Appel au meurtre

"Liberty Stands Still" was the original phone-booth-style movie, actually coming out over a year before the much more popular film, "Phone Booth," did. "Liberty" premiered at the Palm Springs International Film Festival on January 18, 2002 and was released very soon thereafter. "Phone Booth," on the other hand, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on September 10, 2002; got it's first US showing at the South By Southwest Film Fest on March 11, 2003; and and wasn't officially released to the US public until April 4th, 2003--well over a year after "Liberty Stands Still" played in theaters.

Who copied who? I don't know. All I know is that the idea for this type of 'phone booth' thriller movie first appeared to the public with "Liberty Stands Still" in early January, 2002 (maybe even a little before). Who knows when or with whom the idea originated? Maybe Joel Schumacher was sitting on the "Phone Booth" story for a decade before he started trying to get it made. But, as far as I can see, his film is likely to have copied "Liberty Stands Still," not the other way around.

If anyone knows otherwise or has evidence one way or the other, please post who first had the idea and your evidence for why you believe so. This is just a likely assumption. I don't know for sure.

First, let me say I agree with the fundamental opinion expressed in this movie: That access to arms is stupid and should be limited, if not forbidden (although I do not believe this is possible to achieve any more in the USA)

But, a movie about a grieving man who, in revenge for his sufferings, pins down an employee of an arms manufacturer and then involves her in a debate about the pros and cons of guns, is just not interesting. The setting sounded quite thrilling, but unfortunately, the entire movie is not. If the only way to produce thrills is to have a cockroach crawl around in front of a motion detector and have a sniper threaten to kill and kill a few people, then a movie is in trouble. Especially, because it repeats these cheap tricks too often.

I might agree with the opinion, but to deliver a 90 minute argument in its favour and call it a movie - that is a crime against my taste.

A low-key and seemingly missed thriller. Wesley Snipes provides a slow and unusually underplayed performance, with no physical fighting or glib one liners. In fact it's an extremely mature performance that shows what an overlooked actor he really is. An interesting and original storyline keeps you engaged and the continually moving camera, quick editing and fast paced story, heightens the tension as the pressures build. One of the surprising things about this film is the extremely small scale on which the movie is based, the focus switches between one room and a hotdog stand, with cuts to locations to bring in incidental characters. A thriller based around a clever idea, filled with tension, but just lacking an edge.

Not in "Liberty Stands Still"; a taught drama in which Liberty (Fiorentino) is a powerful, well connected corporate type who is held hostage in public by a sniper (Snipes) secreted in a building and armed with a sniper rifle, a remote controlled bomb, a cell phone, and oodles of hi-tech gadgetry. The film is a stylish and highly improbable chess match drama in which Snipes spends much time talking with Fiorentino via cell phone as he asserts his agenda and Los Angeles gets busy trying to deal with the threat. Character development is spread over the run time and the conclusion is somewhat less than satisfying. However, the kinetics, visuals, drama, and spy stuff are sufficient to make "Liberty...." a worthwhile and interesting escapist guy-flick. (B-)

Note - Though filmed in Vancouver according to this website, the film shows frequent aerial shots of L.A.

This is it... The beginning of the end of Wesley Snipes. He has gone straight to video. He hadn't crossed into Seagal territory yet - at this stage of his career. But he did later. Trust me. The plot is about Liberty (Fiorentino) who is the wife of a gun manufacturer (Platt). She is held hostage outside, in a Los Angeles park, by Joe (Snipes) who is blaming his daughter's death on her.

How heavy-handed could this movie get? This is "subtlety" at it's worst. In a nutshell: "don't blame the person who pulled the trigger, blame the manufacturer." Besides that, the performances are strong. Snipes is always good. Fiorentino puts some energy into her role, but it still looks like she's sleepwalking. Overall, it's for Snipes fans only.

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