Chasseur de têtes

The movie has its interesting points, but the writers left a lot of bad gaps in the plot. Ben Keats is a character who is too laid back, has no spine, and is apparently not very intelligent. It becomes quite an unbelievable story given that he is supposed to be one of the best management people in the United States.

The pace of the movie is quite slow, the twists are not unexpected, and basically its a movie about someone who is a complete pushover playing opposite a great Christian Slater role. He's comparable to his role in Very Bad Things, only the supporting cast is not even comparable.

This movie really has no redeeming qualities, and I somewhat wish I could just have the two hours of my life back that I lost. It's not Bellows' fault, the character is just terribly written.

Kristoffer Tabori's "Pursued", suffers from the screen play written by Maggie April. Mr. Tabori, an excellent actor, who has turned his attention to directing, seems to be out of his element with this movie. Thrillers that are based on revolutionary technology don't seem to translate well to the screen, as it's the case with "Pursued".

In fact, Mr. Tabori gets an over the top performance from Christian Slater, as the evil Vincent Palmer, who like all villains, seems to be miles ahead of everyone else in the story. On the other hand, Gil Bellows, who is the victim of Palmer, seems to be completely impotent to do anything, or even go to the police with the troubles he is facing. The problem seems to be exacerbated by Mr. Bellows' take on the character, as he makes him even weaker.

The result is an uneven film, that showed possibilities, but in the end, doesn't fulfill them. For a film that deals in cutting edge technology, one would think that Ben Keats, the genius behind the new program that will revolutionize cyberspace tracking, would have been aware of the spies out there, especially the scumbag that is making his life impossible, and invested in the best anti-spy software money could buy. The only point the film makes is how prevalent industrial spying is in the hands of people like the repulsive Vincent Palmer.

Vincent Palmer (Christian Slater) is a deranged headhunter preying upon unsuspecting, talented CEOs. Vincent refuses to take "no" for an answer until his victims agree to leave their present jobs and accept multi-million-dollar offers that no one can refuse.

There were two good character profiles locked in conflict in the struggle between the hyperkinetic Vincent and Ben Keats (Gil Bellows). The two characters were so different that the contrast in the rapacious Vincent and the honest Ben made for a good melodrama set in corporate America. The integrity of Ben was a breath of fresh air in today's cutthroat executive world.

Director Kristoffer Tabori provided good pacing throughout the film. There was also a clever idea in the new industry headed by Ben and his boss (Michael Clarke Duncan) called Viztrak. Their invention is a serum intended for children in the ability to use satellite technology to track a lost child anywhere in the world. It was unfortunate that the Viztrak concept was not used more extensively in this action film.

Still, this was an entertaining and suspenseful low-budget film highlighted by the contrast of two men with completely different personality profiles and outlooks on life. Their struggle made for compelling drama.

Oh my god!...this movie is terrible. The plot is silly, the goofs are very easy to find, the editing sucks, and everything is predictable. Is sad to see cool actors like Slater and Duncan Clark doing that kind of crap. The character played by Gil Bellows is probably the most stupid genius in movie history... a computer expert who can't find a way to show everybody what's happening to him. And the idea of a liquid tracking system is too much. The wife just can't believe in her husband, the boss looks strong like a bull but is terminally ill, and the security expert follows the car of a maniac without any precaution. Don't waste 2 hours of your life in this movie, really...

Ever since Heathers, made when Christian Slater was a bubblegum pop idol, he's specialized in quirky roles. They can be quirky psychotic like Heathers or quirky lovable as Kuffs. In Pursued Slater falls firmly on the psychotic side.

Parts like these allow actors to pull out all the stops and Slater does it with gusto. He's on some kind of anti-psychotic drugs and I'd hate to see him when he's not taking the meds. He's a corporate recruiter who gets hired by companies to find the best executives. Sometimes they're an easy sell and sometimes not. But one thing though, Slater never takes no for an answer.

His latest project Gil Bellows has a stubborn streak of loyalty to the company he works for and its president Michael Clarke Duncan. He does not believe that Slater has resorted to murder in the past to obtain his objective. He then gets good and sufficient reason to believe it. Slater does not like to lose at anything, he sees corporate head hunting as a blood sport and wants his trophy every time.

If you're a fan of Christian Slater this film should not be missed. Director Kristoffer Tabori had a loose rein on Slater throughout this production and he ran with it.

It's overacting to the max, but the part calls for it.