Film Review - Frantic (1988)

Frantic is directed by Roman Polanski and stars Harrison Ford as Dr. Richard Walker who along with his wife have arrived in Paris for a medical conference but one night after coming out of the shower he finds his wife is missing, in a city where he can't speak French and could've very well vanished into thin air.

Frantic is a thriller that I found to be really enjoyable and the main reason for that is the central performance by Ford, he has always had a real sense of genuine empathy and likeability on screen and that quality is used to full advantage by Polanski as he gets more and more panicky as his time in Paris goes on and finds that not only can he not get much help from the authorities but also the consulate who say "This is their jurisdiction."

This leads me to my next point that I liked so much about the film, the fact that Ford's character is not a heroic character, he's just a regular man caught up in a place that he doesn't understand with the worst possible situation thrown towards him, it was this fact that made the film very believable for me.

I also liked the performances by John Mahoney and Emmanuelle Siegner, both of them help to anchor the film and you don't get bored when they appear on screen.

So all in all, Frantic is a well made thriller with a great central performance by Ford and is well worth checking out, 3 and a half out of 5.