I did not know anything about this movie before I saw it. I saw the poster and realized it had to be about supernatural abilities. And I love a good superhero movie. I even saw Superhero Movie with a smile although I wouldn't praise that one in any way.
But this one. Damn, it's awful. Believe me.
Sure it has some good action scenes. I did enjoy the battle between Nick and the agent with the same telekinetic powers. That was an original way to make use of this particular power. At least I can't remember having seen something like that before.
But the story is a mess. And nothing will save a bad story. Not when it is this bad. Here are my problems (spoilers ahead).
The watchers. They predict the future. But how. Not even the writer knows. At one point Dakota explains that they read your intentions. Your thoughts as you are about to act. Hence they make a brilliant plan where Nick will write what everybody else has to do on some cards. This way nobody will know what to do until the moment they do it. Afterwards Nick will get his memory wiped and the future will be a mystery.
Sounds good? Well, here are some flaws.
a) Nick knows what everybody will do for 2 hours before his mind is wiped. That's a lot of time to read his mind considering that the watchers must have been able to do so within seconds based on what they have predicted previously in the movie.
b) There are lot's of other predictions that appear to have nothing to do with people's intentions or thoughts. At one point Dakota is wandering the streets trying not to think about where she's heading. At a crossroad she closes her eyes and spins around, but an evil watcher is able to detect what path she took even though she doesn't know herself. And she ends up exactly where she herself had predicted that she would die. There is no way that these predictions could have been based merely on intentions.
c) But somehow Nick knew exactly where she would be and was able to instruct the wiper to be there also in time to rescue her. But how? Nick isn't a watcher. And even if he was, none of these events was based on intentions.
This means that the ability to watch i.e. predict the future is inconsistent. The story tells you a fact, but doesn't stick to that fact. And I consider that to be sloppy writing.
It even stretches this fact to the point where Nick gets his memory wiped and at the exact same moment the evil watcher senses that the future has somehow disappeared. Whatever she was sensing up to that point without actually reading all the information in his mind, who knows? Maybe she had forgotten to tune in and was listening to some white noise.
d) Nick is also somehow able to predict that the agent boss will use his pushing powers to make Camilla believe that she and Nick have never been dating and never been to Long Island. That she is an agent also and has participated willingly. Hence he tells her in advance to read her instructions when she begins to doubt the truth and her instruction card is a picture of them both at Long Island with the message to "shoot him". Fortunately "him" at the time happened to be the agent boss.
I could go on. I honestly felt that a lot of the twists and turns of the story was made up to get out of a corner without considering if that particular twist or turn in any way could go against the continuity or the logic of the story as a whole.
And that might be alright if this was a Steven Seagal movie. Or something similar. But this one made the mistake of making the viewer expect something more.
But this one. Damn, it's awful. Believe me.
Sure it has some good action scenes. I did enjoy the battle between Nick and the agent with the same telekinetic powers. That was an original way to make use of this particular power. At least I can't remember having seen something like that before.
But the story is a mess. And nothing will save a bad story. Not when it is this bad. Here are my problems (spoilers ahead).
The watchers. They predict the future. But how. Not even the writer knows. At one point Dakota explains that they read your intentions. Your thoughts as you are about to act. Hence they make a brilliant plan where Nick will write what everybody else has to do on some cards. This way nobody will know what to do until the moment they do it. Afterwards Nick will get his memory wiped and the future will be a mystery.
Sounds good? Well, here are some flaws.
a) Nick knows what everybody will do for 2 hours before his mind is wiped. That's a lot of time to read his mind considering that the watchers must have been able to do so within seconds based on what they have predicted previously in the movie.
b) There are lot's of other predictions that appear to have nothing to do with people's intentions or thoughts. At one point Dakota is wandering the streets trying not to think about where she's heading. At a crossroad she closes her eyes and spins around, but an evil watcher is able to detect what path she took even though she doesn't know herself. And she ends up exactly where she herself had predicted that she would die. There is no way that these predictions could have been based merely on intentions.
c) But somehow Nick knew exactly where she would be and was able to instruct the wiper to be there also in time to rescue her. But how? Nick isn't a watcher. And even if he was, none of these events was based on intentions.
This means that the ability to watch i.e. predict the future is inconsistent. The story tells you a fact, but doesn't stick to that fact. And I consider that to be sloppy writing.
It even stretches this fact to the point where Nick gets his memory wiped and at the exact same moment the evil watcher senses that the future has somehow disappeared. Whatever she was sensing up to that point without actually reading all the information in his mind, who knows? Maybe she had forgotten to tune in and was listening to some white noise.
d) Nick is also somehow able to predict that the agent boss will use his pushing powers to make Camilla believe that she and Nick have never been dating and never been to Long Island. That she is an agent also and has participated willingly. Hence he tells her in advance to read her instructions when she begins to doubt the truth and her instruction card is a picture of them both at Long Island with the message to "shoot him". Fortunately "him" at the time happened to be the agent boss.
I could go on. I honestly felt that a lot of the twists and turns of the story was made up to get out of a corner without considering if that particular twist or turn in any way could go against the continuity or the logic of the story as a whole.
And that might be alright if this was a Steven Seagal movie. Or something similar. But this one made the mistake of making the viewer expect something more.