Sociedade do Crime

Oh boy. This boring piece of drudgery was made Russia, coming on the heels of a slew of cheap, lower than low budget movies shot in Eastern Europe (at least three of Steven Seagal's movies come to mind).

And I like Tara Reid. She can act, but she is seriously let down by the script and direction.

The main problem I have is the "So What?" factor. An hour into the proceedings there was still no one I could care about. And by extension, I didn't care about the movie itself.

Tara Reid is fine, but casting her as a prostitute who makes a living jacking off fat businessmen is too much typecasting for me. The 'friend' who tells her that she could do a lot better than that is another middle aged fat guy. Gordon Patrick must be the most uncharismatic average Joe, since Andy Robinson in Hellraiser.

I can see how someone could get into it, but it just isn't for me.

"Silent Partner" is about CIA agent Gordon Patrick (Moran) who is sent to Russia to investigate the "Death" of Mikhail Garin, a Russian government official. Gordon is met by the American Ambassador (Henry) to help in the case. Gordon finds out that Garin's death was suspicious and finds himself in the company of Dina (Reid) who may know information.

Nick Moran does a decent job. His character is not an action hero, so he does a good job in conveying that. Tara Reid actually does a good job. Her heart is in it and her Russian accent is not bad. Gregg Henry is wasted though. He doesn't do anything. The action scenes are exciting. The car chase was cool and the gunfight was first-rate. Overall, "Silent Partner" is a fun action movie that's getting dumped on video with no fanfare. Don't pass it by.

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No stupid bond-style humour. Decent depiction of Moscow, Russia (I ought to know, since I live here). Rather entertaining...

There were only two strange things to it: 1. the ending left everyone clueless as to what actually happened (although, as someone here mentioned, that might just be a lead-in into a sequel) 2. the main characters never bothered to mask themselves or even put on some sunglasses while on the streets, even when national television reported that they were wanted terrorists, and, strangely enough, no one bothered to recognize them (come to think of it, the streets of Moscow, the largest city on the continent, were, curiously enough, completely empty, except for one or two scenes) Probably nothing to call home about, unless you are fans of Moran or Reid, but there are certainly much worse ways to spend an evening. Beats James Bond movies....

I am awed by the caliber of this film. James Deck has made a moderately good screenplay into an outstanding political thriller.

The complexity of the film is particularly challenging. The plot begins with several different threads that interweave somewhere during the story. Director/Writer James Deck takes apart those threads and models a film based on the two protagonists, Reid and Moran. The myriad of supporting actors (including Gregg Henry ) that appear on screen subsequently all have distinct but nonetheless crucial roles to the plot.

Moran, in what is and will probably be his career best role ever, shines as the intelligent and patriotic Gordon Patrick, a thinking man's hero. Reid lends incredible presence, as usual, to her interpretation of Dina.

The story isn't very strong. Don't expect a "Bourne identity" kind of movie. It started of strong, Tara speaking Russian and it even sounded credible. (Not that I'm the Russian language expert.) Moscow had that darkish depressing look what gave this movie potential, I still believed in it. To bad it only took about half an hour to see they really missed the spot with this one. Acting was poor, maybe because the story itself was not very strong. There is this part in the movie where Gordon Patrick (Nick Moran) is having a conversation on the phone with the C.I.A., like you're listening to a Chinese synchronizer. W.T.F!? Too bad, the writer didn't even take little effort to give the main characters depth. Also, bit of a cheap and easy ending.

Plus point is almost every scene where Tara Reid is in. Not that she's acting that well, in fact, she doesn't. But she really looks great in this movie. Overall, it was a bit of a disappointment. Rental material….maybe.