When you watch a movie and realize it's not just bad but also just plain stupid, you know you are watching a real stinker.
Well, to be fair, it's a made for TV thriller and I therefore should also judge it as one. Everything about this movie has 'TV quality' written over it; The look, the characters, the dialog, the acting and the awful, almost constantly present, music. This movie leaves no question about this being a made for TV movie and also should only ever been shown and seen that way.
But the problem is not so much in its quality. Reason why this movie is a bad and silly one to watch is simply due to its formulaic and poorly written story. The main issue this movie suffers from is that it's trying to be a thriller but without ever giving you anything suspenseful. It thinks that by simply being 'mysterious' with its story it's going to create some tension for the movie. But in fact, by simply just being mysterious, it constantly feels like the movie is not doing anything at all. No one ever seems in danger, it's unclear were its story is ever heading at and there is never a good tense or engaging build up to anything. It isn't until the movie its final 20 minutes or so that the story finally starts to develop into something that remotely resembles a thriller. A very formulaic, bad and predictable one but a thriller nevertheless.Before that point, the movie mostly consists out of people behaving incredibly irrationally and not talking or listening to each other, making the one stupid and improbable decision after the other. It's all more annoying than anything else really. It really isn't a very well constructed or subtle movie about anything. I mean seriously, the moment the Elizabeth Berkley characters enters the movie you know she is trouble and her constant smirking and staring isn't exactly hiding the fact that she is up to no good. And it's not like Elizabeth Berkley ever got cast in any movies because of her wonderful acting abilities, so why give her such a big role in this one? Just because it's a recognizable name I guess and because she is great to look at but truth remains, she really isn't a too great or convincing femme fatale for this movie.
A very standard and poorly executed thriller, that really isn't worth any of your time.
4/10
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