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 an Action - Thriller movie in which we watch a woman, who becomes entangled in a dangerous conspiracy involving a criminal mastermind and a covert government operation.

I have to admit that I didn't expect this movie to be below average or even bad. Unfortunately, the movie failed to deliver on its potential especially because its low-budget. The story-line was predictable and lacked the necessary tension to keep the audience engaged. Even the action scenes, which should have been a highlight, were poorly executed and lacked the excitement needed to make them memorable. The interpretation of Cuba Gooding Jr. Who played FBI Agent John Nelson felt uninspired and his portrayal lacked depth. Lastly, I have to say that "Absolute Deception" is a poor movie that failed to both captivate and deliver any real excitement so, I don't recommend it to anyone because it's a waste of time.

This movie starred a couple of pretty faces that knew nothing about playing simple make-believe (acting). The acting was so bad that one could have transported the actors on the stage of SNL and you would have thought they were performing a parody. They exaggerated the seriousness of their characters to the point that they could have been with Leslie Nielson on board the movie "Airplane". Cuba acted on the script that was given to him, and it left him looking like an amateur. This was so bad on so many levels. I guess they had to push it in the market places (trusting enough people would watch it) to pay off the cost of making it. The director should have directed himself right out of doing any more movies, and the actresses...well don't quit your day job.

Aussie director Brian Trenchard-Smith's reputation for squeezing every penny while delivering action mixed with a somewhat warped sense of humour is on scant display in his latest project, Absolute Deception. Queensland's sun-drenched Gold Coast is the perfect backdrop for a high- stakes game of cat and mouse, and the film makes for a mostly tolerable experience, but lacks any point of difference amidst the stunted landscape of action-thrillers.

Cuba Gooding Jr. plays a no-nonsense FBI agent who witnesses the murder of Miles, a man about to placed in witness protection. In giving the bad news to the victim's wife (the stunning Emmanuelle Vaugier), we learn that Miles faked his death two years prior, setting up a web of lies that seem to tie in with Miles' shady second wife and Murdoch-esque media mogul Mr. Osterberg.

Gooding and Vaugier display solid chemistry as the reluctant tag team, and their snappy interplay forms the highlight of the film. Unfortunately, outside of these fleeting moments of creativity, there is little else to stimulate the senses script-wise. Even more surprisingly, it is actually Vaugier, as the nosy and fearless reporter Rebecca Scott, who drives most of the plot. Meanwhile, Gooding feels more like a bit player despite his top billing, leaving much to be desired considering he is infinitely the more interesting character.

Although highly revered by a man who built an empire on cinematic thrills in Quentin Tarantino, Trenchard-Smith fails to impose his will on the film's direction. This isn't without giving it a decent shake-up in the process, but every time Absolute Deception looks primed for a step into the big leagues it grounds out in a blaze of unfettered predictability; a matinée shell of something that could've been a ton of fun.

*There's nothing I love more than a bit of feedback, good or bad. So drop me a line on jnatsis@iprimus.com.au and let me know what you thought of my review. If you're looking for a writer for your movie website or other publication, I'd also love to hear from you.*

Emmanuell V. is one very good looking actress. And I guess Cuba Gooding Jr. is not bad on the eyes either. The latter also being an Oscar winning actor. But both being not really on any kind of game that would deserve to be really seen, acting wise that is. And the story is not giving us much either.

Still this movie does check all the right points and the story flows along nicely. It's cliché and you know where this is going to (the title not helping with any twists, if you could call them that). There is some decent action scenes, especially considering the budget this had. Some dialog is not bad either, especially when Emmanuell is chatting with Cuba, but overall not something you have to watch