Edison

Wow. I do not think I have ever seen a movie with so many great actors that had such a pivotal role so miscast. Justin Timberlake is perhaps the single worst actor to land a bigtime role in a movie with the star power and money behind it that Edison had.

His acting was PAINFUL to observe. The story was OK and all the other characters were played by professional actors, heck, even LL Cool J was fine since he has had numerous small parts to cut his teeth on. How the director and movie company figured that Timberlake was ready for this role there is no way to comprehend.

His character ruins the entire experience since every time he is on screen you are actually rooting for the corrupt cops to cap his sorry ass, and he is supposed to be the hero... I would not waste money on this one at the theater or on video. MAYBE if you have HBO and have NOTHING else to do at 2am on a Saturday night and you are drunk and stoned, this may be OK.

Watching Timberlake in this role was like watching a human 'Kermit the Frog' act in a Hollywood Blockbuster, just didn't work at all.

This movie has some interesting things in common with a certain Tom Cruise film. That film, entitled Minority Report, is about a huge police agency that is supposed to prevent crime from happening. Here, its a special agency that patrols a city with a certain brand of martial law. Not entirely similar, but enough to recognize.

Timberlake gives enough of a performance to show he isn't just a music performer. His pairing with Morgan Freeman was alright, but I thought they didn't compliment each other enough. Plus, Freeman seems withdrawn for much of the movie and didn't provide enough of a backdrop on him.

The ending was predictable to me and the tactics were common in these movies. It was an old formula with descent results. So have a go at it if you must. But remember that Timberlake likes the ladies. "C+"

I don't remember the last time I reacted to a performance as emotionally as I did to Justin Timberlake's in "Edison." I got so emotional I wanted to scream in anguish, destroy the screen, readily accept the hopeless cries of nihilism. Timberlake is horribly miscast; in fact, casting him is like casting Andy Dick to play the lead role in "Patton," or Nathan Lane to play Jesus. But that is almost beside the point.

Timberlake is simply a bad actor and he would be equally terrible in any role. I used to have problems with Ben Affleck's acting talent, but Timberlake makes Affleck look like Sir Ian McKellen or Dame Judi Dench. With his metrosexual lisp (read lithp), his boyish glances and emotional expressions which derive from something like "The 25 Cliché Expressions for Actors," he poisons the screen upon which he is inflicted mercilessly, and no matter how you slice it, I do not and will not buy his role as an amateur-turned-crusader-for-justice journalist. It simply will not fly.

However, Timberlake alone isn't to blame for his failure. Director David J. Burke puts him not only in the (essentially) primary role, but also places him aside Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, John Heard, Dylan McDermott, Cary Elwes and (I'm surprised he was as good) LL Cool J. I can imagine one almost physically suffering watching some of this cast interact with Timberlake.

There is an upside to this of course: the moment any of these actors interact without Justin there it feels like a double relief. A pleasure, if you will. Freeman and Spacey may not have more than 10 minutes of screen time alone together, but that ten minutes is blissful in contrast to their scenes with our so-called hero. Dylan McDermott is also a breath of fresh air.

But enough of Timberlake bashing - words aren't enough in this particular case to do the trick. "Edison" is a very, very run-of-the-mill corruption story. It's plot ranges from cliché to simply preposterous. I do, however, admire the motivation behind making it, which I interpret as an homage to films like "Serpico," or "Donnie Brasco," or maybe even "Chinatown." Don't get me wrong - "Edison" is not even in the same ballpark as these films, but I can stretch my suspension of disbelief to admire its reason for existence, perhaps to justify my sitting through it.

The script, in and of itself, features some surprisingly bad writing. Yes, it has some decent interchanges, but any conversation between Piper Perabo (who is wasted here) and Timberlake seems like it was lifted straight out of a Dawson's Creek episode. It's your typical far-too-glib-for-reality, let's-impress-the-audience-with-how-well-we-articulate (and fail) dialogue. This dialogue, mind you, is punctuated by great music at the wrong moments - sometimes it feels like "Edison" wants to morph into a music video, where the emotion of the scene is not communicated through acting, but precisely through the badly chosen music and variant film speeds (read slow-motion).

Thinking about it, "Edison" is a curiosity. It's sure as hell got a cast to kill for but the performances are marred by Timberlake who simply doesn't work. In film as in most art, if one thing is off, the whole thing feels off. Directors must make tough choices. David J. Burke missed the mark here. Some of the scenes play well in and of themselves, but as a whole, they don't seem to fit like puzzle pieces from different puzzles forced into one incoherent picture. And it's not particularly an exciting puzzle to begin with.

Oh please... the worst movie ever?? Not even close. Any movie with Spacey and Freeman can't be all that bad. McDermott was actually pretty good. His 'bad boy cop' routine worked and LL Cool Jay was even OK as his partner. Nothing special but come on. Worst movie? You obviously don't see that many!

Bad cops vs cub reporter / aging veteran reporter. Not the most original story but there were enough action scenes to keep me interested and with the exception of Timberlake, the acting was good and the directing was quick and clean.

The worst part of the movie was Spaceys wig.

The film deals about the powerful Edison foundation and the elite force called F.R.A.T. At the beginning movie is told by off-voice with following words: ¨You're big venue now. Global commerce,sports franchises, chit-char cafés. But you don't get it because you don't see it. Life is not what you think it is. Because of guys like us, you can go on thinking it, till reality sets on. Reality's annoying. The first thing you do when it hits you is wonder where we are , we do our crap. But remember, it's a dirty world. And without us, it's be a whole lot dirtier. Welcome to Edison! ¨.

Agent Deed(LL CoolJ) and his violent pal, the sergeant Lazerov(Dylan McDermott)pull off a busting into domicile of Rook and Isaiah. Lazarev kills Rook and steals cocaine,money and arms; Isaiah is accused and convicted in courtroom. A young investigative journalist named Pollack (Justin Timberlake)with aspiration to win Pulitzer prize investigates the evidences and unearth deeds about complete corruption of justice system and abuses with brute force by police force. Then, his life and his sweetheart(Piper Parabo)are threatened, but she goes in coma. As he teams up with his jaded newspaper editor(Morgan Freeman), once-famed photographer in Cambodia, and an investigator(Kevin Spacy)working for district attorney,DA(Gary Elwes).

This exciting film packs noisy action, car chase, explosion,shoot out, and continuous intrigue . It's a noir movie plenty of suspense, thrills, dirty cops with a Police Departmment corrupt and some of violence for police brutality and shots in the forehead and the back. The movie is well performed by a plethora of excellent actors, Freeman, Cool, John Heard and a sensational baddie by Dylan McDermott, among others. Colorful cinematography and stirring musical score by Machine Head. The motion picture is professionally directed by David Burke, though with some flaws. Rating : Acceptable and passable.