Line of Duty

You just can't keep this going before you reach for the remote and then turn it off.

Let me first say that I am a Spanish American and as such, I was looking forward to enjoying a movie with a Latin cast and writer. Not that I was expecting, "Goodfellas" or "Pulp Fiction" mind you but what I remember of the two-thirds of the movie that I did manage to watch was that it was poorly written, at times laughingly so. I think the actors tried to work with what they had and it was just not natural. You begin to feel like you are watching a 1970's made for TV movie about Latin Americans made in the UK. It just didn't have much authenticity going for it. The characters are one cliché after another. The 2/3 of the plot I did watch was unoriginal and lumbering. I am not a snob when it comes to movies I watch and have nothing against B movies as long as they have some redeeming qualities. Even really bad movies can be enjoyable if they are so over the top bad that they make you laugh but this one, sadly, had nothing going for it. Please don't waste your time as I did. I was fortunate enough to have been able to reclaim 1/3 of this films run time back. But seeing as how I just spent five minutes writing this short review I guess they got me for another five minutes. Drat!

What can I say about Line of Duty? I always like to begin with something positive, but this is the first film I've ever reviewed where I could find nothing good to say.

This film ran and looked like what my kid brother and I used to shoot for fun when we were kids.

Seriously, this film just never comes together. There were some decent actors; for example Walter Perez gave it all he could to try to find depth in an otherwise two-dimensional, clichéd drug lord character, Jason. The problem was he was fishing in shallow water. And, whoever heard of a drug lord named Jason?

My question is, how did this film even get made? Weren't there checks and balances along the way that screamed, "CAUTION, CAUTION, STAY AWAY"? The script is the main problem, the directing and acting follows close behind, but I blame the people who paid for this film to even be produced. Did they know ANYTHING at all about film making before they jumped into the business? I guess there will always be foolish people with more money than sense who want to be in the movie-making business.

I think the best I can say about this film is that with a $2.5 million budget and only about a $77,707 take, it restores my faith in the movie-going public.

This movie actually tries and to a good extent achieve some level of depth. It does not come together as well as I would have hoped. Probably needed more time, editing, and thought in delivering the depth of the relationship between the characters. It definitely misses in some places. There are gaps which are not covered well. But inversely, I think it definitely hits home runs in other places. It seems like many of the scenes are meaningful and correlate well to the human condition. Overall was pleasantly surprised, since I anticipated less! I would recommend watching the movie. Not just a blood bath with a bunch of senseless violence.

I thought this was a good movie. No it wasn't awesome but it kept my interest. Not sure why there are so my negative reviews. It had lots of action and some surprises. I would recommend watching it.