Embassies are curious things. They’re buildings that represent a diplomatic office for one country within another, staffed by members of that visiting country. There are around 17,000 – 18,000 embassies around the world, with China said to have the most with around 173, closely followed by the US with 168.

They’re considered an extension of their home country, where the home nation’s laws also extend to. So if you’re in a US embassy, you’re said to be on US soil, and therefore under US laws.

This film is set in a US embassy, in Germany, as a young woman and her son are set to visit the United States.

Intending to take her young son Josh (Rickson Guy da Silva) to the US is ex-Special Forces member Sara Wulf (Jeanne Goursaud). His father was a US solider, who was killed in action in Afghanistan, so Sara wants to take him to his father’s home.

She’s going to leave from the US embassy in her home country of Germany, and is sitting in the departure lounge awaiting their flight.

After a few hours it seems as if the flight is delayed, and young Josh is getting bored. Thankfully they have a playroom available, where Sara drops him off for a few minutes, so she can get a coffee. But when she returns, she finds that her son is missing.

She immediately goes to the authorities, reporting the matter, which they look into. When they get back to her however, it’s not good news; not only do they say they don’t know where he is, they’ve checked the security footage, and, well, he was never there.

After looking into her background, they notice she suffers from post-stress traumatic disorder, which she’s still currently medicated for, so believe she’s having an episode. But Sara knows she has a son, and that he is still very much missing, and is prepared to do anything to get him back.

German writer and director Christian Zübert’s film tries to be a mix of Die hard and Taken but the result isn’t very satisfying.

The finger of blame must be squarely pointed at his script, which could be considered ambitious with what it tries to do, but ultimately there’s just too much story; Sara is a vet with a troubled past, which has a large bearing on why her son has been taken, as she gets help from a dissident who has been kept in the embassy for a couple of months, where some drugs materialise, with Security Officer Kynch, played by Dougray Scott, is also involved. And that’s not even attempting to work out why the embassy has its own airport, which none of them do.

It’s sluggish too, with the action fairly inconsistent, coming in dribs and drabs as it does.

And its unique take on playing out in an embassy soon ebbs away, when it takes the form of any generic action flick.

There was promise there, certainly, but sadly Zübert’s film ultimately goes nowhere interesting.