Connery, Zeta-Jones sizzle with chemistry> Stars enrich predictable ‘Entrapment’ plot

ENTRAPMENT, directed by Jon Amiel. Written by Ron Bass and William Broyles. Running time: 113 minutes. Rated PG-13.

Jon Amiel’s “Entrapment” may have been written by Ron Bass and William Broyles, but it owes its soul to screenwriter John Michael Haye.

Hayes, who summered in Maine while writing some of Alfred Hitchcock’s best films, including “Rear Window,” and “The Trouble With Harry,” wrote Hitchcock’s 1955 caper “To Catch a Thief,” which featured Grace Kelly and Cary Grant in a film about a reformed cat burglar suspected of stealing jewels along the French Riviera.

The caper film became so popular, it was satirized in the 1960s by Blake Edwards’ “The Pink Panther” and Jules Dassin’s “Topkapi” before being resurrected in the 1980s by novelist Sidney Sheldon, whose best-selling book — and subsequent television miniseries — “If Tomorrow Comes,” featured a gorgeous female cat burglar who loved to loot in exotic locales.

“Entrapment” has loot and exotic locales to spare, and what it may lack in sustained thrills it more than compensates for in the inspired casting of Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones. The two have such high-wattage chemistry, screen charisma and sex appeal, they could carry even the most predictable of plots — such as the one tucked within “Entrapment.”

The film begins boldly and with style: on the roof of a 70-story Manhatten skyscraper, an unidentified person leaps into the darkness and plummets by cables to one of the offices midway down. There, a $28 million Rembrandt is stolen, but before leaving, the thief reveals a sense of humor by replacing the Rembrandt with a black velvet painting of Elvis. Nice touch, though it’s too bad it wasn’t Elvis who left the building.

The film cuts to Virginia Baker (Zeta-Jones), an insurance investigator who is so certain the Rembrandt was stolen by the infamous thief Robert MacDougal (Connery), she decides to use her mind (not to mention her body) to trap him in a complex plot that ultimately finds her joining him in heists around the globe — including a daring robbery in Scotland and another in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, on the eve of the millennium.

This is the kind of film that never misses an opportunity to fawn over Zeta-Jones’ incredible curves while also capturing Connery’s wistful reaction to them. Filled with ridiculous plot twists and surprise scenarios, “Entrapment” may be a hive of impossibilities — but who cares? Not director Amiel. He knows he has the gift of his two stars, who are so good, so well-paired and so right for these roles, they consistently make it a pleasure to suspend disbelief — even while Connery and Zeta-Jones are hanging from the world’s tallest buildings by a mere string of lights. Grade: B

THE THIEF, written and directed by Pavel Chukhrai. Running time: 97 minutes. Rated R. In Russian with English subtitles.

Of Stalin, Hitler once said: “He’s a beast, but he’s a beast on a grand scales who must command our unconditional respect. In his own way, he’s a hell of a fellow!”

Clearly, it takes one beast to back-slap another, but for post-Soviet Russian filmmakers, finding the nerve to finally come to terms with the bloody history of Stalin’s former stronghold has been a beast in and of itself.

Pavel Chukhrai’s “The Thief” follows Nikita Mikhalkov’s Academy Award-winning “Burnt by the Sun” (1994) in that it takes a successful leap in that direction. Through an extended metaphor that follows its three main characters during the intial throes of the Cold War, his film explores Stalin’s brutal influence with often harrowing results.

Told from the viewpoint of 6-year-old Sanya (the remarkable Misha Philipchuk), the film follows the boy’s relationship with his mother, Katya (Ekaterina Rednikova), and the dashing soldier, Tolyan (Vladimir Mashkov), who meet on a train and masquerade as husband and wife in an effort to secure communal housing.

But Katya, who is meant to symbolize Mother Russia, has been misled by Tolyan, who represents Stalin: The man is a thief who steals from the poor with complete disregard for the repercussions of his actions.

His treatment of Katya is abusive, yet seductive, even protective — he’s a potent, powerful lover who whispers a mouthful of lies even while providing for mother and child. When his leadership fails and it’s revealed to Katya that this god is nothing but a crook, she and her son nevertheless still love him, which is perhaps the most powerful statement this excellent film makes about Russia’s complex relationship with their former leader. Grade: A-

Christopher Smith’s film reviews appear each Monday in the Bangor Daily News. Each week, WLBZ’s “News Center 5:30 Today” and “News Center Tonight,” he reviews current feature films (Tuesdays) and what’s new and worth renting at video stores