Um Mundo Irreal

...from the train, and almost all the way through the part where Ben (Andrew McCarthy, playing the FBI agent) is telling Billy's (Aaron Lohr, playing the really bad guy) sister (Portia de Rossi, playing the sister) about his mom dying because he was put in a room with an electric doorknob. Now, this was my second time viewing the movie. The first time it was on I wasn't able to pay much attention to it, but was able to catch the premise, and I made a mental note to watch it again and pay attention. Big mistake! Sure, it starts out OK, but when Billy's sister gets in there, it becomes completely implausible. In a matter of minutes we get... 1) FBI agent enters secure room to interview really bad guy and sister just walks in. 2) FBI agent gets in a pushing match with sister, totally ignores really bad guy, who escapes. 3) FBI agent jumps into car to chase really bad guy and sister gets in the back. 4) FBI agent gets into helicopter to chase really bad guy and sister gets in it. 5) FBI agent has a choice, chase running really bad guy or help fellow agent stuck in truck on railroad tracks with train coming. Sister says screw fellow agent and chase really bad guy.

I have a bit of a confession to make. I kinda sorta got to liking Aaron Lohr a couple months back. Unfortunately the first thing I saw him in consciously knowing it was him was the VH1 movie about The Monkees and...well...he made me mad in it because, let's face it, he didn't fill the part of Micky Dolenz. Sorry good buddy.

But I decided to give him another chance. So I picked up this movie to see what it may be like and to see Robert Patrick again other than an evil shape-shifting robot like in T2. Let me tell you, this movie made me feel so much better after the VH1 movie. It was so awful that I was laughing my head off. Funny though, I found it in the Adventure section of the store and not Comedy. The plot was terrible, the story was that worthy of late Sunday Night Sci-Fi Channel and the acting was...well, take a guess at it. I'd just like to thank this movie for giving me the biggest laugh I'd had in a good couple months. Sorry Aaron ol' pal. My advise is stick to musicals and dancing and the Gap commercials, not this.

I don't think it deserves all the negative comments it has gotten, but that's just my opinion. If other reviewers didn't like it, they have the right to say so. So be it. It wasn't the best made-for-TV movie I've ever seen but it wasn't the worst either.

I did like it well enough to watch it when it came on CineMAX and I was entertained by it. This same sort of "conditioning" that was depicted in "Telefon" in 1977. I'm sure the concept has been used in a few other films as well. I watched it all the way through to see how they chose to end it and ended up enjoying the experience despite my disappointment.

My favorite part is when Lana shows Leo she can "handle herself" as she puts it. The reaction is subtle but unmistakable. I laughed out loud when I saw it. However, I was a bit disappointed at the ending but based on the time when it was made, I guess I should have expected it.

I wouldn't recommend this movie to younger kids as some of the content is a bit gruesome and I can see how it earned its TVMA rating. But as far as entertainment value goes, I liked it well enough to add it to my collection. I give it 5 out of 10.

I believe that I just watched this movie on HBO (11/13)under the name "Perfect Assassins" The following is the copy from the DirectTV description:

Other. Andrew McCarthy, Robert Patrick, Nick Mancuso. (1998) Ruthless terrorists battle an FBI specialist and may be linked to his past. (AC,AL,V) Not Rated - Content

Basically, someone has been turning children into killers and conditioning them as animals in some bizarre experiment. Nick Mancuso also stars in this movie as the antagonist, a psychotic behavioral scientist. Quite a few implausible scenes if you could buy into the premise itself. Some decent action but all in all not a very well done movie.

It's something to watch when you find you have 50 channels and nothing on. That's how I found it. Then I got curious about the leading lady. She now plays Nell on Ally McBeal. When I realized who she was, that pretty much served as the only excitement this movie offered.

There was a vague effort at an X-files-esque conspiracy ending that failed miserably. Still nothing is as bad as "Yor-The Hunter From The Future", my vote for worst picture ever.

Given the names in the cast this movie was exceptionally bad. Poor acting, poor scripts, poor directing. Miss this one on purpose. The settings are about the only things, that have any redeeming quality. The weapons are nice but have unrealistic damage to objects also. I'd rather watch Lion King for the 10millionth time with the kids, than watch this one again.