunately, the movie will most likely hinder James Van Der Beek's career ... much like Sleepers and Hallow Man marred Kevin Bacon's career. The public glorifies its heroes, but once that hero joins the dark side ... the public moves on, in search of a new hero. Actors need to be a lot more careful in the roles they choose, because the remainder of their careers depend on the choices they make! There are far too many victims in America ... portray a predator in one of these type movies and you lose a whole slew of fans ... specially if you portray more than one! Believe this, playing Ted Bundy did nothing positive for Mark Harmon's career.

Both leads are extremely powerful as portrayed by Sarah Canning & James Van Der Beek ... I was very surprised to find that LeVar Burton, from Star Trek NG, played the part of Mike Timbrook. LeVar looked so different, I did not recognize him ... but his acting was spot on!

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wilmac291 from United States
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I can only assume this was "based on real events", as the whole story could have been told in 20 minutes. Unfortunately, it lasted much longer. Long stretches of stupidity compounded by boredom. The lack of depth was astonishing. (Did they ever speak to ANYONE that witnessed the abduction?) James Van Der Beek's career has apparently found his level, and perhaps he is at minute 14. The most intrigue in the whole mess were the clues our abductee would leave in her phone calls. But it only took once for LeVar Burton to say "play that back" to realize he was going to crack the code each time. If you didn't see every event coming up the street, you are movie-impared. Unless you are forced at gunpoint (and even then, perhaps take a chance the gun isn't loaded?), avoid this long, anti-climactic, poorly acted piece of drivel at all costs.

The poem that Tony recites about a half hour into the movie is from 'The Shooting of Dan McGrew' by Robert Service. The poem is from the collection 'The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses' (1907).
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The biblical verse that Tony quotes is Ecclesiastes 9:10. The one Anne responds with is 1 John 1:9.
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James Van Der Beek also played a kidnapper in an episode of Criminal Minds called Revelations.
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When they arrive in Montana, they first are in Livingston. The next stop is in Deer Lodge, which seems logical enough because it's about 145 miles to the west following I-90. But the next place they show up is Laurel (by the waterslide), which doubles back THROUGH Livingston and then another 100 miles east on I-90. The last stop, where they are ultimately found (Rollins) is on the west side of Flathead Lake, 425 miles doubling back. The fact is, Livingston is correct, and Rollins is correct, but they didn't stop in Laurel, or Deer Lodge necessarily. Their path was from Livingston to Belgrade, then just past Deer Lodge they got off I-90 and worked their way to Salmon Lake before eventually arriving in Rollins.
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blouse ripping|bible quote|wyoming|montana|kidnapper kidnapped relationship|kidnapping|nebraska|chained|car falls into water|fbi|standoff|slow motion|lifting female in air|clothes torn off|teenage abduction|abduction|teenage rape|rape|lifting someone into the air|driller|based on true story|

AKAs Titles:
Germany - Entführt! - Eine Frau kämpft um ihre Freiheit
Germany (DVD title) - Kidnapped - Entführt am helllichten Tag
Spain - Secuestro a plena luz
France (alternative title) - Le courage au coeur
Hungary - Szabadság, mindenáron
USA (working title) - Presence of Two Minds
USA (working title) - Snatched
USA (working title) - The Taking of Anne

Release Dates:


Certifications:
Germany:12