Jekyll Island

Bad guys are going to crash all the financial markets in the USA. They tell us they will do it in two days. They tell us in advance… so that our hero can assemble his team (like in Ocean's 13, …)? Anyway, lots of other hardcore CS action. He needs the "back door codes" for all the market servers. He gets them – typed on a sheet of paper. Yeah, that's how I would pass on codes. But don't worry, when they use them the first security key to a market server is "RG182." And when the servers reboot, they all proclaim to be MS-DOS 6. Yes, fresh DOS 6.0, so much better than MS-DOS 6.21 for heavy Internet traffic.

Anyway, chop up 30 minutes of top CS action like this, stick it into a one-hour soap opera chick-flick. They are separated and fight over their daughter, who is dying of cancer of course. Then we have the betrayed employee who can help save the world – oh, and is banging the dying daughter. Finish up in 2016/17 style – the unbelievable plot twist of a betrayal, and a big-ass preachy ending.

SUX-net.

(I see reviewers rave about this wonderful film, blame bad reviews on trolls. Perhaps they didn't watch this turkey, just got a check? One is titled "very realistic" -- perhaps they have never been around computers?)

I like financial/corporate thrillers, and I enjoyed this one. I was looking for entertainment, not a documentary, so I didn't try to spoil it by noting technical errors or assessing the plot for realism. The acting was decent, and, realistic or not, technically accurate or not, the plot held together reasonably well. It's an evening's entertainment, nothing more, nothing less, which is all I think it aspired to be. If that's all you are looking for, and also like financial/corporate thrillers, you will probably think it's OK, too.

Crash is about what we all fear, that the stock markets are nothing more than what is coordination and manipulated by the banks and the federal reserve. In the film Guy Clifton (Frank Gillo) was convicted of insider trading and is about to be sent to prison. He is offered his freedom if he averts a cyber attack that will affect the world stock exchanges. He and his band of white criminals set up their command center in his home, a mini-mansion on the water.

There are several side stories going on which detract from the main storyline. Guy's wife, Shannon (Minnie Driver) thinks they have too much money as it is but for Guy it's never enough. Their daughter Crason (Anna Sophia Robb) has cancer and is also having a affair with Ben Collins (Ed Westwick) one of her father's co-conspirators.

Lastly there is George Diebold (Christopher McDonald) who is the head of the Federal Reserve. He's the financial bogeyman and feels he is in absolute control. Good rainy day film with a pizza and a beer.

I don't spend a lot of time reviewing movies, but when I looked this movie up on IMDb and saw a few 'great reviews' I figured those folks were getting paid, so I wanted to add my thoughts.

My theory is that they made the camera work so bad (the camera is constantly shaking and zooming in and out) the viewer wouldn't notice the terrible character development and lack of plot. Seriously, if you have ever tried to take a photo with a camera while the the zoom/focus constantly is going in and out, then you will have a preview of what it is like trying to watch this piece of junk. Did they give an I-phone to a 2 year old to do the camera work?

As far as the plot, totally predictable and weak as water, and I felt no no connection to the characters.

Bottom line: if you were wanting to present a movie where nothing worked, this would be a superb example.

Was it shot with a cell phone? Camera movement was VERY distracting. Made it hard to watch to the end.