Absolute Deception

This was playing commercial-free on HDNet. I was playing with the phone anyway and then I took a nap. Nice scenery and pretty actress, but that's it. Mercifully the ending credits seemed to come up fast.

Unfortunately I am done with this review, but I am still required to add several hundred more characters or I can't post this thing.

So here's a story: I almost got run over by the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile. It was the late 80s and I was a dumb college student who was jaywalking across a busy two lane street. I could see that a vehicle was approaching at high speed, but I knew I could easily make it across. Half-way across I froze like a deer because I couldn't believe that I was about to get flattened by a speeding hot dog. Luckily, I came to my senses and made it across.

We'll that was fun and now I can finally post this thing.

ABSOLUTE DECEPTION is another B-movie thriller from director Brian Trenchard-Smith, a man responsible for some great and some not-so-great films over the years. This is one of his better movies, a fast-paced story of corruption and murder and the crusading efforts of a couple of small fry to bring down the big bad guys.

The film is set in Australia, of course, and features a gorgeous lead actress in the form of Emmanuelle Vaugier, who also delivers a pretty good performance to boot. Cuba Gooding Jr. hangs around the scenes too but has a very limited character although he handles himself well in the action stakes. Speaking of action, there's plenty of it here and it has a decent Bourne-style hard edge mixed with some of the old-fashioned stunts that Trenchard-Smith has always enjoyed inserting into his movies. Although the story is nothing special the bright and colourful cinematography makes this a fine-looking thriller and a film I enjoyed throughout.

Though I an not a police detective, nor reporter or journalist, I do have enough knowledge to know that police investigations do not operate nearly this bad.

Though I am not a crime scene investigator, I also know that there would be enough police to be stationed outside a crime scene where a multiple murder has taken place for days or even weeks upon end and nobody with a 2 block radius would just walk nearby without being questioned - especially in a wealthy neighborhood,just as the dead wife's house.

Let alone have people wander around on the very evening of the murder investigation without having police stationed outside or inside the house.

This story could have been very good had some thought been put into it, but I can only assume that the budget did not have enough to cover another 40 rewrites and proper effective detective research and operation techniques as well as computer hacking methods.

The entire script is crap from opening scene to closing scene.

This was not even amateur writing, this was so poor in construction that amateurs should feel proud.

It was an easy payday for Cuba and a nice vacation, because there is no other reason to want to sign onto something this bad when you are as established like him.

Crap script and a shame that somebody would sign off on this as something that was good enough to be released for TV or DVD viewing.

Baad, bad, bad.

There were 16 reviews for this film and I read them all. They all have valid points, and I thought the 4.2 rating was fair as well.

The opening credits immediately told me that this was a film with a limited budget, although I hoped for better with one famous actor starring.

I soon got engrossed with the film and lost my low-budget reservations. There were a few little continuity issues. But overall, not too bad.

Yes, If Cuba is hired by Australians it is because they have a really good plot that requires a heavy weight actor. Wow, what an Absolute Decepción (well, deception in English reads like Spanish decepción which means disappointment).

It seems Cuba said... "Ok guys, I'm for the money and I wanna spend some days partying in the Gold Coast". An that's what he did! Even seconds after a terrible murder scene he is smiling along with amateur Emanuelle V. having a great time.

If there is a reason why Cuba's name is today (april 2015) on the "Where are these actors now?" list is for being part in such mediocre movie like this one.