Mark Kermode, Observer film critic 

Captive review – gritty bestseller born again

David Oyelowo and Kate Mara bring substance to this true story of an addict who turns to God – but the film will win no converts
  
  

captive mara oyelowo
Saved by the book: Kate Mara and David Oyelowo in Captive. Photograph: Evan Klanfer Photograph: Evan Klanfer

Heralded as the moment when faith-based film-making gets gritty, this adaptation of Ashley Smith’s nonfiction book Unlikely Angel is a rather unremarkable account of redemption through crisis. Kate Mara plays Smith, the struggling addict held hostage by David Oyelowo’s murderous escapee Brian Nichols, with only a copy of Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life to give her strength. Committed performances from the two leads provide ballast, although the inevitable Oprah coda feels a little too much like a sales pitch.

 

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