Kidnapping Stella (3/5) – Netflix Movie Review

KIDNAPPING STELLA is a new Netflix thriller, but the story is somewhat familiar. After all, this German Netflix movie is based on the British 2009 thriller The Disappearance of Alice Creed which was awesome. Find out if this Netflix remake is as good in our Kidnapping Stella review!

Kidnapping Stella is a new German Netflix thriller based on the British 2009 thriller The Disappearance of Alice Creed. The original movie was all kinds of awesome, so obviously, our expectations were pretty great.

Unfortunately, Kidnapping Stella can’t live up to the original. Basically, I’m left wondering why they felt the need for a remake.

Read why in our full Kidnapping Stella review below – or simply go watch it on Netflix now!

German Netflix remake of British movie

More than anything, we wanted to watch this Netflix movie because it’s listed as a remake of the British movie The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009) on IMDb. Now, that was a movie we absolutely adored and one we highly recommend. Everything about it was just all kinds of awesome. 

Also, it starred Gemma Arterton (The Girl with All the Gifts) in the title role. 

Of course, this also means that Kidnapping Stella has one hell of a challenge; To be at least as good as The Disappearance of Alice Creed. After all, why make a remake if not to create a new spin that can at least match the original. And yes, remakes can be as good or even better than the original.

Actually, Kidnapping Stella isn’t even the first remake. The Dutch did it first with Bloedlink from 2014, which is also based on the British movie.

They ruined a perfectly good story

As stated earlier, Kidnapping Stella is not as good as The Disappearance of Alice Creed. In fact, it feels like the predictable vanilla version of a pretty damn awesome story. All the twists and deliciously unexpected character details have ben removed.

Or rather, not only have the best parts been removed, they’ve been replaced with a lot of predictable tropes.

Right at the beginning, when the story of Kidnapping Stella begins in this German Netflix version, you will be getting the feeling of the original. In fact, for those who hate subtitles, you should be pleased to know that not one word is spoked for more than eight minutes in the beginning. Instead, you just get to watch what’s going on.

Just like the original, the story features just three characters and the actors playing them all do so in a very satisfying way. It’s just that the actual characters seem like cheap knock-off versions from the original.

Watch Kidnapping Stella on Netflix

This German Netflix movie was written and directed by Thomas Sieben. Before making this movie, he directed for a TV series and made two feature films. His feature film debut was in 2009 but he did also direct a short film back in 2002. In other words, he’s not new to directing but is still at the beginning of this career.

For us, the German Netflix series Dark is more than enough reason to check out other German Netflix productions. 

Recommended reading: Check out our reviews of Dark season 1 and Dark season 2 here >

Kidnapping Stella is (of course) very different from the series that features time travel. However, the production quality and acting in Kidnapping Stella did hold up to our expectations. The story just didn’t hold a candle to the original. For that reason alone, I can’t say that I understand the reason for making a remake.

However, I did enjoy this German version as a very light version of a more edgy story. If you do like this new German Netflix movie, then please make sure you check out the original movie, The Disappearance of Alice Creed. 

Kidnapping Stella is available on Netflix in several countries from July 12, 2019.

Details

Director: Thomas Sieben
Writer: Thomas Sieben
Stars: Jella Haase, Clemens Schick, Max von der Groeben

Plot

Snatched off the street and held for ransom, a bound and gagged woman uses her limited powers to derail her two masked abductors’ carefully laid plans.