Without a trace - DVD

Film: After everything initially looked like a promising movie career with films like "Clueless", "Durchgellt", "8 Mile" or "Sin City", Brittany Murphy ended up only being hired for TV movies and cheaply produced DVD premieres before she passed away far too soon in December 2009 at just 32 years old. Now, "Without a Trace" is her last feature film to hit the stores, which, despite being quite exciting, is unfortunately a very good example of Murphy's professional decline and not really a worthy legacy.

Actually, Mary Walsh (the far too heavily made-up Brittany Murphy) was just going to accompany her boyfriend Kevin (ex-TV Superman Dean Cain) to the hospital for an outpatient surgery. But what should be a routine procedure soon turns into a nightmare. When Mary tries to inquire about her friend's condition, she is only told that there is no patient by that name in the system, nor is the doctor who supposedly operated on him on duty that day. Even the surveillance cameras show no trace of Kevin. The policeman who is called in tries everything to help Mary, but after all the evidence points to the fact that Kevin doesn't exist at all, he too begins to doubt her sanity. But then the story takes a surprising turn.

"Without a Trace", dedicated to the memory of Brittany Murphy, is a solidly crafted B thriller. It is always noticeable in the production and also the actors that here had to work without a big budget. Cinematography, music and editing sometimes seem a bit amateurish and the acting of some actors seems a bit wooden. But the decent performances of actors such as Mimi Rogers, Peter Bogdanovic and Dean Caine, as well as the quite existing arc of tension ensure that director Michael Feifer has delivered a decent thriller, at least within the limits of his possibilities.

Although the big twist is unlikely to surprise connoisseurs of the genre, Feifer must be credited with managing to keep the viewer guessing long enough to keep him riveted to the action for much of the film. "Without a Trace" may not be a really good film, the B-movie character just hovers too heavily over the whole thing for that. But as an entertaining DVD premiere, the flick certainly passes. If you like as suspenseful thriller on a decent TV level, you will certainly be entertained by Mary's desperate search for her Kevin.

Picture + Sound: Since only a data-reduced press sample was available for testing, no information can be given about the final picture and sound quality at this point.

Extras: Except for trailers, the DVD unfortunately has no bonus material to offer. Too bad.

Conclusion: "Without a Trace" may not be the best film Brittany Murphy has starred in. But overall, the thriller offers an exciting and convincingly acted way to say goodbye to the actress who died far too soon. Unfortunately, the DVD offers no extras worth mentioning, which is more than disappointing, especially considering that this is Murphy's last film. Nevertheless: for lovers of simple thriller goods well worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp