Crimes of the Past

The story of a retired CIA agent and the daughter he abandoned 26 years ago plays more like a family relationship primer than a spy flick. Technically the film is seriously flawed. I could live with the black and white to color transitions representing past and present, but the shaky camera and in focus out of focus shots are nothing but a damn annoyance. The story is way too simplistic for a film involving espionage. The acting, even by usually reliable David Rasche and Eric Roberts, is uninspired, with the little granddaughter stealing every scene she appears in. Unless you are a big fan of the actors, steer clear. - MERK

Quite frankly I am ticked off that the top reviewer made this film out to be something special, something amazing, something worth watching again and again. As it turns out it is the exact opposite. Bad script, bad acting, bad camera work, annoying music, just plain bad all around. It became unbearable after around 20 minutes in and I shut it off. IMDb really should take that review down or bury it, as it was clearly written by someone involved with the film. "A superb film, which MASTERFULLY blends the spy genre with themes of family."? This film is in NO way superb, masterful or family oriented. Do yourself a big favor and stay far far away from this film, its a complete waste of time.

This is an intriguing film for me to view. I believe the acting was superb and it was also wonderfully filmed. I wasn't sure what to expect from the various reviews or even the storyline but overall the reason I ended up seeing the film was that I was enthralled with the notion of a character driven spy story. In my own way I also related to the struggle of the father connecting with his daughter after so many years. Which is not to say that I was a Spy, but I was away for a significant period of time and my business was confidential in nature and the demands were enormous which brought about a hindrance in the family, so the film was a cathartic experience for me. I very much enjoyed David Rasche's portrayal of the Spy character. I believe all the actors were very subtle and seemed to find some real keen notes. It was a well-told story and I am happy to have stumbled onto it.

While i am tempted to give this movie a 1/10 to offset the top reviews it is more like a 3/10. It lacks in everything, reasonable story, empty acting and horrible editing. While the story might have made it a poor mediocre film, the video editing was just dismal. After 10 minutes of watch vague and shaky shots i was exhausted. In some poor attempt to make it more "realistic" every shot is shaky, like a handy-cam. That would have been a bad idea even if the acting was solid. But the acting was also poor. Even the main character is completely 2D and everybody else is barely present. It seems they only had money for a couple of takes. All in all its awful just awful.

When i faced the choice of watching this movie, I visited the IMDb page for guidance. Despite having a low rating, i decided to watch this movie because of the top comment that called it a 'superb movie'. Folks, let me be precise. This movie is a total waste of time and i am confused why the top reviewer ever called it superb at all? This movie is not even close to be called mediocre.

I wonder why the top review never got buried? The movie has got nothing in its credit to gain any rating. The acting was dead, the script was non-existent, the music wasn't even worth it at all.

If given an option again, I would prefer to watch Mickey Mouse's cartoons than this garbage of a movie.

People, don't bother to watch this one. I have had a very bad experience with this one and would never ever recommend this flick to anyone...

I just wish i could un-see this movie.