The Worst Film Ever

Must See Movie...

The first must-see film of the year.

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

The first half of season 1 was looking pretty good. Then the writers ran out of ideas and showed their true colors. Plot spoiler alert! The military are demons, the "occupy" anarchists are heroes and the bad guys are actually the good guys. Oh and the "best" part...the NYT reporters are honest journalists. HA!Typical liberal garbage. What a pile of crap.

I waded through this 13-part US import which like so many of these latter-day mega-series, as opposed to mini-series, has to fill a lot of minutes and didn't really do so very successfully in my view.The connections between the various stories just never rang true, like US soldier Anna Friel's tortuous journey home where she somehow avoids serious harm at every turn, her motherly relationship with a young local boy, the straight-arrow clean-cut corporate accountant who uncovers and then seeks to make known the plot to silence Friel's story, his connection with of all people, the new female Greek Prime Minister, the geeky youngsters who also can scent the big cover-up and the female inside agent who inveigled herself into the hackers little gang of truth-tellers only to be revealed later as an assassin with a heart of pure mush...is that enough for you?Coincidence follows coincidence with succeeding regularity, the viewer meant to recognise the topicality of military actions in the war against ISIS / Al Quaeda, the black-ops of multi-million multinational companies which put dollars over lives, with enough clout to get a three-star general in their pocket, the timely tie-in of the Greek debt crisis and the treatment of Western hostages by insurgents.This was all just too much to believe and though I watched it all the way through, I never remotely believed any of it. The acting was no great shakes either, particularly the two teenage American children, who somehow talk like they're 10 going on 25. Anna Friel just doesn't convince as a multi-lingual, battle-hardened soldier and Peter Falconelli has no personality at all as the whistle-blower Peter Decker.There was some good cinematography, especially Friel's escape through the desert but in the main, I found the cross-cutting between one plot strand and another somewhat contrived and even confusing. The theme of big-business corruption, a complicit US armed forces and techy-nerds able to hack into the most secure official filing systems just piled on the clichés as did the turned-out-all-right ending although the mystifying final shots of Friel re-entering the country under a newspaper reporter's name were obviously inserted as a teaser for a hoped-for second series that didn't materialise.Which I think is about right. With its army of strange and unusual characters (I haven't even mentioned yet the Muslim transvestite TV personality, the hulking, can't-be-killed paid mercenary and the homosexual uber-geek with his housebound mother), for me it just never gelled, never felt remotely real plus the addition of the word "American" to the title by the producers just smacks of desperation, trying to capture the homeland patriot audience. This is one 12 hour tour-of-duty it's really not worth soldiering all the way through.

Come on you must give us Season 2? Brilliant female action series, best one since Alias and you gave us five Seasons of that one. Realistic plots with suspense and thrill all rolled into one. Not for the faint hearted that cannot wait a week between episodes. The one recommended to watch in a single or double sitting. Definitely a weekend sitting and have plenty of fluids and food in hand as you do not want to pause this one. A few great young actors/actresses to look out for in the future. Well done overall gripping and well worth another Series, Please!! Cannot write much more than the above without giving away the plot as per the rules but If I want to leave a review it must be at least 10 lines. Anna Friel's managed to pull of the American accent far better than a lot of other UK actors who have tried and failed Sean Bean (but still one of the best, Sean).

Critics have attacked this, but I found it just as credible as Homeland. We all know how deeply US corporations have been involved in war in Iraq, providing private security, and helping generate the misery that we see in the Middle East today. The bullying of Greece over its debt was also a nice realistic touch. OK, it is just a fictional story, but it is as credible as Homeland, which in later series became rather tedious and dragged out. It was also just as far fetched. The idea that the US would take any form of action against their ally Pakistan was utterly incredible. They allow this terrorist sponsoring state to have nuclear weapons without batting an eyelid, while threatening Iran. They need states such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia as allies, even if they are the most extreme Islamic states in the world. As entertainment, I felt it kept the pace up well right until the last episode. Pity it has been dropped now, but I guess follow up series often tend to get weaker and weaker (except Breaking Bad, of course!).