ENTRAPMENT

"There are always surprises."

Three things that push my hot buttons: caper films, Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Combine all three, as was done in ENTRAPMENT (1999) and the result is an enjoyable little B movie, full of eye candy, high tech gadgets, plot twists and exotic locales.

Virginia Baker (Jones) is an insurance investigator on the trail of master thief Robert Mac Dougal (Connery). She joins up with him and the two plot a heist involving an ancient Chinese mask. When that job is successful, Gin convinces Mac to help her on an even bigger score, robbing an international bank of billions at the stroke of midnight, December 1999.

It's all a bunch of hugger mugger designed to capitalize on the Y2K phenomenon (you remember that one don't you?) and a chance to stage a third act set piece involving the world's tallest building in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

There are reversals of fortune every few minutes and you never know for sure just who is playing who. But who cares when the two leads are so much fun to watch. A May-December romance slowly builds between Gin and Mac but it's worth considering that Connery was 69 at the time the film was made while Jones was all of 30.

Jones makes a slinky burglar and she would have made a good Catwoman. I can also see her playing Emma Peel, should anyone ever decide to try rebooting THE AVENGERS. And of course, she would have been letter perfect as Princess Diana in a WONDER WOMAN film with Lynda Carter co-starring as her mother, Hippolyta.

Alas, such is not to be but a guy can always dream. ENTRAPMENT is a pure popcorn movie. No heavy lifting required. Just sit back, relax and enjoy it.