Kidnap (2024)

The best series from GMMTV in this year

Now that the Final episode has finished, it left many emotions and memories for me. Although I thought it would be dark themed story, the series turned out to be romance. But the one thing I like about Kidnap is that the story doesn’t just focus on one character but also to every character’s relationship. I feel like some parts were rushed and the important scenes were cut off, if they didn’t cut it would be more emotional and smooth.
But overall I’m thankful to the whole crew and OhmLeng for this masterpiece,not a perfect but it’ll always be in my heart.

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Its MinQ Era

I'm very excited about this series..fr I've never been so obsessed about a series as I am with this one...our boys really did put in their blood sweat and tears..now I know that the series will be a success no matter what...Leng did pretty well for a first timer..his acting exceeded my expectations now I'm so proud...his chemistry with ohm Is very smooth and it's so natural...so far the first episode was well played out and now I can't wait for the remaining episodes to air as well...I just hope that they will get the recognition that they deserve when the time comes...let's watch kidnap while also supporting our boys na

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Just plain bad

To put this simply, this drama is frankly terrible, with a very bad written script and sub-par acting. The whole plot revolving around the kidnap, which was sold as the core of the whole show, is basically forgotten after two or three episodes: after that, the whole thing just becomes a rom-com, and a very cheap one too, with boring scenes that lack both consequentiality and any kind of emotional impact.
The terrible script, unfortunately, translates also to a mediocre acting performance: not even Ohm, who is known to be a great actor, could not do anything to make this thing somehow good in any way; on the other hand, Leng is just not good: I sincerely hope that he will take acting classes after this and get better, at least to avoid smiling awkwardly during dramatic scenes.
About the romance development, Min and Q's relationship is just hasty, bland and really not that satisfying to watch: they just meet, they decide they like each other without any clear reason, and then they just make you cringe for more than half of the show (no amount of "chemistry" can save them from this atrocious script). The remaining story is just a mix of half-written sub plots (Yada's, Q's dad's or even Q's own story dealing with trauma) that basically just serve as intermissions before the next unrewarding MinQ moment. The only likable part in this show is James, which makes no sense as a character at all but at least is kinda funny.
In conclusion, for me this show was a waste of time: I just hope that they will give Ohm better scripts in the future and not decide to waste his acting skills onto this kind of cheap entertainment.

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Meh

In essence, this series commenced promisingly, exhibiting potential for greatness. However, the subsequent episodes deviated significantly, resulting in a monotonous and unengaging narrative. The pacing became increasingly slow, leading to a sense of tedium. The skip button, once a mere inconvenience, became an indispensable tool for escaping the tediousness. While the lead actors delivered competent performances, their acting lacked any remarkable qualities.

For individuals unfamiliar with the genre, this series may offer an intriguing experience. Nevertheless, I found it to be yet another mediocre drama that squandered numerous opportunities. The lead actors, in particular, deserve more challenging roles that showcase their full potential. The series’ overall quality was remarkably rudimentary.

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OhmLeng Stole My Whole Heart!

(GIVE IT A TRY, DON'T LET THE TOXIC PEOPLE FOOL YOU, FORM YOUR OWN OPINION.)

First off I want say that Ohm and Leng have amazing Chemistry, they have so much love for each other and it really translates very well onto screen. It breaks my heart that so many people with closed minds refused to watch it or gave up on it too quickly.

The story had some flaws obviously but they weren't anything drastic. This series wasn't out to win awards, it was out to debut their new Partnership with love and it delivered. In my opinion they have such amazing Chemistry and were so fantastic in their intimacy that they even outdid other ships that have been together for much longer and have more series than them. That's how amazing OhmLeng was together.

This series was a very lovely watch.
A story that starts with A Kidnapping due to financial burden and familial struggle, but turns into a romance and found family story? I didn't expect to love a series with a plot like that that but here we are.

Min is honestly such a soft boy with a huge heart that always puts others above himself and Q is a sweet damaged baby that needs all the love in the world.
This series had a little bit of everything, Action scenes, A Loving Romance, Found Family Trope, showing off the difficulties of a Glass Child and Parental Trauma.

Ohm as always puts on a great performance, I don't doubt him. After seeing multiple of his projects, I'm confident I'll always enjoy his performance in something. Lengso surprised me. Seeing that this was his leading debut, I was rooting for him and he truly surprised me. You can see that he tried his best and I believe his performance was very good. I hope to see him grow more in the future! They won my heart, I'm here and waiting for their next Project.

I'm going to close this off by saying exactly what I said in another review I did of a series that so many people refused to watch due to narrow mindedness, & Toxicity. Please give it a shot. Form your own opinion, don't let someone else's negative word of mouth stop you from trying it yourself, you might Love it! I definitely did.
Even if you don't love it, you might like it and that's enough!

