Titreenp
SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?
Invaderbank
The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
Alistair Olson
After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.
Payno
I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
GeorgeSickler
. . . . and, of course, you don't have to drive, you're with friends who have a sense of humor, and you all see nothing wrong with throwing crushed beer cans at the TV while you're all hooting and hollering at this really stupid movie.Just be prepared to watch the following, among just a few examples:Charlie, our hero, is fleeing down the fire escape from a murder scene in an apartment building, jumps into Linda's Jeep (or whatever) and they're speeding away. Suddenly, the assassin, who was several floors up in the building just a second ago, is now on the canvass top of the Jeep, stabbing through the top with a knife, and trying to murder Charlie for some reason. Meanwhile, Linda, who's driving, is careening down the Washington, D.C. street, swerving around heavy traffic.And nobody cares; nobody honks their horn, and the assassin doesn't seem to have a care in the world that he's on public display on the top of a Jeep careening down a major roadway in Washington, D.C. with a knife trying to murder Charlie.Within the White House, Donald Sotherland is told that Charlie is inside the building. Donald, in a strong and commanding voice,demands that they "Turn on the silent alarm!"So, they turn on the "silent alarm" and hundreds of little tiny red lights begin to flash in all the White House hallways, ceilings and walls in every room. Charlie sees the red, flashing lights and cries to Linda, "They've turned on the silent alarm!!!!"Kinda defeats the purpose of a silent alarm, don't ya think? Or, how about next when Charlie and Linda are being chased and shot at by all the security and plain clothes guys in the White House for some reason. They escape by entering the White House's sub-basement labyrinth of heating, air-conditioning and ventilation tunnels, with directional signs pointing out the turns back to the White House, or on to the Treasury Department, or on to The Executive Office Building.Well, Charlie and Linda finalize their escape by simply pushing open a grate and climbing out and onto a D.C. avenue.The message for everybody is that if you don't want to stand in line for a White House tour, just open any grate in the street and follow the directional signs to the White House (or, to the Treasury Building, if you're so inclined).Throughout the movie, Charlie and later Linda, are being chased and shot at in very public places. Yet the D.C. police, and the government, still think they're the bad guys. Get real.And finally, the assassin has been spending the entire movie creating some unknown but diabolical device for some reason. We finally discover he's gonna assassinate the president. How? The prez is to speak at a toy convention. The device is a remote-controlled toy helicopter, around 18-inches in length. It has two lethal machine guns that are killing just about everybody in the convention center but the prez.Though lethal, the powerful bullets have no kick-back at all, and the toy helicopter maintains its steady, deadly but inaccurate course.The day is saved when Charlie releases a net of toy red, white and blue balloons intended for the gala big finish, and the deadly helicopter crashes.There are some great actors in this flick. But I just have to wonder if they needed the money to pay off a bookie, or a boat payment, or the kids needed braces.
eurograd
This is one of those movies whose cast and trailer sound promising, only to drop the ball altogether when you watch it. It is no surprise it bombed miserably on the ticket booth.It was yet another conspiracy movie of they stream that peaked with Enemy of State in the mid-1990s. The Soviets and communists used to offer an easy, credible enemy to write a thriller movie about, so "average" plots could fit well on the screen. Without Soviets around, it became tricky to explore other enemies, and many movies were shot around that time with internal conspiracies within the US government.The cast is not bad at all, on the contrary, it is quite respectful. Photography is lackluster, though, and the characters are just not credible. The first 5 minutes are definitively the only salvageable part of the movie.As usual in this type of movie, the real intentions and objectives of characters are not clear from the beginning and there are some twists. Again, unfortunately those twists happen without any explanation or any crescendo that leads to them. It gives the viewer the impression that they needed to turn a "good guy" into a "bad guy" and just did it in a frustrating way.Were the cast not a A- cast as this is, it would have been a trash movie. The cast, indeed, did a good job on containing damage and ameliorating the failure this movie is.
Elswet
Now, this work doesn't reek, it's enjoyable, and energetic, in spite of its inability to be great. But it tries too hard to reach for that greatness, while still holding on to the life raft. Charlie Sheen never had it in him to be great. He was good, in many performances, in many different roles, but he is not capable of greatness on screen.The same can be said for Donald Sutherland. His son Keifer is far more talented, far more believable in roles as something great. Even when that something embodies a terrible darkness.This work, like its actors, tries to be great in its story, action, and political posturing, but like most who posture, it can lead nowhere, as posturing is not being, it's pretending to be. And that's all this movie could ever hope to achieve.The action is good, the story is good, the performances are good, and the characters are well written, but well written and good is all this has to give.It rates a 5.2/10 from...the Fiend :.
buzz-81
A large part of this film strongly resembled Three Days of the Condor: the group of researchers killed but one escapes, the concept of a government employee on the run urged to "come in" in face of an internal spook conspiracy, the female "accomplice" Linda Hamilton/Faye Dunaway, etc.. Even some of the dialogue was remarkably similar -the group of government high-ups suggesting that Sheen/Redford might have "been turned". Obviously there were differences (Turner/Redford was part of the "reading group" while Bishop/Sheen was a presidential aide; Hamilton/Givens was a reporter while Dunaway/Hale was an innocent bystander) but overall I would guess the script was prompted by Three Days of the Condor (a far superior film).