The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

On the surface, "Dot.Kill" doesn't have a lot going for it. First, there's the title, which is ridiculous. So many lame jokes can be made from it. ("www.itsucks.com"), or "Dot.Kill Me Now"... then I realized the movie had different titles like "Digital Reaper" and "Digital Jesus" which make no sense. I was ready for the worst...Thankfully, "Dot.Kill" is an entertaining mystery. Charlie Daines (Assante) is a morphine-addicted cop on the edge, who doesn't have much time to live. Daines has his own demons, but a serial killer is on the loose, killing people over the internet. Can he stop him in time before his next fix? The best part of the movie is Assante's performance. He goes over the top and back. At one point he is confronted by one of his partners about his drug addiction. Daines starts going insane. He picks up a hot poker (which comes out of nowhere) and says "Do you want to BURN me!?!??!" The drawbacks to "Dot.Kill" are the similarities to "Fear Dot.Com" and the ending. But if you like Assante's work, you'll have a fun time.For more insanity, please check out: comeuppancereviews.com

I saw dot.kill on Showtime the other night; and, while I thought the title was totally lame, I watched it because is starred Armand Assante.His filmography is hit or miss for me; but, I have to give him credit on this one. His passion within the role really makes this film. He was absolutely convincing as a detective who's health, family life, and career are crumbling.Charlie is an old-school detective who relies on instinct, not high-tech. He is alternately hard-core, abrasive (particularly to co-workers and his son), and tender (towards a former addict, whom he saved from a life on the streets).The twist at the end, as to the identity of the killer was great, even though it really wasn't hard to guess, with the heavy foreshadowing used by the director.It could have been better; but, a pretty good movie nonetheless.

How is it possible to freshen up a story like this? Here is this New York homicide detective, Armand Assante, who is part of a team trying to trace a serial killer with a penchant for broadcasting his murders on the internet. The murders are always done live but at a distance. Eg., the broadcast begins only when the victim is already tied to a post and is being drowned by the rising tide. We've already got the cop at odds with his boss. We've already got the internet involved.Well, you can make the detective a terminal case of lung cancer, who keeps his medical status from his wife and adolescent boy and from everybody else except the young blond ex-hooker who serves as his heroin connection. Yes, he's an addict too. How's that for originality? The writers seem to have thrown up their hands in despair. The well is dry. There is nothing else to pull into the plot. And what there is, isn't especially well written. The first scene introduces us to Assante, his wife, and his young boy seated around the breakfast table. Assante's wife, Clare Holman, is trying to keep her husband healthy. In pursuit of this unattainable goal, she has dunked a pack of his cigarettes in his morning coffee and has fed him toast with no butter. Her determination, up against Assante's frustration, is supposed to be amusing in a sit-com manner, but the way in which it's directed and played suggests not agape but anger. In fact, nobody ever laughs. Except once or twice, Assante does, but then he laughs at a meeting, after making an unamusing comment, so the affect is inappropriate and he sounds a little schizo.Assante, however, can be a very good actor and he occasionally does more than hit the mark. He's like Al Pacino in "Insomnia" but with a bit more bounce left in the coil. And the locations are good, too, not spectacular, mostly distinguished by their uniform, ghoulish green grubbiness. There's garbage all over the place. Rotting boards and hulks of detritus slap against bridge pilings. If you're going to explode yourself and the killer, as Assante does, this is the place to do it.Man, it's depressing. And it's confusing too. I have no idea how Assante, a cyber "dinosaur", ever managed to figure out the location of the final attempt at murder. And the villainy seems to be pinned arbitrarily on anti-global terrorists, which is a little like blaming war on pacifists. And the script makes the murderer an Indian geek. Give me a good, old-fashioned, self-righteous, well-acted psychopath any day, along the lines of Kevin Spacey in "Seven." There is one good scene. Armand Assante emerging from the Christopher Street subway entrance, but I'm among the very few people for whom this will have resonance.If you like marginalized cops and serial murderers, this may be your cup of tea. But I would guess that just about everyone by now must admit that the pattern is exhausted.

Dot.Kill is unfortunately not a very original film. It suffers from taking to many ideas from other films from the past 10 years. It is no surprise as this is just one of many films like this that is simply a product of its time. Of course, if you are into this type of thing you might find some enjoyment as Armand Assante gives a solid performance as usual. But even he couldn't carry the film as a whole on his back.Assante plays a detective named Charlie. Charlie is a sick man who appears to be dying and as a result is heavily addicted to morphine. The story unfolds with a serial killer murdering people through the internet and posting it in real time for millions of people to see. As the case starts to unravel, Charlie becomes sicker and sicker.Basically, this movie is a cross between Seven and Fear.Com and that's not a good thing. There is nothing supernatural about the movie like Fear.Com but the whole thing with posting the murders online is a similar concept. And the relation to Seven is the direction the movie attempts to take. But let's face it, Seven was a hundred times better then this or any other movie that came out in the genre for the past 15 years.I will admit that the first 30 minutes of the movie was a bit intriguing as Assante is a fun actor to watch in just about anything he is in, but, the movie loses its muster halfway through and things become predictable and boring. The ending is rather anticlimactic, I might add.Overall, it wasn't a good movie but it really wasn't a bad movie either. I think the only reason to watch the movie is if you are a Armand Assante fan. 6/10