Reviews

Okay so the T.V. show was cool back then and is mediocre today, but seeming how this film has hardly anything to do with the source material ( kinda like "The Untouchables" movie- show ) with the exception of names and similar dialog.

Anyway, Michael Mann has made a joke of himself by redoing a show which he was producer/writer of and tried miserably to give a gritty feeling to it like his previously enjoyable hits, "Heat" and "Collateral."

The problems start mainly with the latter because while it's similar to those two films it's also lacking the thrills, will be way too dark for some viewers and character development that made those films successful.

Even if you're not expecting it to be like the other Mann films, you, the viewer, will most likely lose interest due to poor character development ( you just don't care if Crockett or Tubbs, etc. die ); lack of excitement during the action sequences ( there's a shoot-out near the end, but it's nothing even close to "Heat" or a far superior action film, plus the people you don't care about die! ) and there is usual amount of clichés that I am so tired of having be present in these sort of cop/crime drama films ( protagonists have really fancy, expensive cars, people go under-cover in a drug cartel where it is so obvious that they're not part of the "gang," Crockett even seduces the main cartel boss's girl ! )

And while the original T.V. show was also far from reality, Mann and company could have at least tried to take a more realistic approach as opposed to making another unnecessary remake/update of a popular T.V. Show.

P.S. I honestly don't know what version of the film I saw on DVD, but I do know that no matter what version I see, I will never be entertained.

The Plot: Clive Owen ( before he was in "The Bourne Identity," "King Arthur," "Elisabeth: The Golden Age," and "Sin CIty" ) plays a "hire" who drives people places they desperately need to go.

Often times, they are working for something "top secret" and can only give our protagonist limited information.

Also, this is meant to show off the BMW car and is executive-produced by Tony Scott, Ridley Scott and David Fincher ( Panic Room, Alien 3 ).

This one directed by Joe Carnahan ( Narc, Smokin Aces ), our hero must transport a agent ( Don Cheadle in a real dominating role ), carrying a mysterious suitcase, to some contacts ( Ray Liotta, Dennis Haysbert and Robert Patrick in brief uncredited cameos ) of his. However, someone who wants the case sends out a helicopter armed with a heavy gunner. It's up to our driver to outrun it and get both of them out in one piece!

This is my favorite due to the intense action and the I think the cameos in this one are even better! Enjoy.

The Plot: Clive Owen ( before he was in "The Bourne Identity," "King Arthur," "Elisabeth: The Golden Age," and "Sin City" ) plays a "hire" who drives people places they desperately need to go.

Often times, they are working for something "top secret" and can only give our protagonist limited information.

Also, this is meant to show off the BMW car and is executive-produced by Tony Scott, Ridley Scott and David Fincher ( Panic Room, Alien 3 ).

In this one directed by Tony Scott ( who should have worked a little on his editing for this episode ), our hero must help James Brown win a "race" against his album producer ( portrayed hilariously by Gary Oldman ). Just watch it because it's worth it!

Included are cameos by Danny Trejo and "Gothic" singer Marilyn Manson.

The Plot: Clive Owen ( before he was in "The Bourne Identity," "King Arthur," "Elisabeth: The Golden Age," and "Sin CIty" ) plays a "hire" who drives people places they desperately need to go.

Often times, they are working for something "top secret" and can only give our protagonist limited information.

Also, this is meant to show off the BMW car and is executive-produced by Tony Scott, Ridley Scott and David Fincher ( Panic Room, Alien 3 ).

In this episode directed by Ang Lee ( of CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, Hulk and Brokeback Mountain fame ) , our hero has to transport an Asian "golden child" and has trouble trusting his sources.

The Asian musical score is excellent and I think near the end you can see a couple of bullet- holes in the BMW car!

The Plot: Clive Owen ( before he was in "The Bourne Identity," "King Arthur," "Elisabeth: The Golden Age," and "Sin CIty" ) plays a "hire" who drives people places they desperately need to go.

Often times, they are working for something "top secret" and can only give our protagonist limited information.

Also, this is meant to show off the BMW car and is executive-produced by Tony Scott, Ridley Scott and David Fincher ( Panic Room, Alien 3 ).

In this episode directed by Kar Wai Wong, our hero is hired by a client ( Forest Whitaker in an uncredited cameo ) to follow a celebrity's ( Mickey Rourke ) girl, suspected of adultery, without getting too close or too far away to where he will lose her.

The reason this isn't that great is because the BMW car is hardly seen and it's probably the shortest out of the entire series.

Seriously, I don't know where to begin on this film which I went to with my grandmother and a sibling.

The film has so many pros, but in the end is down-weighed by cons. It's probably worth seeing at least once, but It's not necessarily going to be on your DVD shelf when it's available and that's okay.

The Pros: The acting is well delivered from everyone including Cate Blanchett and Clive Owen who are always perfect; the cinematography is gorgeous; the music is very stunning; and that ends up getting "chewed" down by the Cons: Extremely slow murders; illicit affairs that seem to drag; a not boring, but still long two-and-a-half hours; brief gratuitous nudity; unexciting war battle sequences; a literally non-existent script that seems to be trying to be telling the viewer a message that isn't expressed; all meaningful moments where someone is expressing something has "next-to-none" meaning; and the excellent music tends to play at inappropriate times like when the characters are saying something vital to the "nonexistant" plot.

And, plus, we viewers have already seen something like this before with the countless Adventure/History/War films out there. But while this film is "so-so," it would have had a better place as an above-average T.V. drama, but then again HBO and the BBC have already re-enacted this story countless times so it probably wouldn't have been welcome there either. It's at least better then the 2004 take on "The Alamo," but that's not saying very much.

