Sick Product of a Sick System

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Blistering performances.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Christian Slater does an adorable good guy but there's nothing better than Christian Slater doing a lunatic. He did a very good job of that in this movie. I thought the movie was well written and had a very good storyline. A good case for someone who needs psychiatric medication taking a less stressful job. lol. A very clever bad guy is outmaneuvered by the good guy. I supposed that was the only fly in the ointment here. It would be nice to see the bad guy win for once. Especially in this case where the bad guy worked so hard for it. lol. Lots of action in this movie, which of course, Christian Slater does so well. I'll probably end up watching it at least one more time, maybe two.

I enjoyed the movie, but with some reservations. I've been a Slater fan for years and liked this role for him. My problem with this is the way the main characters (Gil Bellows) had such difficulty in coming to grips with industrial sabotage. This guy is a computer genius and works in electronics but it took almost half the movie to realize that he was bugged. This even after he was given warnings by a corporate surveillance expert. The way he let his wife and child interact with Slater's character was totally out of this world. Maybe I speak only for myself but if someone harasses me and mine, I'm not cordial and I will not allow my family to associate with them either. That's not anti-social, it's logical to protect their own family. The action was OK if anti-climatic and was very predictable. One area I didn't understand was the first CEO that was introduced and the murder of his wife. He was so worried about being arrested that he didn't seem irritated at Slater over the murder. Is this normal behavior or not? It kinda sets the setting for the whole movie. I did like what he told the lead when he confronted him, "sign with him or kill him." I guess it worked out that way. Overall not a bad movie.

To begin, the movie introduces an (almost) impossible technology. The protagonist's company somehow, with only a few million dollars, is able to hook this technology to three satellites. This already ruins the movie, and it is quite clear from the start that the good guys will use this technology to overcome the bad guy. The reactions of all the characters in the movie are very shallow and one dimensional. The balance of the movie is predictable and in the end, when the protagonist finally use his technology, it does nothing more than tell him "Oh, the bad guy is here", a shoot-out occurs, and the bad guy gets shot. There isn't even a twist. There isn't even a mention of the subsequent police investigation -- the protagonist simple is seen walking out of his new corporate headquarters.Another point which adds to the unbelievability of the entire premise is that the main antagonist is a surveillance wizard -- he has every aspect of the life of his target covered. Why then does he leave his own computers unprotected (not even locked) and why are there no cameras or security devices in and around his hide? Having the electronic document containing information of the planted secretary on the desktop is even more pathetic. For someone who is so aware that information is power, all such files would, at the very least, be encrypted.Finally, there is one scene where the protagonist and an associate are tailing the antagonist which is very poorly done. They tail in a van which has a spare tire on the front, and in some scenes, they are no further than 20 ft behind the antagonist. A van with a spare tire in the center of the grill should normally be so eye catching that someone could not help but notice it. I was fully expecting the antagonist to have either 1) come back and confronted the two morons and berate them for being so stupid as to have followed him in such an obvious vehicle or 2) left a trap for them, laughing at them over his cell phone as the trap is sprung. But no, the script writer(s) *really* wants the audience to believe that the antagonist just didn't notice this sore-thumb-of-a-van following so closely for however long he was driving (as I recall, they must have driven for many hours, as it was still bright out when the tail started and it was dark once they reached the antagonist's hide).This is one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time. I can happily suspend my disbelief so long as the created world is self-consistent, e.g., Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, etc., but this movie purports to occur in the present, on Earth with no magical powers anywhere. As such, it fails miserably...Mind you, I think Christian Slater's acting was good, given that I haven't seen him play such a character before.

"Pursued" is a good mystery\thriller with some silly moments. Christian Slater stars as Vincent Palmer, a headhunter who recruits up-and-comers in the technology business. He does whatever it takes. This is the probably the first time Christian Slater plays a psycho. He plays it convincingly. He does such a excellent job, you root for him. Anytime Vincent is on-screen (which is most of the time)the movie has a lot of energy. The other main character is Ben Keats, played by Gil Bellows. Unfortunately, Ben is a two dimensional character who is a little too laid back. There are a couple of plot missteps like Ben getting a speech about secret cameras that could be in a pen and then the next scene is Ben getting a pen and he doesn't check for a camera. It's like he forgot the whole speech. The climax is exciting but a tad goofy. In the end: It's worth seeing for a great, hyped up performance by Christian Slater and a lot of other tension filled moments.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com