Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

This film certainly wasn't going to top the charts. Not enough sex, violence, special fx etc for that. Nor does it try to be "amazing" by having a far too intricate storyline. Its simple. There are no drastic twists in the storyline. But perhaps its a little too subtle for the masses. But it does make you think. Lee Ray has had the traumatic/violent childhood and is by all means, a sociopath. Emotionally, he feels nothing. He is described as an "animal" and the doctor considers him the perfect test patient. The trial begins and eventually, he becomes a reformed man. Not only about his present actions (ie not reacting aggressively) but also about his past. Perhaps the problem is that viewers do not understand what a sociopath is and how they differ from your run of the mill murderer. The film does not actually explain it - perhaps trying not to patronise its audience or perhaps just bad writing/directing. Without giving too much away, its basically a film about "nature vs nurture" or in other words......"can a leopard ever change his spots?".

"Control" had a good premise and idea. With Ray Liota playing a character sentenced to death but who is given a chance for freedom if he participates in an experiment to suppress his violent urges. What could have been an interesting character study about redemption ultimately became a sub-par often melodramatic movie that failed to deliver even the slightest bit of inside on the subject.Liota stars as Lee Ray Oliver a murderer sentenced to death but given a second chance if he participates in a chemical behavioral modification program run by Dr. Michael Copeland (played by William Defoe). The movie's first problem becomes quite apparent after a short while, Liota's character isn't portrayed as a truly evil person, yes he is shown killing people but only members of the mafia, in fact his only civilian victim doesn't even die. Which from the viewer's perspective partly ruins the motivation for the treatment Lee Ray is undertaking.The movie's plot feels confusing not because its hard to understand but because it doesn't know what direction to take. There are actually several sub-plots in it all of which after the final scene feel unfinished, and while some could have played a role in showing Liota's character new found compassion, rather ineffectively if I might add, there is the one dealing with Defoe's character that doesn't have any sort of impact on the central plot. The movie's direction does nothing to cloud the badly written plot, with a heavy dose of mediocrity it feels like you're watching a made for TV production.The only reason this is worth watching is the acting. With some decent to good performances by Liota, Defoe and Rodriguez (who plays Lee Ray's girlfriend in one of the sub-plots). Regrettably the supporting cast fails to keep on their level, making a lot of the supporting characters annoying or just simply badly acted.In the end "Control" fails to impress or use it's interesting ala "Clockwork Orange" premise. Giving us a final product whose melodramatic ending doesn't succeed in achieving any sort of emotional response from the viewer.

The premise of this movie is a decent one, if done before in other ways. There are reasons why some movies go straight-to-video; the utter predictability, laughably clichéd scenes and obvious subplots intended to lengthen the film are these reasons. Ray Liotta's intensity at the beginning should have been capitalized upon, but he loses it halfway through. The movie has all the earmarks of being rewritten as it was being shot.Some observations: What purpose does it serve to have TWO people gunning for the Ray Liotta character? The corrupt warden and "Russian mafia" hit-man contribute nothing to the storyline and could easily have been left out. The avenging brother would have been enough, and was not fleshed out. Liotta showing remorse, trying to befriend and help the man he shot and crippled, beginning to live a normal life, only to have the angry brother whose life was ruined bent on revenge.... now that could have been a good movie.Do we really need to know the Dafoe character's personal life? What does this contribute? The way he tells the story of his murdered son should be shown to acting students as an example of bad "mailing it in" acting. "He looked up at me and said, I'll be alright Dad... and then he died." This only exists to prop up the cheesy end scene, which should never have been included. A better ending would be to have Liotta die, and that's it! Gee, the undercover guys driving around in a large dark colored van. How original. And the pursuers all driving identical black sedans. Not original at all... and the "blood dripping on the shoulder" flashback scene was shown far too often. Gotta justify that CGI expenditure, I suppose.Why were the drugs taken as pills? Why not injections to make SURE? Why was the doctor allowed to go into Liotta's cell where he could be easily attacked? How is it that Defoe was beaten by Liotta the first time, but the second time Dafoe suddenly gets fighting skills and beats Liotta to a pulp? Ah, there is plenty more to pick at, but to save time, stay away from this one.

Great idea. Great acting. But the script lacks consistency in the 2nd half of the movie. This is a rookie mistake, and they could learn from the TV show 24. Even if you do things that are not believable, you have to follow up with consistency, and the film does not do this. This could have been a great movie, but they turned it into a Psychology 101 nightmare with lame references to control groups and placebos that we all learned in Psyche 101. It is watchable, but it is a disappointment because of what it could have been. I give it a 5 only because the great acting and great original concept. DaFoe is great, as usual, and the top actors all did their best, obviously thinking that this was a marketable, tight film. Maybe they didn't take Psyche 101.