Out of Control

Actually, after the first 10 minutes of this, I was expecting another Canadian thrown-together piece of trash. In fact, I skipped ahead to the credits to verify the usual suspects (The Movie Network, MovieCentral, Canadian Film or Video Tax Credit, etc.). But I like to finish what I start, so I went back and watched it through.

To say I was "pleasantly" surprised probably isn't the right terminology. The movie is bad. It really should have been an episode in some TV series, at best, rather than eating up valuable movie time. But it wasn't the trip to the dentist that I was expecting. It keeps up a decent pace (mostly) and has an identifiable plot. The city obviously isn't Chicago, but it at least isn't obviously any other place either (unless you happen to live where it was shot). It's not Serpico, but it's OK, as another person wrote, to do laundry to.

In contrast to the other comment-writers, I have to say that Vandervoort's casting was the only good choice. All the others are clearly way out of their element (that is, in front of a camera) and not remotely believable in their roles (although some of this is due to the dreadful script, but good actors avoid such roles, so ultimately it is their fault). At least Vandervoort demonstrated the confidence that you'd expect in someone working for law enforcement, if nothing else. I doubt any of these characters (any of them) would last a day in the real job.