Line of Duty

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.

A good script can carry a lot of weight. A bad script, not so much. A script that insults your intelligence and makes the characters behave like they had just been lobotomized will doom any project.

This atrocity . . . I really have no words to describe it.

The fact someone read this script and decided to green light the film makes me think this was nothing more than a vanity project or a way to launder money. The actors had nothing to work with and because of that probably won't ever work again. That's a pity because they did what they could and they were OK. Still, if you handed Jack Nicholson or Julianne Moore your supermarket's weekly coupon circular, the end result may have been more enjoyable. I hope they get new agents-although the people who got them those roles either had vendettas against them or were negligent and inept and simply cannot be called "agents" in good faith.

If there was a good thing about this . . . Attempt at making a movie? . . . it is that it was short. Not short enough, as I found myself fast forwarding through parts of it, but since two-hour-plus-long movies that could have lost thirty or forty minutes and be better for it are becoming commonplace, an hour and forty minutes is a blessing.

They (and I don't want to know who they are lest I wake up with a horse's head next to me) had high hopes for the this monstrosity, as it is evident if you sit through part of the credits. May God have mercy on everyone's soul-except for whoever got this made. That person can burn in hell.

LINE of DUTY's plot is pretty standard fare, nothing terribly original. While there are one or two surprises, this film doesn't have the layers and complications it could easily have had. A lot of the nostalgia and sentiment regarding these four guys' life-long relationships with one another is contrived and badly acted, going too far in places, not far enough in others. The maudlin repetition of "One day does not define a man" kind of kills the point. To top it all off, the very generic title doesn't help much to distinguish this film. Still, the combination of shoot-'em-up cop vs. drug lord thriller and heartfelt soul drama is interesting and helps LINE of DUTY stand out a bit. The common dilemma regarding who're the good guys, who're the bad guys, is also very well-shown. Finally, the way it takes place in San Antonio instead of the usual LA or NYC is a nice touch.

Better acting by the main players would have helped this. Still, the four boys who play the central characters in their younger years did a fantastic job, as did some of the supporting cast, most notably Will Estes as "the Dealer."

Anyway, anyone who generally likes cop thrillers will probably find this worth watching and may even really love it.

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!

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