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Lack of good storyline.

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Robert Redford and Helen Mirren are a married couple with no visible problems. They have a beautiful house, two grown, well-adjusted children, plenty of money, and job security. When Bob leaves the house for work one morning, he has no way of knowing it might be for the last time. . .As if I needed another reason to be afraid of Willem Dafoe, he abducts Robert Redford and holds him at gunpoint deep in the forest while demanding a ransom from Helen Mirren. While in a way The Clearing is a typical kidnapping movie, it's also far less entertaining than most in its genre. Mostly it's just depressing, and the secrets that are revealed about everyone's past aren't very surprising. The good guy-bad guy roles are very clearly laid out; Pieter Jan Brugge and Justin Haythe should have written a far meatier script to keep the audience enthralled. If you like this genre, try renting Trespass or Shattered instead.

Redford, Mirren and Dafoe could read a seed catalog and make it fascinating, so this beginner's exercise in suspense and character is not a dull film if you keep that in mind; Roger Ebert mentioned that he could not see the conclusion coming--it was evident to me in the first ten minutes, the set-up with life-styles certainly leading the plot development: the worker bee on the public bus and the king of the hill with his swimming pool and doting wife neatly contrasted from the get-go.Because this is not primarily a violent film, but a character study, some may find the close-ups and studied manner of worried wife Mirren dull, but it is really the screenplay that needs some intensity and tension as the two men square off in the woods; their chatter is oddly pedestrian. There are moments worth watching here, but The Clearing fails to fully deliver on its promise

Maybe it is just me but I was really disappointed with the film. It seemed to start off okay and for awhile there I thought it was going to be a good movie. But then the end came and it seemed to me as if the writers couldn't quite figure out how to end it.It also raised a huge number of questions as to how this unemployed person (Arnold) could manage to do all the things he did in the time he did. For example, there were at least two cars he had available to him. If he was unemployed how would he have had two cars and presumably another one at home that he normally used. He was never shown with any voice recording equipment yet he managed to play a recording of Wayne's voice over the phone. What was his contingency plan if Eileen hadn't turned the car around and come back? Would he have stayed out there in the wilderness all night? Didn't his wife wonder where he was being away all day and how would he have explained his dirty clothes (resulting from the fight)? Why didn't he use the money like he said he was going to? There are lots more questions but that'll do I think. As I said I didn't like it and think it was a complete waste of time and effort to make and I regret the time I wasted watching it.

OK, that's disappointing as a thriller, and as anything else as well!First things first : although he was given so little screen time but Alessandro Nivola is unbearable. Robert Redford was charismatic and effective enough (sometimes that's not enough when it comes to him !). The plot is catchy but not the script (deliberately it doesn't want to utilize any thrilling moments out of the main situation). The music didn't play anything special. And yes, the end is SO SAD ! On a deep level, it is not the typical Hollywood thriller. It is for audience cherishes the drama more than the thrill (or for the thrill's audience to cherish other things). It just uses its kidnapping case to tell you a story about love between a man and a woman; showing humans not super creatures, yet to tell you the truth it couldn't be as interesting or enjoyable as any of the pure thrillers ! It is pretty damn usual at places to an extent seduces you to sleep! The cast did it fine, but not that fine. While the sad ending is something to declare the story's message (clear it up before it's so late), still Alessandro Nivola is unbearable ! Interesting idea, not movie.