Great performances and high-stakes emotional tension liven up the standard Lifetime story of a mother desperate to save her baby.
Sarah Carter (Brianne Davis) has faced much criticism from her family over her decision to abruptly accept the marriage proposal of her boyfriend Travis (Jon Prescott), a man who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. But despite their doubts, Sarah is head over heels for Travis–with the impending arrival of their daughter only cementing her feelings. But following a mysterious car accident leads to the birth of Sarah’s baby, she wakes up to find that Travis had taken their newborn daughter Lily to his house, along with his mother Virginia (Kathleen Quinlan) and Sarah’s friend Jessica (Tonya Kay).
Instantly, Sarah’s maternal instincts kick in and she begins to suspect something is amiss with Travis, leading her to begin searching for her daughter. As the situation unfolds and secrets are exposed, Sarah finds that she has been pulled into a dangerous scheme and will have to fight to rescue her daughter from someone she thought she knew…
In a nutshell, Saving My Baby is similar in plot and tone to My Daughter’s Ransom. Both are emotionally charged films centered around desperate mothers, fighting to rescue their child from a malevolent person who has taken them captive. But while My Daughter’s Ransom is action-oriented, Saving My Baby is a more slow boiling thriller that relies on emotional impact to sustain the film throughout its’ slower parts. The first act of Saving My Baby takes a unique approach to building this tension, as the viewer is left to wonder what exactly is happening to Sarah and her newborn and who the players are in the twisted scheme. This sense of doubt regarding who’s guilty and who’s innocent even carries over into part of the second act, making for a very entertaining watch as the film keeps the audience on its’ toes as to what exactly is unfolding.
As for the emotionally driven nature of the plot, Brianne Davis is largely to thank for this method of storytelling working in Saving My Baby‘s favor. In the hands of Davis, Sarah is a wholly sympathetic protagonist that everyone will root for, as the film allows her to be established as a kind and generous person while making sure not to have her be naive. Despite her whirlwind romance with Travis, Sarah is quick to deduce that something is amiss with her husband once he takes off with their daughter and she is quick to get into action to figure out what’s transpiring around her. As we see Sarah fight to be reunited with her baby, the audience sees her develop from a love-struck woman blinded by love to a maternal force of nature, and Davis makes this transformation amazing to see.
Kathleen Quinlan is similarly strong in forming an emotional connection to the audience as Travis’ problematic mother Virginia. She starts off playing into the intriguing mystery driving the film’s first act without much of an identity of her own, but once it becomes clear that she aligns on the good side, Quinlan allows for Virginia’s vulnerable and sympathetic side to shine through–and her character ends up playing a big part in the film’s dramatic climax, where her invigorated character truly shines. Jon Prescott makes for a good ambiguous antagonist, and Tonya Kay is a marvel in her role as the sketchy and utterly ruthless Jessica.
While it may appear generic on paper, Saving My Baby takes its’ countlessly told plot and crafts it into something fresh and entertaining thanks to getting a strong cast and telling this story through a different lenses that allows the film to become its’ own. For intense thrillers with a focus on the power of maternal instinct, check out Saving My Baby alongside My Daughter’s Ransom.
Score: 9 out of 10 awesome purple highlights.
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