Reviews

From the beginning of the movie you can feel the director trying to emulate Tarantino. Music to set the mood, catchy dialogue and time scene cuts. Trying is the operative word here. Sadly, the mark was missed on everything except the soundtrack, that was the only good thing about this movie. The story was unbelievable with characters you really do not care about, bordering on completely ridiculous towards the end. The dialogue was horrible. And, was there a plot ? If there was one then I definitely missed it.

A good soundtrack, bunch of cute girls, somewhat stylish cinematography and gun play does not make for a passable movie. In fact it makes it worse, because you try to enjoy it, try to find something redeeming about it and in the end just come away completely disappointed. That is not what the movie experience should be about.

Willis and Whitaker should bother to read the script before taking on any future movies. The only thing that I can imagine made them do this one is either they are desperate for work or they were doing a favor for a friend.

Do yourself a favor, go out and buy the soundtrack, you will get much better value for your money, and more enjoyment, than wasting your time watching this movie.

How to sum up this movie ? If Blair Witch and Paranormal Activity had a mentally handicapped love child this movie would be it.

Right from the beginning you get the feeling that this movie is going to be sub par even by low budget film standards. From shaky camera work, with unneeded zooms, during interviews by a supposedly professional cameraman to more than silly looking "archive" footage of the mental hospital should have been clues to stop watching the movie and do something more worthwhile like watch the grass grow. But, like a real trooper, I decided to soldier on. My mistake.

Bad acting, to the point of laughable. But do not get me wrong, it is not "so bad it's good" type of laughable. Typical low budget scares, some very similar to Blair and P.A., that really do not scare any more because you have already seen their likes. Typical shaky camera running around through the dark. And, a more than predictable ending.

This movie lacks everything that a low budget horror needs to have in order to be good = originality and believable acting. The setting of the movie, mental hospital, opens up a lot of possibilities that could have made for a much better / scarier movie than this turned out to be, even on a shoe string budget.

Do not waste your time if you are looking for something original or scary unless you have never seen Blair Witch or Paranormal Activity, then you might find this to be, at best, half decent but, because of the acting, I doubt it.

Starting off this movie seemed kind of interesting and quirky. It definitely had the potential to be a good, off beat romantic comedy, but sadly it just falls flat.

The lack of character and relationship development makes the story seem rather sterile and leaves you not really believing or caring about the characters. Things just seemed kind of rushed, as if the director was trying to put too much story, and relationships, into a too little time frame which leaves the viewer withdrawn and unable to form an emotional bond with any of the characters. I would have liked to see more about the relationship between the sheriff and his father, as well as a longer courtship between Sif and Joe. The story line just seemed very disjointed and unable to take advantage of it's full potential.

I could not say I really did not like it, was just disappointed it was not as good as it could have been and turned out to be a bellow average romantic comedy.

People comparing this movie to District 9 and Star Wars ? Seriously ? Did you people watch this movie ? I guess the director had all his friends write the reviews. Now for a review from someone who does not know the director or has been paid off by him. LOL

I found this movie rather tedious. Sure the scenery was nice looking, but that I could have gotten fro a National Geographic documentary on Arizona. The dialogue was horrible. The costumes were cheap. The plot was a rip off from the start of Enemy Mine except without the good acting. There was times in this movie that had me saying "Are you serious ?" not in a complimentary way but from being dumb struck at how silly the dialogue was. This movie leaves a lot to be desired and seems to leave common sense completely behind when it comes to script writing. You can make a good sci-fi on a shoestring budget, but it would have to be plot and dialogue driven, unfortunately this move had no budget, no plot and silly dialogue.

Sad to say, I found very few redeeming qualities for this movie and would not recommend it to anyone.

Sure the production values could have been better, but I am sure this movie did not have the biggest budget either.

I thought Weisz, Redgrave and Strathairn gave good performances. But,most of all, what I liked was the raw feel of this movie, perhaps due to it's smaller budget, and the fact that it had a very important story to tell (a true story).

I can not comprehend people complaining, in their reviews, regarding the languages spoken. Who cares ? Obviously they cared more about aesthetics than the actual story.

Even with all it's flaws, it is a very entertaining, although sad, movie. It actually prompted me to do some research on DynCorp, KBR and Blackwater , 3 of the security contractors getting billions of $ from our governments while committing countless crimes around the world. So, I guess, in that respect, the movie has worked and got it's point across. Good to see a movie that actually gets your passion and emotions flowing, even if it is outrage.

I really liked this movie and am sad to say that I do not want to watch it again. The subject matter is very disturbing and not something you really want to go through more than once. The movie was very well done and realistic. While watching it you will go through a whole case of emotions, from anger, distraught, disgust to the feeling of love a father has for his daughter.

Amazingly acted and directed, this movie was done in a perfect, raw, way to help you feel what the father is going through.

I really can't understand how some reviewers did not see a point in this movie. I would spell it out for them, but do not want to spoil the experience for anyone reading this review. There is a point to this movie and it's really simple.

I love the fact that this movie did not have the usual twists and surprises that have become so prevalent with Hollywood thrillers. Seems like a lot of plots now a days rely too heavily on the surprise twist and "I did not see that coming" response from the movie goer rather than emotion.

This movie hits you like a tonne of bricks and keeps you on the edge until the very end.

WELL DONE !!!

I am beginning to believe that Hollywood has completely forgotten how to make a horror movie. Not going to harp about M.N.S. or his previous movies (or lack there of), but will judge this one on it's on merit. And, it was nothing special. Had some suspenseful moments. Had some good cinematography. But, is it a movie you will be talking about with your friends or thinking about when you leave the theater. Probably not. And, it definitely was not a horror movie; suspense at best with a sprinkle of thriller. The trailers / teasers looked much better, and much more promising, than the actual product. Can't really say I wasted my money, as I did find it somewhat enjoyable, but did feel let down due to the movie not even coming close to my expectations.