| Overall Grade: |
B- |
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| Story: |
B- |
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| Acting: |
B |
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| Direction: |
C+ |
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| Visuals: |
B- |
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Disappointed, nothing original,
by southernbo2001 (movies profile)
Aug 6, 2006
21
of
29 people found this review helpful
I was really looking forward to this one, the previews had me belieiving this would be a tense, fast paced suspense thriller.
The writer nor director offered one single original element to the proceedings, we;ve seen it all before.
Being that I am a country boy, I guess I should be offended by Hollywood's constant rendition of city people living the rush of city life only to run into backwoods hayseeds, redneck bullies.
Dorff was in prison when the bank repos his house, Quaid/Stone buy it and all the contents.
As luck would have it, just as they move in, Dorff is released and wants a job helping restore the house.
We've seen it before the timid city man, beiong pushed and bullied by the country bully, but to their credit, both actors do a fine job in the respective roles.
Dorff's wife and kids, may or not have been murdered, his elderly father is in a nursing home, and says too much to Quaid who is doing a documentary on the history of the house.
I don;t know about you, but if I go into a house and find objects used to slaughter sheep, inside glass showcases, I would remove them immediately, not these people.
The characters do dumb things, like locking the front door after you know the killer arrived before you, etc... sneaking up on each other, or standing over a deep hole in the woods in the middle of the night, during a storm, duh???
Okay call me a nut, but one of the first things I would do, if I lived out in the middle of nowhere and I knew a potential killer was stalking me and my family, GET A GUN!!! Not here, they get a walkie talkie, to contact the female sheriff, who is clearly no match for Dorff, some of the locals reminded me of "Deliverance" rejects.
Juliette Lewis, clearly a one note actress, offers her typical performance, as the dim witted sheriff's sister, and Dorff's play thing.
I'm not saying it's a bad movie, it's okay, more suited for home video, it isn't fast paced, has a few decent suspense scenes, the final scenes were flat, almost as if an afterthought.
Had the direction been in more capable hands, this might have been a good movie, but as it is, only fair.
For a better movie, go see "SECOND HAND LIONS" or "OPEN RANGE" or even "SWAT".
May I suggest if you like action, suspense, you try "THREAT MATRIX" on ABC, pretty good pilot, which repeats on Sunday, and will compete against "SURVIVOR" on Thursday!! |
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