The Secret Pact

I really wanted to like this story and was willing to suspend disbelief but this film just had too many continuity/believability problems to allow that for long.

The two leads are both attractive young men and it was fun watching their friendship form. It was also fun watching the inter-relationships between the other boys but I kept getting distracted by just how unlikely the plot devices were. Also, the next time a head master of a distinguished private school is giving a speech and the best literary reference that he can make in his speech is a lame reference to Great Expectations perhaps the head master's speech should be written out.

Before watching this I'd recommend School Ties (1992) or Dead Poets Society (1989) or The Emperor's Club (2002) or even A Separate Peace (2004) (TV) All have much more convincing plot lines than this.

In two separate spots the "villain" is about to be lurking just around the corner when something saves him. The villain is looking for one kid on a list of about 8 and the kid we KNOW he's looking for keeps making obvious mistakes that would clue in anyone who was really looking in a heartbeat. e.g. claiming to be from Tampa and not knowing whether its on the Atlantic or the Gulf. It also bothered me how dyslexia was tossed about as a plot point without any real understanding or compassion.

The actors did great with what they had to work with but this could have really used at least one more script revision before it got shot.

Greg Sherman (Adam Frost) witnesses his parents' murders by gunmen. His corrupt father was cooperating against crime boss Dominic Patton (Nick Mancuso). Jerome Carver (John Heard) puts him into witness protection as Steven Spencer attending a private boys' school in Montreal. Patton tracks down his location. With limited photograph of Greg, the hired gunmen have to narrow down the target. Greg befriends fellow newbie Lenny Dalton (Rider Strong).

Everything screams cheaper Canadian movie. The adults get side scenes. Rider Strong coming off of Boy Meets World is probably the only one of the kids who shows any spark. The perfunctory lead Adam Frost is a bit of a stiff although his character doesn't help. It boils down to Rider Strong and an intriguing twist. It's also intriguing to turn the traditional point of view inside out although this would probably work better to stay with traditional lead character Greg. Just switch the actors playing them. The other way to do this is to keep Greg a mystery. That way, the audience is figuring it out along with Lenny. Either way would be better.

The plot hinges upon a college freshman who witnesses his parents being murdered, but since he is wearing swimming goggles at the time, the killers do not get a good look at him, but they know who he is because they were business associates of the parents.

He enters the Witness Protection Program and is concealing his identity by registering with a fake identity at a university in Montreal. His pursuers, one of whom is a classmate, know what college he is attending because they have somehow penetrated the FBI Witness Protection Program, but do not know his fake name or have a picture of his face to put with either the real name or the fake one, so the classmate uses process of elimination to find the son.

But knowing his real name, why not just look through his high school yearbook, where he is on the swim team, to find his picture? Or do a DMV check, which should be no problem for crooks sophisticated enough to penetrate the FBI? And why would he be in Witness Protection before the trial - wouldn't he have to blow his cover to testify? And Polaroid cameras, and student records kept in manila folders in file cabinets instead of computers, in the year 2001?

It would be far more interesting than the film itself was to hear the writers explain how they thought anyone with an IQ higher than 10 could possibly overlook such gigantic holes in the plot. My hunch is that the writers themselves were possessed of no higher acumen than their target audience and were thus incapable of recognizing said holes.

It's tough being a kid sometimes. Especially when you watch a hit-man murder both your parents in front of you in cold blood. So you're put on the Witness Protection Program. You find a friend, and it seems like maybe this world ain't so bad after all. Then it turns out that your new buddy works for your parents' killer. It all adds up to a tragic life for one kid, meaning we get to sit and watch a passable thriller for two hours.

First off, this movie is not a comedy. It's very serious. Keeping that in mind, read on.

Lenny is a sweet-natured orphan raised on the streets, but he's also a teenage hitman-in-training who is sent to find the only witness to a mob hit. The witness, Greg, also a teenager, is now under FBI protection and attending a prep boarding school in Montreal.

Apparently Lenny's wise guy foster dad, who gave him the assignment, managed to find out where Greg was but couldn't supply a photo (the Mafia isn't as sharp as it used to be), so it's up to Lenny to enroll in the school, go to classes, participate in school activities, and figure out which kid is Greg.

Right. This could happen. In real life. Yes, indeed.

Then there's Lenny's dyslexia, which makes him feel bad about himself. (Training to be a hitman evidently doesn't harm his self-esteem, however.) My favorite part of the movie is when the school counsellor, having noticed that Lenny can't read, gives him a pamphlet on dyslexia for him to -- yes! READ!!