This is the book that recovering meth addict Ashley Smith read to Brian Nichols, the fugitive who held her hostage in her apartment in 2005. Arrested on charges of rape, kidnapping and assault of his longtime girlfriend, Nichols had shot his way out of a courtroom, killing three people and severely injuring a fourth. The reawakening of his conscience while in the presence of Smith is deemed by Jameson as the result of listening to Warren’s words, yet the film skims through them so swiftly, it seems to assume that we’ve already read the book. We never get a real sense of precisely how Warren left an impact on Nichols, aside from allegedly motivating him to do the right thing. It all feels too pat and tidy, and therefore registers as less than convincing. Still, the film could’ve been so much worse.

“Captive” could have utilized patronizing tropes, with its white heroine redeeming a gun-wielding black man. It is largely to the credit of actors Kate Mara and David Oyelowo that their characters resonate as more textured than they may have seemed on the page. Oyelowo plays Nichols with such a flat affect that he truly appears to have convinced himself of his innocence. He is deranged, to be sure, but the actor doesn’t indulge in scenery-chewing. Nichols merely comes off as a man whose pervasive denial has caused his eyes to become clouded by the haze of misguided righteousness. 

Mara is equally strong as a mother struggling to better herself for the sake of her young daughter. She has her own demons to contend with, and is every bit as reluctant to embrace Warren’s words at first glance. The film’s most touching scenes occur when Mara and Oyelowo let their respective guards down and begin to open up about their lives. Even when their character motivations are murky at best, the actors uphold our suspension of disbelief more often than one would expect. It also helps that the 80-year-old Jameson has the skills of a veteran storyteller. He served as an editorial supervisor on “The Andy Griffith Show” and directed “Airport ’77,” not to mention several episodes of “Walker Texas Ranger.” This is his first theatrical release in 11 years, and it looks and feels like an actual movie, not a church-funded PSA stretched to feature-length. 

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