THREE BY MISTAKE

Three children, kidnapped in England by an Arab terrorist faction, occupy the time they spend in a solitary basement lockup with planning a series of daring escapes. At one point the trio, two boys and a gift, actually overpower their guard, only to be ought when they fail to seek help from a passing stranger they mistakenly believe to be one of the group. But later, when police have surrounded the house and their captor is preparing an escape with one of them as a human shield, the children turn the tables by a combination of wit, agility and luck. Certainly they make the resourceful best of every lucky break (there are more than a few). However the mild mannered and disorganized kidnappers (they allow a paid gunman to defect and get away alive) offer a muted, unrealistic view of terrorist tactics -- making this just another self-contained, predetermined crime adventure with little topicality or realism.