Mike
The first question is: how many talentless idiots it takes to screw a movie up? Answer: one is more than enough, if he writes the screenplay and directs it. The second question is: did anyone teach the actors to handle guns properly? Answer: hell no. I wonder if Kristy Swanson got hit across the face with hot brass - because it damn seemed so! The third question is: how many times we did the "super secret government agency conspiracy gets uncovered from inside" plot? Answer: a good couple too many! The fourth question is: are Michael Madsen and Ron Perlman overrated? Answer: in this movie, sadly, yes. The fifth question is: can a pair of boobs save this movie? Answer: even three (Kristy Swanson's pair and the director/writer) didn't.God... If I see the (most probably) assassin getting her guns ready for a hit, and then the morons from prop department give her a completely different set the first bloody thing in the goddamn movie, the "suck" meter hits the peak. Time from beginning of the movie to me switching the TV off: fifteen minutes. Just a little bit more than it took me in case of "Alone in the Dark".
Anton Ertl
I found this film quite enjoyable. You might like this if you like Alias (2001) or The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), although I found the latter a little better because Samantha Caine/Charly Baltimore is a more complex character.Mild spoilers ahead. I liked the ruthlessness and efficiency of Jenna in disposing of her former colleagues and would-be-killers; since she is doing this with guns, this is not as unbelievable as Sidney Bristow beating up men twice as big as her. Also, Kristy Swanson looks great as always.Unlike other films of this kind, the agonizing by the protagonist over her past evil deeds is refreshingly short. Also, I found the plot pretty believable (by Hollywood standards). In the beginning, I wondered a little about the quick side-switching of Jenna, but as the film proceeds, we see that this was not on-the-spot, but she actually has been thinking about and working for this for some time. The plot then proceeds pretty straightforwardly, and I have not noticed any unbelievable (and few other) twists.Detailed spoilers of irrelevant stuff ahead: There are two scenes that could have used better editing (or better something): First, near McNamara's house, Jenna sends McNamara ahead for no obvious reason, then does some other things for no obvious reason, before following him (without any significant change in the situation). Second, near the end of the film, Jenna has a firefight with Dalton, runs out of clips, and gets a clip from some dead body; this goes on for much too long.
JamieWJackson
This movie is only so-so as entertainment, but I found the subject matter extremely interesting given the current political climate. I won't spoil it if you haven't seen it, but suffice to say that it has to do with using terrorism as a pretext to justify government power. Mmmmmmm. As usual, the concept of "what if the entire government were doing that" isn't explored, but it still scored a blip on my raised-eyebrow-radar (see "Enemy of the State" and "The Matrix" for other recent films in this vein, both better than this one; "Conspiracy Theory" is not as good as those two but also worth seeing if you like this kind of thing).And, of course, it's got Kristy, so I had to give it a 5. Actually I might have given it a 4 but the other actors did a pretty good job and the dialogue was above average even if the plot wasn't as explosive as the title might suggest. A nice effort, for a low-budget thriller.
Disco-J
It's fairly evident throughout the movie that the plot has been molded after Point Of No Return and others of the genre. Christy Swanson plays a government assasin that must kill against her will. Watch it if you'd like to see Swanson dressed up as a lady of the night!
AD
