Rick Blaine Kari Skogland does an excellent job keeping this taut thriller shot in Vancouver together. If you know who Linda Fiorentino is, then that's enough reason right there to watch and she doesn't disappoint - in fact she carries most of the movie. And you may be a Wesley Snipes fan, but odds are you've not seen him do something like this before. There's also a bit role for Oliver Platt and a tonne of extras or 'almost extras', and the way Skogland sets her shots is attention-getting.Now you're going to run into the pro-Columbine people who say 'but you should have presented both sides of the issue'. To these spineless mugwumping weasels I say the following: in perhaps no country save South Africa is there as much violence as in the US. The likelihood of getting shot and killed in the US is more than four times as great as in Europe.Those are not opinions either, so there's no point complaining people have to present both sides of the issue. Those are facts.This movie is scary; it is raw; and it's made (and written) by someone with conviction. See it and be convinced.

Syl Linda Fiorentino really steals the screen in this film. She holds her own with Wesley Snipes. The film has political message about guns, gun control, and violence. Of course, it must be written from a leftist liberal point of view. Wesley Snipes' character has a grudge against guns. Along the film, we learn his motives and why he is so angry and vengeful but we never really know the whole story. There are lot more questions that go unanswered. I found the ending scene to be more confusing. I get the message that guns are bad. For the beginning part of the film until the television stations begin with K that I knew it was West Coast. I thought it was set in New York City but it turns out to be in Los Angeles and I later learned that the film was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada which is often substituted for other cities. Anyway, Oliver Platt has a supporting role as Liberty's husband. Although we rarely see Liberty interact physically with Snipes or Platt's characters except on cell phones. This film was probably in production long before the events on September 11, 2001 and I can see why it was not promoted. Anyway, I wish Linda Fiorentino would come back to acting. She can hold her own against anybody.

Vomitron_G Some people are saying that Kari Skogland could be the next Kathryn Bigelow. And LIBERTY STANDS STILL just might be the turning point that could make it all happen. This was Kari's first movie with a bigger budget and a few well-known names in the cast. But since this movie dates from 2002 and Kari since then never did make anymore movies with a big cast, I begin fearing that her rise to fame simply will not happen. Still, I wish her a lot of good luck, 'cause with LIBERTY STANDS STILL she made a damn good movie.It's about a man, who calls himself Joe, and appears to have excellent shooting skills and a lot of connections. He takes hostage Liberty, the wife of a corrupt arms-dealer. He does that by cleverly having her cuffed to a hot-dog stand in a park which contains a bomb. Meantime Joe himself has a sniper-rifle pointed at her from a nearby building and keeps in contact with her through a cellphone. Now that's what I call an original hostage situation. I won't tell anything about Joe's motivations or demands, 'cause I don't want to spoil the plot. But I can say that the movie pulled me right in from the start and kept my interest 'til the end. And that was a pretty difficult thing to do, since the movie's story almost entirely takes place in real time on one location and the protagonist (Linda Fiorentino) can't do anything throughout the whole movie except standing still, being cuffed to a hot-dog stand. But a lot of things do happen, and I must say that Linda Fiorentino was perfectly cast and very believable as a women that would keep her head cool under such extreme circumstances. Then there's Wesley Snipes as Joe, the sniper. And, man, he was good. He never leaves the room he's in but delivers his lines with great finesse. And the conversations he had with Liberty over the phone were almost debates with good arguments from both sides. Now I was expecting the predictable with Joe starting to loose it at one point or another, making him do irrational things and making mistakes (something that usually happens to the bad guy in these type of movies). But Joe never broke a sweat and kept thinking clear until the end. Also Oliver Platt was decent as ever, as Liberty's husband, the man you would rather not want to have as a husband.Director/writer Kari Skogland clearly doesn't like guns and with this movie criticizes the American Second Amendement (the right for all people to buy and own guns, I believe). And her message comes across very clearly with a lot of good points. I didn't think it became tedious at any point and it didn't feel like the viewer was being force-fed with liberal ideas concerning the subject. So all those non-liberals should stop complaining about the movie's message. Freedom of speech, remember? But I can clearly see why any right-winged gun-nut hates this movie. But I do think that this movie might just be a little bit too politically correct when it comes to who dies and who stays alive in the end. But that's just a minor complaint.LIBERTY STANDS STILL simply is a decent, tense and thought-provoking thriller that, for once, doesn't rely on spectacular action-scenes or big explosions. Just a rather original hostage-story, a good setting, a decent cast, good filming and editing and an enjoyable electro-soundtrack by Michael Convertino (which reminded me of early music by The Chemical Brothers).

Morfeus Ivanovich God, I wish, I could get back those two hours I've spent watching this ridiculous piece of...cinematography. Almost every aspect of this movie is remarkably bad. First of all, it's the plot. I mean, c'mon, watching this movie is like watching 2 hours long politically correct (which in fact allows discrimination of white gun-owners) anti-gun commercial. So, let's see, what do we have here. Oh, it's the black guy, whose daughter was shot in school by some fun freak (bet he was from Alabama, right?). So the only way a father can retaliate is by kidnapping a businesswoman, who's in gun business (guess he didn't have the stomach to deal with a man) and playing some sick twisted psychological games with her. Anyway, afterwards he shoots a major gun manufactures and commits suicide. What can be more of a self-advertising for anti-gun groups? Acting is average. Fiorentino is not bad, but this part is just not her type, IMHO, she should stick with femme fatale parts. And Wesley Snipes as crazy-yet-honest-gunman-blinded-by-rage-but-still-politically-correct ? Give me a break! He is good as Blade, but this character is too complicated for him. Anyway, the movie as as whole is awful. And this being an awful movie, the question is - do you feel lucky, that you came across my review and decided not to watch this garbage, punk? :)