“Detained” is a 2024 film written by Felipe Mucci and co-directed by Jeremy Palmer. It features a talented cast, including Abbie Cornish as Rebeca Kamen, Laz Alonso as Avery, Moon Bloodgood as Lisa, John Patrick as Robert, Justin H. Min as Issac Barsi, and Silas Weir Mitchell as Sullivan. The plot revolves around Rebecca Kamen, a middle-aged woman who finds herself in a police station. She is told that she is involved in a hit-and-run accident and will be charged for the same. However, things turn interesting when Kamen senses that something is amiss.
Detained (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
“Detained” opens with a disturbing scene. We see police officers and forensics investigating a crime scene, which is enough to send shivers down anyone’s spine. The cops were called to a scene where, upon arrival, they found multiple bodies charred beyond recognition. One of the victims, before he was burnt alive, managed to leave a message. He scribbled the name “Jovan” with his blood before he died.
What is Rebecca Kamen Being Charged For?
The story shifts to a police station where a woman is being questioned by the cops. The woman, Rebecca Kamen, was found by a police patrol passed out behind the wheel of her car in the center divider. The toxicology report states that Kamen was in no condition to drive. Kamen’s date for the last night, Robert, has been apprehended by the police.
Kamen maintains to the police that she doesn’t have any idea of the event that transpired last night and wants to go home. However, this isn’t just a matter of a simple DUI ticket. The cops have also found blood stains on Kamen’s car’s front bumper, hinting that she might have hit someone with her car. Moreover, the cops have found the body of a cyclist who died in a hit-and-run accident. In simple terms, Kamen is looking at serious jail time if her guilt is proven.
Why Does Rebecca Agree to Pay Avery a Million Dollars?
Issac Barsi, rather than Kamen’s usual lawyer, shows up when she requests legal representation. Unfortunately, Kamen Ja’s regular lawyer is busy with a family matter in Tokyo and will be unable to attend. With no choice, Kamen has to agree to accept Issac as his lawyer. But something tells us that things are not what they seem. The lawyer seems incompetent. Not to mention, when Sarah, Kamen’s friend, comes to visit her half an hour ago, she signals Kamen to run.
Things only get downhill from there, and Kamen has no choice but to shoot a confused detainee to save Lisa’s life. Unfortunately, the bullet hits both the wild detainee and Lisa, killing her. Bloodstains on her vehicle had already gotten Kamen into a lot of problems. Now, the murder of a police officer complicates matters further. Therefore, to save her skin, Kamen offers Avery one million dollars to make it all go away.
Avery doesn’t believe Kamen has that amount of money and tries to walk away, forcing Kamen to amp the number to one and a half million. Avery hands Kamen his laptop, asking her to transfer the money. However, before Avery can enter the details, she learns that all of this is a scam. All the equipment on the desk are props that are often hired out to actors. Kamen realizes that Avery is a con artist who has rigged this entire thing. The only question is why?
Who is Avery, & What Does He Want?
It is now clear that Avery is no detective but a scam artist who has staged a fake police precinct to con Kamen of her money. This also means Lisa is not dead, as the gun she was shot from was a prop. In addition, Issac, Robert, and the detainee, Sully and Jess, are also scammers. But why? It is revealed that Avery is Louis Denton’s foster brother, whom Kamen used to work for and was having an affair with. Louis Denton was a rich man and had accumulated a wealth of eight million dollars at the time of his murder. Avery knew about the money, and now he wants all of it.
Before Louis died, he showed up at Kamen’s house and gave her a key to a storage locker containing two million. That day Louis was shit scared, saying he was conned by someone who is now trying to kill him. A day later, Louis and his staff were killed after someone set their office on fire. This is the modus operandi of a con artist named Jovan, who kills ( to be more precise, burns) his victims after scamming them.
How Kamen and Avery Play Their Own Game?
Kamen knew the only way to survive was to outsmart her captors and turn them against each other. She starts by sowing the seeds of doubt in the minds of the others that Avery might be Jovan. After he gets what he wants, he will kill the others. The first one to fully turn is Robert when Avery shoots him in the leg to stop Kamen from escaping.
Unfortunately, Robert’s artery is damaged, and he dies soon after. Sully is the next one to fall, and Kamen manipulates Jess into thinking that Avery intentionally spiked Sully’s drink to kill him. Avery suspects that Jess is going to be a problem and asks Issac to take care of her once she is done wrapping Sully’s dead body. Tragically, Jess loses her life trying to take control of the pistol.
Avery also realizes that he is running out of time and, therefore, brings in Sarah, Kamen’s friend. Sarah is the adoptive mother of a child named Brandon, who, in reality, happens to be Kamen’s son from when she was having an affair with Louis. Avery knows about this and threatens to kill both Sarah and Brandon if he doesn’t see the money in his account in the next few minutes. Avery also shoots Sarah in her leg to prove that he is not joking around.
What Happens to Issac and Lisa?
Kamen, seeing Avery is getting restless and careless and can kill her baby anytime, decides to give him the money. Kamen is handed a laptop by Avery and is assured that Brandon will be spared after the money is transferred. However, before Kamen can enter the bank details, Issac holds a gun to Avery’s head, announcing that he’s taking the baby.
All of Avery’s efforts to blackmail Kamen will be for nothing if he loses the baby. Lisa also needs that money to pay for her father’s medical costs. Therefore, they try to convince Issac to lower the gun. Issac complies, but Avery kills him. Lisa also turns on Avery, as Kamen has offered her a million dollars if she kills Avery and lets him go. Unfortunately, Avery is too smart, and he kills Lisa too.
Detained (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Is Avery the real Jovan?
All this time, we believed that Avery was Jovan, a conman who makes sure that his victims never live to tell the tales. But in reality, Jovan is none other than Rebecca Kamen. She is the one who severed Robert’s femoral artery with a blade and also laced Sully’s coffee with drugs, making him overdose. Kamen knew Issac was the weakest link and, therefore, manipulated him from the start. All this time, Avery thought he had control, but in reality, he was being played since the beginning. In addition, Kamen was also the one who scammed and killed Louis.
It is possible that Kamen really loved Louis, but when she learned that he was married, she felt betrayed and murdered him. As the film nears its end, Kamen gets hold of the real gun, shoots Avery, and burns the building to the ground, fulfilling her MO. She also kills Sarah when the latter tells her that she has called the police. This brings us to the start of the film, where the cops found seven bodies burnt beyond recognition and Jovan’s name scribbled on the wall. The film ends with Kamen walking out of the smoking building with her baby.