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Good story, bad writing

That headline pretty much sums up everything about Kidnap by the way, the sheer amount of potential a story like this had was ruined by the horrible writing. I'm assuming it's based on a novel and I'm a little scared to find out if the source material itself was this bad, or if it was just somehow messed up beyond recognition while being made into a script.

The weirdest part is how fragmented the story was, it was like watching three or four completely different shows, that was mashed up into one series haphazardly. There was romance and comedy, mystery and thrill, and in the same vein but not really, trauma, moving on and moving ahead. Even just saying it this way would make it seem like these genres won't work great, all together, but let me save you some time, it didn't work.

The genre shifted multiple times in an episode, there was comedy at moments where it made no sense and the whole kidnap plot was the weakest thing in a series called Kidnap. The audience is also left to connect the dots for most scenes, it's never outright obvious how the characters and the story got there, but you think hard enough and you can make the connections. But sometimes you just have to say eh- I guess it just happened that way, so let's move on.

I was genuinely shocked with the amount of potential this story had, I mean, written well and this could have been a masterpiece. But writing it in a way where you introduce different conflicts every episode only for them to be solved (or mostly solved) by the end of that episode, whereas you have the main conflict show up when it's convenient for you.. that's not how you keep the audience invested.

Most of my dissapointment is with the writing though, because despite that weak plot, the chemistry was actually decent, I did find myself invested in the characters to an extent and the acting was pretty good. Min and Q had this great loser in love energy between them and despite the weird way in which I think they started out (it was incredibly fast), they did have that soulmates thing going for them, but the story.. what could have been.

Technically, I should rate this lower than I actually did, but I have a soft spot for Ohm, he was amazing in this. And Title. He was amazing as James, James gets a 10/10. But even with them, I can't give this a high score, a kind of high score I genuinely thought I would be giving this before I started, and even a bit after I started.

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An interesting concept trapped in a stale formula.

I think that Kidnap suffers a lot of the same issues as 23.5 did earlier this year--Technically, this show is fine. I wouldn't dissuade anyone from watching it if they like Ohm or Leng, or think the concept looks fun. It's a perfectly watchable show with decent production value and some very cute moments. It's just.... empty. The trailer promises of tension, thrills, and complex relationships are completely buried under GMMTV's typical PG-13 Happily Ever After format, leaving Kidnap rattling around uselessly in training wheels. It's cute! But it's never allowed to be anything more than cute, leaving it deeply dissatisfying for anyone looking for something with depth. There really isn't anymore to the characters or story than what was seen in the trailer.

-The Full Review-

STORY:
This entire story feels like the emotion has been compressed to its most palatable range. Tonally, kidnapping at gunpoint and a day on the beach really don't feel.... that different? There's no sense of danger present in the action and no sense of triumph in the "hard-won" good moments, despite what a dramatic score is trying to tell me I should be feeling. Argument appears and resolves without any real struggle or personal reflection, making the characters feel flat and convenient.
I'm shelving this title after seven episodes of build up led to a (inevitable) break up that was resolved-broken again-and healed AGAIN all in one episode, without any true reflection or shift in character. It's just lazy character work. These characters don't actually stand for anything or have any depth beyond the issues directly related to their relationship. They move from place to place with no real motives or principles.... It's utterly 2-Dimensional.

ACTING:
Hm. I'm pretty unimpressed. It's fine. Ohm is very pretty and charming. Leng does a reasonably decent job conveying his characters anxieties. Ohm (the younger) is full up on younger brother cuteness. As three, they usually manage to be a pretty compelling family with a decent amount of chemistry. But there's very little connection to the dialogue. Line delivery is fairly flat and detached, even in moments of high emotion and stress.
Everyone here is suffering a little from trying to make it pretty more than trying to make it real--something I'm not sure is a fault of the actors so much as of the direction and script. I am not giving up on these actors by half, and I'm still excited for Sweet Tooth, Good Dentist. But I don't think this will go down in their eventual filmographies as their best work.

PRODUCTION:
Is there anything here that is intentional and not an attempt to sell a stuffie, t-shirt or choco pie? There is no part of the production that is work talking about. They adequately deliver the bare minimum to appear high-quality, and put all their focus on selling products over a story. There is absolutely nothing unique, inventive, or interesting in the staging of this work.

