Dot.Kill

At at glance, I noticed the reviewers mostly gave this movie a higher ranking than the hoi polloi. While this isn't the best movie you could watch, I don't think it belongs below a 5 rating.

Speaking broadly about movies and TV shows that feature net related activity, the bigger budget movies go with computer effects that defy any reality (think "Jurassic Park" and the line by a child "ooh! this is Unix. I know this.") while less self-obsessed low budget films are stuck with using stuff the rest of us actually use from day to day... and are therefore more realistic.

This isn't academy award material, but it's not as bad as the couple pathetic reviewers make it out to be. Any reviewer who gives a 1-2 star rating for a properly produced film should be doomed to watch "Manos" or Justin Bieber movies for life. Netflix popped it up as an average selection for me and it was some good filler time while I got some work done. It beat the heck out of old "X-File reruns."

It's watchable and sure keeps you attached to it when viewing it. It's a movie which can be seen from two viewpoints:

-1- The (dramatical) story of the main character, his live and whats happening to him. -2- Who's doing all the killing, showing it live on the internet and how will they get them or him/her and who's behind this all?

However there are many inconsistencies in the story and logic errors. That's ashame, if they weren't there I would rated it an 7 or even 8.

They are not all too disturbing if you just continue watching and don't make a big deal about these, but I can imagine some people would be irritated by them. I wasn't cause I just viewed it without too much thinking and all together it's very watchable.

OK, no special effects, please see Star Wars 3 or something. OK, no well thought out Drama. OK, no real action.

But altogether better than many other movies.....

Give it a try if you have the time.

One movie, different names... Dot.kill, Digital Reaper, Digital Killer here..... pfff seen that before, probably a bad B-movie... Well I was surprised, in a good way. Assante produced this one and I must say, it's not bad at all. I'm not a real fan of Assante, but he does a good job. You can look at it in different ways, finding the bad guy came for me in second place, Assante's struggle was for me more interesting. A movie with 2 stories, if you want to see a good b-movie with a human story to tell watch it. I wasn't bored during the movie and that says something. I've seen better movies but there are a lot worse than this one.

I was kind of surprised to find a straight to video police thriller by a mainstream director, John Irvin, and starring a mainstream actor, Armand Assante. What didn't surprise me at all was its weak disjointed story with very little sense guiding the cops' actions in finding the killer.

A couple things were done alright. The locations of the crimes (which are all shown live on the internet, hence the title) are always cool derelict industrial settings. None of them are used to very good effect, but they are good locations. Armand Assante brings a lot to the unfortunately underwritten role of the morphine addict detective. The sad part is that this addiction was a lazy screenwriter's device to take the place of character development, punctuate almost every scene (Assante faithfully coughs away any plot-related dialogue), and generate "suspense" in later scenes. Although, the dimension of his character, as a supposedly obsolete detective matching wits with a high-tech criminal, is still a good idea.

The identity of the killer is not very hard to guess. In fact the central plot of the picture is a bleeding cliché, surrounded by the window dressing of would-be character development, seemingly as a distraction. This was obviously a low budget picture, but it wasn't the budget that holds the movie back from its potential, it's the weak script and the failure on the part of the director, cinematographer, editor, to create a harmoniously atmospheric thriller out of this routine cop-vs-bad-guy movie.

"Dot.Kill" is pretty obviously trying to do some of what "Se7en" did so well and that "Fear dot com" tried to do. However, it just doesn't have the same freshness that "Se7en" had (and really hasn't lost) nor does it have the atmosphere and aesthetic grace. I can't say I'm surprised, but I'm always upset when I see missed potential. Just go watch any David Fincher movie instead.

Armand Assante was OK, as usual, even if he looked like a grandfather. The movie itself was a TV quality script, with low budget and a predictable story. I wish there was more to say, but there really isn't.

The plot revolves around a cop trying to catch a murderer who kills people live on the Internet. If you watched Criminal Minds you would certainly see the "Angel of Death" pattern and quickly realize who the killer is.

Bottom line: do not rent, do not see at cinema, only watch it on TV when you're really tired.