Without Evidence

I put this film in my Amazon Prime queue because I was living in Oregon at the time of Michael Francke's murder.

It starts with a clip from "Unsolved Mysteries," and the rest of the movie has about the same production values, including the cheesy preview scenes. It was fun seeing scenes of Oregon and recognizing a couple of Portland stage actors, but otherwise, I lost interest, despite having seen the story play out in nightly news reports for months.

I love movies- I'd watch a movie every day if I had time. There are very few movies I don't watch to the bitter end- even if it's obvious they're duds. But this dud takes the cake. I was watching it with my little brother and after he had drifted off to sleep for the third time I figured this was enough. (Unfortunately I stayed awake the whole time!) So I quit watching. Out of curiosity I checked how much time was left in the movie. Eight minutes. I could not have cared less how it ended. Boring. Boring. Boring. Lots of footage of the "hero" driving a car. Unexplained plot gaps. Very poor level acting. I think it was re-released now because Angela Jolie was in it and she's hot in Hollywood right now. (The movie came out in 1995.) We got it from the new release section in the movie store, and what a rip-off. -This is easily the most boring movie I've ever seen

For independent cinema viewers, here is a super-realistic film touted as a true story. This production contains no special effects or actors who were famous at this time. One actress, Angeline Jolie as Jodie, became famous after this film and has starred in roles including Laura Croft, Tomb Raider. Despite the small budget, this film sports a down-to-earth plot with plenty of detailed twists.

Without special effects, this artistic film is suited mainly for the minority-viewing public that enjoys a complicated murder mystery without intervention from the supernatural or Hollywood's frequent sequence of improbable events. Prosecuting attorneys, and fans of murder trials, should see this film.

Without Evidence had a really good, complicated idea of a conspiracy thriller, and I was expecting it to be tense and exciting. But I will say I was disappointed. It isn't the worst movie ever, but as a conspiracy thriller it does fail big time. One redeeming quality was the acting. Scott Plank is fairly good as the brother of the murder victim, and although she is (disappointingly) only in three scenes, Angelina Jolie also impresses. However, they are let down by plodding direction, unconvincing supporting actors and a lacklustre script. Another problem was that the characters and the plot were badly underdeveloped, they tried to get somewhere but because of the script, it never got across. The most disappointing aspect was the ending, the final solution is usually the most riveting thing in a film, but the film completely lacked that.Yes, someone gets convicted of the murder, but we never do find out if they're guilty, or if there's even a conspiracy. Honestly in that case, it needs a sequel, if it ends that abruptly. In conclusion, a disappointing and confusing film (I can't remember the amount of times I was going WHAT? at the screen), that had so much promise, but just failed to deliver. 4/10 Bethany Cox.

Written in part by a journalist who has dedicated much of his career to this true story, it unsurprisingly doesn't deviate from the perspective that the conspiracy the movie presents is true. It may well be the case that the version of events on offer here is the truth, unfortunately, that doesn't guarantee a well-told story. The quality is a little rough around the edges. For a movie so focused on a real-life story, it's really lacking in telling that story. Everything just tends to drift by from scene to scene with very little fleshed out. It gives the impression that the makers were overly cautious, and as such used as little creative license as possible. This movie presents its story at the expense of entertaining you. The main cast do put in a good shift and work well with what they're given. Don't be fooled by the cover as Angelina Jolie isn't in the movie for long, but she does steal the show when she appears. The ending might well be as far as the story goes at the time of filming, but it won't leave any satisfaction.