Entrapped review: Meandering murder mystery fails at thrills

Netflix’s Entrapped sees investigators Andri and Hinrika on a murder investigation involving a cult, a motorcycle gang, and an unresolved disappearance case from Andri’s past.

Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers

Story

Entrapped rolls the ball with a peak at the plot’s central conflict and murder mystery. A cult camp and some gang members on bikes get into a minor altercation with each other. The following night, an important member of the cult is murdered in cold blood.

The two factions at odds with each other are a cult that goes by the name ‘The Family’ and a motorcycle gang called ‘Horns’. The conflict is that the land — a farm called Ásar — is a disputed land upon which both the gang and the cult camp lay claims.

The cult camp is led by Oddur and his partner Ása, with another integral member in Oddur’s son-like Ívar Kristjánsson. Interestingly, one of the apex guys of the gang, Gunnar, turns out to be Oddur’s real son who’s at odds with him for quite some time.

Gunnar is also mentored by his uncle Hopper, a well-known drug dealer and criminal. Hopper plans to see through a drug shipment into Iceland as well as establish the gang headquarters at Ásar.

Andri and Hinrika eventually have to team up to solve the murder mystery, despite Andri now working with Financial Crimes Unit. He is pulled into the case because he had roughed up Ívar about seven years ago.

It happened in custody when he was questioning Ívar about his girlfriend Lína’s disappearance. Andri was transferred to another place and another unit and Ívar was let go because of no substantial proof.

Andri breaks the news to Ívar’s parents and the father tells him that he must find their son’s killer as part of his penance. Andri has to agree and despite his colleague Trausti’s contentions, he begins investigating alongside him and Hinrika.

A handful of revelations are made, followed by hidden connections and relations coming to light. The search for Ívar’s murder and the threads connecting it to Lína’s disappearance are all entangled into a spool that only distracts from the crux of the plot.

Positives

There’s a scenic treat accompanying almost every shot taken outside. Icelandic landscapes are just about the best locations for any production.

Viewers can simply take joy in the resplendent backdrop even if the telephoto’s focus is on something boring.

Despite the story swerving off to an irrelevant and uninteresting b-plot, the runtime is concise enough. The performances, although in no sense stellar, are competent.

Negatives

Lína’s disappearance and Ívar’s murder are hinted to have a potentially drastic sort of connection but the reveal at the end is an anti-climactic dud.

The biker gang and the drug racket spiel that makes up the whole b-plot is entirely unnecessary and helps tremendously at eating up the runtime with a conflict and conclusion distantly connected to the central murder mystery.

Entrapped falls victim to a narrative stuffed with unimportant and severely underutilized tools and plot points. The cult could’ve been a great tool to incorporate Lína’s fate and a potential Gunnar’s role into.

However, the only relation it has to Ívar’s murder is a geographical one. The mystery of Ívar’s secret affair at the cult camp could’ve been fleshed out into something clichéd but entertaining development.

Instead, what Netflix’s Entrapped entails is a disappointing twist reveal at the climax and an ending that feels like a cop-out from trying harder.

Verdict

A short crime thriller binge, Entrapped wastes most of its runtime with unimportant and boring characters. A sequel to the ‘Trapped’ series, this installment struggles and fails to raise any hair strands in its quest to provide adequate thrills. Elements like the gang and the cult could’ve brought an intriguing flair to the story. Instead, they end up being irrelevant and ultimately, pointless gimmicks that serve no purpose other than to distract the viewer until the disappointing revelation at the end.

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Also Read: Entrapped Ending explained: Who Killed Ívar?