Dot.Kill

I was kind of surprised to find a straight to video police thriller by a mainstream director, John Irvin, and starring a mainstream actor, Armand Assante. What didn't surprise me at all was its weak disjointed story with very little sense guiding the cops' actions in finding the killer.

A couple things were done alright. The locations of the crimes (which are all shown live on the internet, hence the title) are always cool derelict industrial settings. None of them are used to very good effect, but they are good locations. Armand Assante brings a lot to the unfortunately underwritten role of the morphine addict detective. The sad part is that this addiction was a lazy screenwriter's device to take the place of character development, punctuate almost every scene (Assante faithfully coughs away any plot-related dialogue), and generate "suspense" in later scenes. Although, the dimension of his character, as a supposedly obsolete detective matching wits with a high-tech criminal, is still a good idea.

The identity of the killer is not very hard to guess. In fact the central plot of the picture is a bleeding cliché, surrounded by the window dressing of would-be character development, seemingly as a distraction. This was obviously a low budget picture, but it wasn't the budget that holds the movie back from its potential, it's the weak script and the failure on the part of the director, cinematographer, editor, to create a harmoniously atmospheric thriller out of this routine cop-vs-bad-guy movie.

"Dot.Kill" is pretty obviously trying to do some of what "Se7en" did so well and that "Fear dot com" tried to do. However, it just doesn't have the same freshness that "Se7en" had (and really hasn't lost) nor does it have the atmosphere and aesthetic grace. I can't say I'm surprised, but I'm always upset when I see missed potential. Just go watch any David Fincher movie instead.

At at glance, I noticed the reviewers mostly gave this movie a higher ranking than the hoi polloi. While this isn't the best movie you could watch, I don't think it belongs below a 5 rating.

Speaking broadly about movies and TV shows that feature net related activity, the bigger budget movies go with computer effects that defy any reality (think "Jurassic Park" and the line by a child "ooh! this is Unix. I know this.") while less self-obsessed low budget films are stuck with using stuff the rest of us actually use from day to day... and are therefore more realistic.

This isn't academy award material, but it's not as bad as the couple pathetic reviewers make it out to be. Any reviewer who gives a 1-2 star rating for a properly produced film should be doomed to watch "Manos" or Justin Bieber movies for life. Netflix popped it up as an average selection for me and it was some good filler time while I got some work done. It beat the heck out of old "X-File reruns."

One of those movies that you select at Blockbuster when most of the viewing choices are unappetizing. Armande Assante delivers a strong performance as a police detective, with a bad smoking habit, trying to run down a creative killer. In this moody, urban film all the acting is above average and the story is well paced. The number of characters in the story is substantial but the lead actors (wife, son, buddy, snitch, computer-geek) are easy to follow. The killer selects each of his victims from diverse backgrounds and then proceeds to murder them in unusual - but appalling ways. If you're tired of the animated animals (exception: Ice Age) and/or the non-funny slapstick comedies populating video stores, try Dot.Kill.

It's watchable and sure keeps you attached to it when viewing it. It's a movie which can be seen from two viewpoints:

-1- The (dramatical) story of the main character, his live and whats happening to him. -2- Who's doing all the killing, showing it live on the internet and how will they get them or him/her and who's behind this all?

However there are many inconsistencies in the story and logic errors. That's ashame, if they weren't there I would rated it an 7 or even 8.

They are not all too disturbing if you just continue watching and don't make a big deal about these, but I can imagine some people would be irritated by them. I wasn't cause I just viewed it without too much thinking and all together it's very watchable.

OK, no special effects, please see Star Wars 3 or something. OK, no well thought out Drama. OK, no real action.

But altogether better than many other movies.....

Give it a try if you have the time.

I only watched about 30 minutes of this movie.

The music and sound effects were louder than the people talking. I got tired of trying to make out what was being said. The actors seemed to be doing an awesome job from what I could tell. The story line seemed interesting from what I could tell.

I kept thinking that maybe the sound would improve somehow. I kept using the remote to change volume to see if I brought volume down some it would help in hearing the actors speak. No it did no. Still all I could hear is music and sound effects. I tried turning the volume up but No. The music and sound effects just roared and couldn't hear the actors any better. Why is it so imp

ortant to make the music and sound effects soo loud you can't hear the talking? I don't know about the rest of the audience but I CANT READ LIPS!!!