John Doe: Vigilante

Movies with a message are by their nature problematic.

David Schwimmer for example did a film about teenage girls and the internet. It was more message than movie and for that reason it may well be already lost to time.

On the other hand Paddy Chayefsky's NETWORK was both a message and a film opus. Fantastic movie and it will live forever on the "top 10" lists of viewers all over the globe.

This Aussie effort, featuring a FANTASTIC performance by Bamber, who, to dig out the old cliché, does silent dialog using only his eyes, gives you a nice slow start and then builds and builds and builds.

The best thing about it is that it keeps the viewer off-balance right to the end, achieved by some of the best editing of "flashbacks" I have seen since the days of Sergio Leone.

There is a particular scene at the 1:19 mark involving a small child who "thanks" Bamber that is likely the highlight. True to form, not even this scene ends the way we might expect.

Recommended.