In life, people learn to like all kinds of things. In time, they will realize there are groups for these interests. Some groups are just for recreational reasons, while others can be for more serious topics. There are also some people who don't even know about it. The reason is for the amount of power or influence these associations may have on society. The thing is, what most of these secret cliques have in real life is the capability to conceal itself so far that it is very hard to pinpoint. This of course leads only to a very select few who can speak to it but in the end, sound like they're out of their mind. In short, conspiracy nuts. That's essentially the topic of focus in this feature film. It's an interesting idea, but the overall execution is just average. It's nothing out of the ordinary.
Written by John Pogue (U. S. Marshals (1998)), the plot is about your everyday looking college student Luke McNamara (Joshua Jackson) hoping to be a success after he graduates. He, his best friend Will (Hill Harper) and close female friend Chloe (Leslie Bibb) very much share the same values. Additionally, they all think a group known as "The Skulls" is one of the strangest ones around. That is until Luke is brought in to join them. That's when things turn all upside down for him. Again, the idea of secretly powerful societies is not an uncommon plot but if done right, can be captivating to watch. This unfortunately is just watered-down. For one, the group is publicly known but operates secretly. It's a bit contradictory to say the least. Who operates a tight ship with sloppy security? How is that even allowable?
That's just one question out of many. The group has a rule book of over 100 things to follow by. Yet, there seem to be a lot of loose ends hanging around. Additionally, while the group is promoted internally as being able to effect outcomes elsewhere, there's no examples of it. Much of everything is so vague someone could assume they could impact anything. That's not the only odd thing going on. Once Luke the protagonist and his "soul mate" Caleb Mandrake (Paul Walker) meet at their first initiation, Luke's character flips to the exact opposite of the values to Will and Chloe. It's not that Luke is an unlikeable character, but he is a clichéd dull one. It's surprising director Rob Cohen who wasn't fresh to the job by this point didn't callout any of these issues.
Not even Caleb Mandrake is consistent in his character arc. One moment he's saying one thing and the next he's doing the exact opposite. That's not saying the acting is unwatchable though. Joshua Jackson is believable as the lead. It's just his character is motivationally confused. Paul Walker who at the time was mostly unknown still pulls in a performance that mostly makes sense for the story. Leslie Bibb is also okay despite her character falling into the expected clichés as well. She would later have roles in Trick 'r Treat (2007) and Iron Man (2008). What's more interesting is that William Petersen is also in this movie as a member of The Skulls and would later share screen time with Hill Harper in the CSI shows. There's also appearances from Christopher McDonald, Craig T. Nelson and Steve Harris.
The camerawork was acceptable for the picture. Shot by Shane Hurlbut, the camera makes use of its surroundings as well as incorporating dizzying shots to convey hysteria. This is pretty good considering this was his first theatrical film credit. Also done acceptably was the film score composed by Randy Edelman. While known for having more stock sounding music, Edelman does create a main theme for the story. It's not the most memorable, but it's not really forgettable either. Better that than just soundscape textural noise produced by other composers. What Edelman relies on for this work is piano keys to convey the feeling of the tracks. Thankfully the album is very much easy listening as well. Like usual though, Edelman's albums do not consist of much runtime. So best not to expect too much.
The crew behind the camera and actors performing do their jobs like they should. It's just the writing that challenges those things and weighs it down. The premise seems sloppily put together and the character arcs are erratic.
