The Mod Squad

For being categorized in the genre of "Action/Thriller", there wasn't a great deal of action nor was there anything particularly thrilling about this film.

I went into it with no expectations save for being entertained. As it was, I kept pushing the "Display" on my DVD player to see how much longer I had to endure this.

Claire Danes, Giovanni Ribisi and Omar Epps are extremely watchable and gifted actors. "The Mod Squad" offers them nothing to work with. On a story level, their origins are glossed over, the rocky relationship with their Captain (though stereotypical of so many Hollywood films) isn't even close to being fleshed out even a little and we (as the audience) have no reason to believe they even care why they're trying to solve the mystery presented in the film. I certainly didn't care and just kept watching to see how Ribisi would further destroy Epps' car in the little bit of comic relief someone thought to write in.

The technical aspects of the film are a disaster. The editing is simply poor and the action sequences appear to have been directed after a very heavy lunch when the crew would have better spent their time taking a nap.

This film could have been about angst and action, should have been better planned out and directed by someone who had a notion of how to handle the material, but alas it just wasn't.

Don't waste your time.

The Mod Squad

The worst part about employing young undercover cops is they binge drink at house parties and break cover.

Thankfully, the covert trio in this action movie are too busy tracking a killer to attend ragers.

Opting to work for the police in a new department instead of serving time, Julie (Claire Danes), Pete (Giovanni Ribisi) and Linc (Omar Epps) are trained in the art of infiltration by their mentor Capt. Greer (Dennis Farina).

But when Greer ends up on the wrong side of a drug lord's gun, the motley crew must bring his killer to justice.

A slapdash adaptation of the groundbreaking counterculture cop drama from the '60s, this 1999 version lacks the social and political undercurrent of its source material.

Instead, it's a lifeless and shoddily acted knock-off - similar to the original in name only.

Besides, immature undercover officers today can't stop posting on Twitter about being undercover.

Red Light

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This movie was a gargantuan disappointment on nearly all levels. Based on the late-60s/early-70s TV show, the movie could have been a hip, funny update OR a straight, reverent recreation from the period which it came from. Alas, the filmmakers botched it with a dull, hackneyed "dirty cops on the inside" plot we've seen countless times before. The direction is stiff and Character development is sorely lacking, making it impossible for us to grow any attachment to them. And for what's supposed to be an action film, there's a definite lack of energy and visual pizzazz.

Claire Danes and Omar Epps are fine (if a bit too low-key) in their roles, but Giovanni Ribisi gives one of the most highly annoying performances in recent memory. He plays his character (Pete Cochran) like some doped-up, marble-mouthed clod. Even if everything else in the film were fine, his performance here would still be a serious detriment.

What could have been a classy, fun film is rendered an unfortunate misfire. OH, what Quentin Tarantino could have done with this material!!

So many reviews I have read rail on the poor quality of the film. The two biggest complaints are lack of adult dialogue and lack of action. Me, I thought it was one of the best movies I have ever seen. They are kids, not adults. That's the way kids talk. As far as action, I found the emotional struggles to be far more compelling than the action scenes (which, do not, BTW, define a good film). One user even commented that there is no way kids could get around by themselves like that. I was a kid living on the streets when I was younger, and what they accomplish in the movie is certainly not the least of what I have personally witnessed on the street.

For those who think only kids like this movie, I am 24. I think this film has been judged by all the wrong standards, and that not enough credibility is given to this straightforward portrayal of kids in trouble.

If you think kids are incapable of these things, try watching the movie "Kids."

I was extremely disappointed with Mod Squad as a movie. There were a number of points which were never explored fully in respect to the character development. The script jumped from point to point without ever clearly explaining the real direction of the plot or the characters. Neither I nor the three people with me ranging from 18 to 85, could work out why the three young 'Mod Squad' members were recruited. We had no idea what they'd done to land themselves in hot water to begin with so they could have been murderers (no sympathy there). The action was minimal the highlight being an old car crashing through a metal door. "When was that film set?" my eighteen year old daughter asked me. The clever young actor from the "Other Sister" relied on the most basic of performance tricks such as shouting, to even be noticed. Long lingering shots of the female lead became dull. The young black actor had little to work on in his scripted characterisation. I found myself confused between the good and the bad cops and why a call to the police precinct, which had set up the criminal "bust" finale , was so obligingly received and acted on so promptly. The police were called to the scene as backup for our hero who was then an escaped felon (or was he????). The direction in my opinion was experimental to the point of distraction. One scene had our three protagonists in the front seat of a car plotting their next move. This was the bench mark. We saw the camera pan left, right, right, left, right, left then left again so continuously I became dizzy. The recording quality of the hand held reporters cassette recorder, the contents of which wrapped up the entire Mod Squad case was "studio quality" amazing!!! I see a minimum of sixty films a year. This was one of the least effective in a decade. my vote is 2 out of 10.