Deterrence

Many of the comments here seem to want to review this movie as if it was a real major motion picture. In reality, this was very much a B movie and should be judged in the same class as movies with giant bunny rabbits and bug-eyed aliens. Not only is the story implausible, but they are adding this film to the definition of the word.

Like many B movies, this film has a few well-known actors who dropped in for the weekend to read it off of cue cards, were paid in cash, and somehow forget to list this film on their resume. Kevin Pollak and Timothy Hutton definitely had alimony payments coming due that weekend. Like all great B movies, the budget was miniscule. The movie takes place entirely in a diner, not because it was a good idea, but because they couldn't even afford decent stock footage. Beyond the few actors with names, the remaining cast was selected by who was in the commissary that day. What's really fun is how the set is obviously raided from scenery storerooms. What's with that British phone booth? And, B movies love to toss around the nukes, with no real thought to strategy, consequences, fallout, war powers act, or anything else at all. Last, but not least, we have the "surprise" ending, which even those who knew the surprise didn't seem to see coming.

There are clearly some fun things about this film. The Iraqi chemical and biological threat that gets sorta forgotten later in the film. The use of two different ocean nuclear detonations to make one supposed city detonation. The news network with more intelligence gathering capabilities than the US government (including their own spy satellite network), and yet having only one anchor and really crummy graphics. The pictures of F-117 fighters referred to as B2 bombers. The compressed time (just how fast were those missiles and bombers flying?), combined with "pacing by snail". The "don't mind us" attitude about random citizens sitting in on a war strategy meeting, occasionally butting in. Let's put the ultra top secret combination for the "football" on speakerphone so everyone can hear!

But, everyone has watched a lot of B movies and found them entertaining (or at least not too boring). I found this film entertaining and made it all of the way through it. It's worth a viewing just for fun (especially if you are not paying for it). After all, you know you saw "Night of the Lepus"!

Deterrence is one of those small little films that leaves a huge impression. Like The War at Home, a post-Vietnam war drama starring Emilio Estevez, Deterrence received a very minor release, but will end up being one of the year's best films. Kevin Pollak (The Usual Suspects, Grumpy Old Men) stars as the President of the United States. Pollak, however, was not elected, but was appointed Vice President and then took over after the death of the President. Forced to stay in a Colorado diner because of a blizzard, Pollak and his 2 most trusted assistants, played by Timothy Hutton (Ordinary People, Playing God) and Sheryl Lee Ralph (Bogus, White Man's Burden) find out about an illegal invasion into Kuwait by Sadaam Hussein's son. After some thought Pollak goes on National Television and announces a deadline for Hussein to leave or Pollak will drop a nuclear bomb on Baghdad. The whole film takes place inside this diner and relies on the tension that builds up as they get closer and closer to the deadline and as Pollak has to weigh his decision hearing arguments from both sides. The film is fascinating thanks to a strong amount of tension built up as we truly wonder what is going to happen. Hutton and Ralph are both solid as the 2 assistants, but the film belongs to Pollak and his strong lead performance. Highly recommended.

I had seen the trailer for this movie a couple of months back, before the events of the last month, and I knew then that I wanted to see the movie. This weekend, I watched it and was shocked at how amazing it was.

Almost paralleling the events of the past couple of months, in the film, the current President (Pollock) must deal with rising problems with North Korea, and the sudden invasion of Kuwait by Saddam's son, who is the current military leader of Iraq. Finding his hands tied, the President issues a warning to the Iraqi leader: leave Kuwait and power down your weapons of mass destruction, within two hours, or else you and your city will be hit with a nuclear bomb.

After this threat, the film does into high pressure tension mode. Will the President keep his promise? Is he bluffing? And what is going to happen if he does use a nuclear bomb against his enemies?

Trust me, this is a film that will NOT disappoint.

This 1999 film features an appointed Vice President who assumes Presidential power upon the death of the President -- ergo, a completely unelected President. Interesting concept but more importantly, the basic plot has this President forced to face a major crisis in Iraq when all of his diplomatic and military power is concentrated on a crisis in Korea. Somebody must be reading this script in Washington right now -- but they switched the locations.

At any rate, all of the ranting negative reviews and the flowery positive reviews I have seen here on IMDB about this film seem to me to miss the point. What happens in the film is of limited note compared to very strange feeling of "deja now" watching this film in February, 2003 while watching its big brother on CNN live. See this film! It's interesting, a bit disturbing, and sightly prescient (only partially I hope).

I was pretty shocked when I saw the overall IMDb rating and the negative user comments. Considering the "one set" limitation - you have to have some pretty good character / dialogue to maintain interest - and I thought the film kept up just the right amount of tension until the truly shocking end - see recent events in Iraq.

I thought the whole point was that the US was threatened during the re-election phase of a President out to prove his metal - Pollack was brilliant.

Its set in a Diner so that the President is FORCED to listen to Joe and Joanna Public - likewise they get to see the inhuman pressures put upon the person in that Office.

Who cares if the bloody B2 looked like an F17 or whatever the bloody plane is supposed to be THAT AIN'T GONNA RUIN THE MOVIE - it was made on a shoestring and is a great example of how to make a substantial picture without spending millions of dollars. It gains gravity from the storyline rather than an A list cast. A strong, gripping film that seems to have grown in relevance over the years.