Best movie of this year hands down!

the audience applauded

Highly Overrated But Still Good

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Reviewer: Edward M. Smith from Glen Burnie, md United States I knew absolutely nothing about this story before seeing the movie. The film began and when it said that it was based off true events, I almost turned it off. What caught my attention was the visual portrayer of the arson investigation... after that it was the story and the performances of the actors themselves. Ray Liotta stars as arson investigator John Orr. He, along with John Leguizamo, are trying to figure out who is starting all these arson-based fires. John Orr is well regarded as the chief arson inspector and if anyone can find out, he can. So the film plays out like a cat and mouse game. You are trying to figure out what is motivating the person who is setting these fires. What makes the story a bit more compelling is that, during the 90's, at least three firefighters were arrested for arson. After watching the DVD, I found myself going over the film again. I figured, since it was based on a true story the DVD would have some interesting extras. I was disappointed, therefore could not give it a 5. Nevertheless I did find the story fascinating.

This effort is worth 90 minutes of your life. As fiction, no, but as a true story, yes. An arsonist is on the loose and the investigation leads to an unlikely suspect. This old Hollywood line ties into the ending. I will leave it there.Ray Liotta and John Leguizamo are the focus characters and lesser actors would have made this less interesting.Other comments saying the story doesn't tie together neatly ignore the fact that real crime seldom is neatly packaged. Juries often convict(correctly) on evidence which doesn't all fit into place. Hollywood needs tidiness but the truth often is less than what Hollywood needs.It's lurid enough to keep the under 35 crowd awake and thoughtful enough to keep the rest of us thinking.I remember when Wayne Williams was arrested for serial murders in Atlanta. The number of similar murders dropped to near zero when he was put in prison.

Given the high quality of work in both movies and series that HBO usually achieves, I found "Point Of Origin" to be a significant disappointment, with a plot that didn't seem to flow well and what I thought were some poor directorial decisions (particularly the strange way in which the fire sequences were filmed - the sudden jump into high speed action, with shots of traffic and flames.) All that made it difficult to really empathize with the most sympathetic victims of the fires (the child at the beginning of the movie, and the young woman confined in her bathroom while the flames spread.Ray Liotta put on a decent performance as Glendale arson investigator James Orr, in this true story of the hunt for an arsonist in the Los Angeles area. Orr ends up becoming the prime suspect in the fires, much to the dismay of his former partner (played by Trent Gill), based largely on the discovery of a "fictional" novel he wrote based on the fires (of course, the question becomes whether the book is based on the fires, or whether the fires are based on the book.) Orr is an entirely unsympathetic character, having an affair while still protesting that he loves his wife, expecting both women to stand with him, ignoring his daughters (and coming across as very authoritarian when he's not ignoring them.)There just wasn't very much in this movie that I found appealing, although it provided a glimpse into the methods used to investigate arson. Frankly, though, I wouldn't recommend it especially highly.3/10.

beautifully shot, very clever camera usage, full of visual ideas. THIS IS WHAT MAKES A GOOD MOVIE A GREAT ONE. of course the story is important, most of the times is the most important part, but when a film like this comes along... (and this story is not dull at all, it is not what i meant) brilliant!