The Disappearance of Alice Creed

British writer/director J Blakeson's debut feature opens with a brilliantly executed, dialogue-free scene, in which Vic (Eddie Marsan) and his young sidekick Danny (Martin Compston) prepare to commit a crime with painstaking precision. But after they actually kidnap spoilt rich girl Alice (Gemma Arterton), things become a lot more mundane. The film sometimes feels like a tightly controlled exercise in low-budget film-making - with only three characters and two main locations - but Blakeson uses the hothouse atmosphere and claustrophobia to good effect. Where he falls down is with some clunky dialogue and a series of plot twists and turns that are nowhere near as surprising or shocking as intended. However, the film looks stylish, the performances are uniformly intense and energetic (although the characters are less than sympathetic), and there's enough tension to keep you gripped to the end.