INTIMACY:
Actually, the thing that has kept me going for eight whole episodes, is OhmLeng's chemistry. I quite like it... when we are allowed to see it. Surprisingly, they are allowed to have a more adult relationship--and I don't mean NC scenes. There's a casual affection to their physical touch throughout the series that feels grown and settled. Particularly, Min's care of Q during his sleepwalking/nightmares has kept me hooked for a long time.
That said, the treatment of the actual NC scenes is laughable. OhmLeng definitely deliver in the performance, but this lazy script just slaps scenes here and there, almost without thought. We go from zero to 100 without getting to come along that emotional journey (even going so far as to just cut to undressing in the bedroom). There's no connection to the story, making them feel like fanservice despite not being overly explicit or awkward in any way. You could cut every scene and the story would remain entirely unchanged.

In all, this was a promising idea for a very fun show that was clearly just fed through the GMMTV machine. There doesn't seem to be any real passion or care in the creation of the series, just another in a line of production. And I'm done giving my time to GMMTV shows that don't want to put in the effort.

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Even the great chemistry between the actors couldn't save this drama...

Maybe I'll manage to get through the rest of the episodes, but my opinion can only get worse at this point.
GMM has a habit of ruining the last episodes of its really good dramas, but Kidnap only kept its quality maybe through the first two episodes. I feel like everything is happening too fast. Sure, Ohm and Leng have chemistry, but that alone isn't enough to save this drama. This didn’t need to be a dark romance because GMM is capable of making good romantic comedies. For some reason, Kidnap is too sweet to be a dark romance, yet it still tries to touch on more serious topics, which doesn’t make it a comedy either. The worst part of all this is that I was genuinely excited about this drama from the moment the trailer came out. Ohm can bring out the best in new actors, and he could create chemistry even with a chair, so I wasn’t too worried about the acting part. The plot seemed interesting, something new, with no high school setting in the background. Plus, the cast was solid—Ohm (the other one) as the younger brother, Title, who’s also already an experienced actor. The idea was good, but aside from that and the casting, nothing else worked out for the creators.

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A WHOLESOME SLICE OF LIFE DRAMA - ignore the title and trailer

Ignore the title and trailer. It's a solid 10 Slice of Life drama with bomb chemistry, and a healthy relationship where mains communicate their issues openly and maturely, a character's trauma-related PTSD are actually part of the plot and not taken lightly (there is no magic cure, he is still in therapy until very end). The fight and sex scenes are actually decent and "believable" because the MC/Min is a supposed to be stuntman/bouncer who is trained to fight, and not some college boy who is suddenly an expert in martial arts when surrounded by thugs. I know everyone says ML (Q) is basically a damsel in distress, but he is a civilian who is caught in the crossfire between his "Righteous Hero-Cop" dad and the criminals he is pursuing. The guy isn't trained to fight, he has severe PTSD from watching his mom get killed in front of him and he keeps getting kidnapped and hurt by his dad's enemies. U can't really blame the guy for not really being excited about it.

Also, most viewers here underestimate how much your "fight and flight" reflex can be conditioned in case of frequent threats. For eg, if you are "fight" person, your first instinct will always be run towards the threat instead of away, because your mind honestly believes that u can fight it, whether u have the body to back it up or not. So, Q finding himself in situations where he gets in trouble because doesn't have the physic to back up his "fight" instinct (i.e confronting criminals, or running towards the gunfire, even if he gets panic attacks at the sound) didn't seem as weird or strange to me.

That said, all the introduced plot-arcs actually do get completed (some take until the end of show, and there is a time-skip in between); no character, INCLUDING minor characters, is wasted; no unnecessary drama between main leads, or with the dad. ALL communications happen openly and on-screen. The dialogue is at times cringe-worthy, but u can always stare at Ohm (whoever was in charge of his styling deserves an Oscar and a Nobel prize, because MY GAWD!!) and ofcourse, the OST. I'm sure even the people who hated the drama love the OST, so I won't waste my breath on it.

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Wasted Potential

An interesting premise with strong and likable characters, but with unfortunately poor execution. Before anything else let me say that Ohm and Leng delivered as a couple. Their chemistry was present and you could see their effort, but the writing failed from all aspects. The build up was missing. Many things were rushed, resulting to half-assed character development, plot missteps and after a point not story left to tell. They tried to merge romance with action, but there was imbalance. The romance was too much and the action was too little, with none of them ending up good. If they have taken their time to properly explore the characters and not stray from the original plot this would turn into a totally different show that could still maintain its romantic and fluffy side. Alternatively, if they wanted to maintain a fast pace, turning it into a mini series would also work.

As for the acting, it was fine for for the most part and I appreciated the cinematography and some interesting musical choices.

Overall, it's an okay series to spend your time with, but nothing really memorable for me. I would give it a chance just to get a taste of Ohm and Leng as a pairing if you're curious, but also for Ohm Thipakorn. I think he did very well.

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