So all in all, an extremely visual film with literally no substance. This will most likely only get an Oscar nominee for costume/wardrobe design and that's about it. I doubt it will find a place on cable either ( with the exception of Hallmark ) because it's nothing compared to any other historical drama/mini-series.

So see it if you've got time to kill.

P.S.: I seriously tried to look for any visual meaning and all I got was when, in one critical scene, Elizabeth is nearly assassinated by a traitor and doesn't die; she then seems to glow for a minute in the bright light as if the director was trying to signify that she is a strong women, but it wasn't elaborated on at all after all so then once again a vaguely-transferred message.

Sure, there have been several films like this before where some detectives are investigating serial killer's minds and the murders that follow. There was first, "Silence of the Lambs," then there was "Se7en," then "Kiss the Girls," and the French series of "Crimson Rivers" films.

But here we have a bit more horror elements borrowed from over-rated films that weren't good to begin with like "Texas Chainsaw" and "Mindhunters." But while that might be original, the film can not escape seclusion from being just "plain-out loud stupid" and while I know this genre is meant to scare or thrill people, I couldn't enjoy the film in a "popcorn" sort of way.

Also, the actors are wasted here big time! Cary Elwes is trapped with another guy and his connection with this entire case is explained thru flashbacks, but he never really stands out, he just kinda looks frantic, but bland at the same time; Danny Glover ( Lethal Weapon series, Shooter) and Ken Leung ( Rush Hour, X3, Spy Game, Inside Man) have nothing really to do with their detective characters who just stand around on monitors just looking at what the killer is going to do next; Dina Meyer ( Starship Troopers, the awful "Saw" sequels) only says dialog that what the viewer is already thinking, but doesn't move the plot forward at all with what she's given; Monica Potter has nothing really to do as the wife of Elwe's character; and the only real standout is Tobin Bell as the serial character who is playing mind-games with everyone and would return as the character in the sequels to cause more mayhem and carnage!

And last of all, the ending is so predictable and lame, it made me want to cringe! It was pretty darn obvious that Jigsaw was the "supposedly dead" guy on the floor, who then locks up Cary Elwes in the cell forever. Elwes starts to scream, "NOOOOOO!" Cut to end credits and there is no music, but there is a rhythm of screaming agonies.

This leads me to say that the people who created this flick should go to jail for actually thinking such disturbing thoughts. Seriously, this is so callous even for a horror flick. Plus, who roots for the bad guy to get away anyway?!? That's just plain out wrong!

Seriously, this and "The Departed" are the most over-rated films of this year. Both have characters who the viewer doesn't really care about and are mainly 'style over substance.'

Anyway, despite being a huge fan of Action/Adventure/SciFi/Fantasy franchises, this movie just bored me to death and I could never connect with the main characters at all. I don't know how true it is to the book source and could honestly care less seeming how I came to watch a movie, not read a classic book.

Robert Patrick ( Terminator 2; Cop Land; Flags of our Fathers and T.V.'s "Stargate: Atlantis" and "The Unit" ) is really showing what hidden talent he possesses and just how under-rated he truly is by playing the bossy, but loving father. The main male protagonist I've never heard of/seen so it doesn't matter; Anna Sophia Robb isn't really showing what talent she has and her character dies pointlessly at the end as if the writers just randomly got bored with developing her and just decided to have her friend come home from school one day and find her dead in a creek. Why did they include that in there? I know this film is about life in general, but this film is never believable in the least. Did the author of the book have an awful child-hood and just decide that life is always depressing and that the only way you can have fun is to play pretend with your imaginary forest creatures?

Don't get me wrong here, Imagination is an important thing to interact with seeming how life wouldn't really exist without it now would it? But to believe that this kid has such a lame life and that all he does is just pretend to interact with his "creations" is just not what makes an entertaining film. The creatures are seen in-between here and there, but aren't really seen until the end in their entirety.

The movie's concept has just already been done before and the normal clichés follow in these kid movies ( bullies who constantly harass our protagonist and are really stupid, the parents that don't really pay attention to their kids and tell them to be quiet, etc.) and while I don't doubt that this doesn't happen in real life, it doesn't really make an entertaining film.

Plus, Disney was dumb to even bother with producing it seeming how it's really depressing and not a "real" family film. Parents, rent a Disney cartoon or have a family discussion on life, in general, instead of wasting your money!

This film is just not well made and the script is lazy when it comes to explaining everything about it's supernatural mystery. The editing by the director/cameraman is very sloppy, Dakota Fanning is very annoying as the "Carrie" child, Elizabeth Shue has a predictable death scene that the viewer knew was upcoming; Famke Janssen has a good small role as the psychologist keeping an eye on the girl's behavior, but suffers with the material; there are familiar character actors in the roles as the weird neighbors and sheriff overlooking the girl as well; Robert Di Nero is good as always as Fanning's psychologist dad who at the end is revealed to be the imaginary friend causing all the mysterious murders, thus, creating a absurd/unbelievable ending that even when the viewer understands it all is just dull/lazy script writing and doesn't change the fact that this is one of Worst Films of 2005!

I seriously mean it! While this isn't the worst film of all time, it still smells and acts like a turkey despite the talent involved. It's just something to avoid on the Blockbuster shelf or when you're flipping thru the channels. Even when you get into it, in the end, you're just watching it just to see how long this confusing mess of a train-wreck is going to go on.

So don't watch if you hate things that drive you crazy or are not of good quality. Plus, if you're into supernatural thrillers, you're better off with the "classics" THE SIXTH SENSE and THE FRIGHTENERS.