I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.

An absolute waste of money

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

I found this on Amazon and pulled it up to watch based on the IMDb rating of 6.5 (at the time I'm writing this). If I like the film genre, I generally find I can spend a pleasant 90 minutes or so doing other things and watching any film on the tube in the 5.5-7.5 range. Better than that and I want to concentrate on the film a little better.As to the movie itself, there are no special effects. No twisted plot (although this film has a decent one). There is one cliché jerk, and it was confined the local redneck. And we also have a lunatic (can't have a thriller without one). What improves this film is what it lacks. What we don't have is military personnel that don't act military. There is no politician who has no people skills. There are no bull-headed advisers who can't acknowledge compromise. There's no loose-cannon army general. No security guards that were either constantly jerks or couldn't be trusted watch the White House dog.I really get hating films like this when professionals get reduced to caricatures created by ignorant screenwriters. Bogus behavior to create tension just stinks. In "Deterrence" the characters remained realistic and competent. The situation and moral dilemmas were in place to create the tension. That's the nature of good drama. The actors weren't spectacular, but everyone turns in a professional performance.Final note: the live news felt much better for this film than any other I've seen. The reporter tripping over his words saying "White house" and then correcting to "house of representatives" smacked beautifully of a reporter under fire. Live news has goofs. There were elements of this low-budget thriller that would do well to be added to the big budget films.

Aside from the acting, this is a laughable movie on just about every level.The President (un-elected) overrides every fail-safe, in spite of being advised otherwise including the legality of taking such action, to drop an atomic bomb on Iraq.The President finds himself in a diner, trying to negotiate with the Iraqi leaders while using an interpreter who hasn't been properly trained or vetted. He takes time to ask the opinions of people in the diner as time runs-out.At one point, the cook in the diner pulls-out his shotgun (which wasn't discovered by the weapons- search conducted by the Presidents' Secret Service detail of two) and shoots the Airman carrying the "football," injuring him. As he continues to point it at the wounded Airman, the two Secret Service agents allow him to fire a second round before ending his threat (with a now-empty double-barrel shotgun).The ending is just dumbfounding... Apparently the President, along with the French President, are the only two who KNOW that the weapons they sold to Iraq are dummies and won't arm. This is played-out as a great winning scheme by the President, as he nukes Iraq while watching their dummies fall fairly harmlessly in neighboring countries.I think this could've been a very good movie, had it been based more on fact than just the silly twist at the end. The bottom-line is that the President NEVER needed to drop a nuke on Iraq; he KNEW they were mostly defenseless. The world would probably stand behind a President who called their bluff. Then, they could easily be dealt with conventionally.

When I first saw this movie, I was taken aback by the originality of the screenplay. Fact is stranger than fiction, and in Lurie's script, he achieved a fine balance of technical expertise and bizarre plot twists. If you've ever wished you were a fly on the wall of a secret meeting regarding major life and death decision-making, then this movie is going to give you the ride you've been looking for. Kevin Pollak is phenomenal as the President, doing his best to do what is right in a very bad situation. He's very believable and leads us to believe in his rationale through his passion and understanding of the issues at the heart of this film. Sean Astin plays an irritant to everyone and nails the part, so much so you want to be the one to knock him out with one punch as the movie progresses. Timothy Hutton is brilliant in playing the President's adviser Marshall Thompson, who meticulously injects his strong opinions without upstaging Pollak's wonderful performance. The rhythm and tempo both actors maintain throughout is flawless. This movie was the sleeper of the year and proved that sometimes fiction can be as compelling as truth, given the right actors, a good solid script and competent directing. Therefore, I rate it 9 out of ten stars.

I saw this movie based on one fact only...I had never heard of it and the theatre didn't even have a one sheet for it (one never knows what gems can be found in the unknown) immediately after seeing it I rounded up some friends a took them to see it. This was a very smart screenplay. It could well have been a hint of things to come in the middle east had the events of Sept.11, 2001 not sped up our concentrated involvement in that area. It still, however, shows some dilemmas caused by that areas prejudices between groups. In the film Iraq re-invades Kuwait as a novice "unelected" president tries to handle the situation from a remote location in the Colorado Mountains during a blizzard. Iraq points some chemical weapons at their neighbors- or are they nukes bought from the French who got them from us?? Now the talk gets tough except our president is Jewish and the Iraqis won't parlay with a Jew- while some on his staff insists he not say anything on an unsecured phone line.Of course I'm no film student so my view of the real world is tainted with realism such as intelligent people working in mundane jobs or that people with IQs of 105 can be enlightened about some limited fields such as societal woes or the horror of nuclear fallout. I admit there is a kind of "who done it" ending that wraps everything up in a brief monologue by Kevin Pollack with which I was not entirely comfortable. However, it does put a slant on ones thinking in so far as our on again off again real life political relationship with the French is concerned. I loved this movie!! I enjoyed this drama as much as the unfolding tension surrounding The Contender(another Rob Lurie film) and though I am hardly a Rob Lurie fan (I thought The Castle sucked beyond dry) I have kept his name in my memory since my first viewing of Deterrence waiting for any other gem he may write...or direct. To me- it was that good!!