The thriller “The Disappearance of Alice Creed” begins in smart fashion as two ordinary-looking blokes — 40-something Vic (Eddie Marsan) and the younger Danny (Martin Compston) — go shopping for rope, duct tape and other items a kidnapper shouldn’t be without.

Then they seize college student Alice on the street and take her to a well-secured house, where she’s stripped, tied to a bed and forced to make videos pleading for her rich father to come up with ransom.

The writer-director, who goes by the name J Blakeson, keeps the suspense level high for the first hour or so, but he then indulges in a few plot twists that strain credibility.

The biggest structural mistake has to do with the reason Alice was chosen to be abducted in the first place. He should have kept things simple.

In any case, there are fine performances all around. Marsan and Compston will be familiar to people who keep up to date on British films; relative newcomer Gemma Arterton — who spends a good part of the movie tied to that bed — performs well under difficult circumstances.

In fact, her work here landed her spots in the big-budget “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” and “Clash of the Titans.”