Sofia

"No questions, that's all I ask." When members of the Most Wanted terrorist list in Europe begin to get killed off the US Ambassador (Sutherland) sends for the best of the best. A former FBI field agent (Slater) begins to investigate. Judging by the plot and the cast this is one I was all ready to watch and enjoy. I had high expectations and was excited to see this. Then the movie started. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. The acting was OK, but the movie was just so incredibly slow moving that I really found it had to pay attention to. This really felt like a made for TV movie with better actors. There have been a lot of anti-terrorist movies lately and none of them seem to really be that interesting. This one had the possibility of being one of the best. Then I watched it. While not as bad as the Steven Segal or Dolph Lundgren movies that have been coming out it's still not anything to rush out and see. Overall, long and boring and hard to stay focused on. I give it a C-.

As a Bulgarian I sometimes watch the horrible Stallone/Lundgren action flicks that get filmed in my country. I first saw the rock-bottom IMDb rating and reviews for this one, and prepared for one more night of cringing self-embarrassment. Boy, was I pleasantly surprised.

Sorry, guys, but no way you will ever get this movie. Hint: check the credits - it was primarily created by Bulgarians and half the time people in it speak in Bulgarian. This movie really was made for a Bulgarian audience and features all sorts of coy little inside jokes in the plot, poking with self-irony at bad American action films and cultural misunderstandings between our two nations. And, it actually paints a decent picture of Bulgaria and Sofia, our refined Oriental folk establishments and fine police force - sadly now we even have terrorists.

I am not saying it is a great film at all. It is at the level of good TV productions in Bulgaria and is actually very enjoyable to a Bulgarian who watches it as precisely that. How and why this was ever marketed to bloodthirsty action flick fans and sold overseas I can't say, but I kind of hope it diverted some cash from the awful Stallone stuff. Yet, you got your fair warning - just don't watch it.

It's a somewhat decent made and looking low budget genre flick, that is however suffering from a terrible written script.

Problem with the movie is that you for the longest time will have no idea what you are watching here. You have no idea who all these characters are supposed to be and where the story will be heading at. I hate it when a movie does that. It's lazy writing and not a clever way to keep the audience in the dark for as a long as possible, concerning its story.

And really, when the plot becomes apparent it gets very easy to guess each time what shall happen next. The big 'twist' also is hardly something clever at all, since probably most will figure it out half way through already. It's just too obvious all and unfortunately also nothing too convincing, making this movie and its plot quite ridicules all.

It also really makes this a pointless movie to watch. It's lacking a clear point and direction with its story and there is nothing in it that shall ever truly surprise or thrill you. Not even the action, which isn't even all that much present anyway but you can blame the budget for that.

It's a sad thing Donald Sutherland's talent has to go to waste in this movie. Well, guess it was just some easy and fast money for him, since he isn't even all that much present in this movie, though it of course still gets advertised like he is playing a big part. But same can be said for Timothy Spall really, who should be above these type of movies.

Just not a very good movie to watch.

4/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Just imagine a kid trying to make his first "foreign-place action movie" who has no idea about the world and cultures and has it all mixed up in his head and this is what you get. Amazingly inaccurate and confusing settings and like everyone said, dumb story. What does Bulgaria or Sofia have to do with this? And what time in the future or past is it taking place because that country and city have never looked or sounded like that. Why are American and British folks chilling in bellydancing and shisha bars?? If they said it was Turkey or middle east it would be slightly more accurate. All that arabic music in the background is hilarious! You don't hear arab music in Europe unless you go into an ethnic restaurant. So amazingly inaccurate. I can't believe there is an actual American director who mixed up cultures and countries like that. This is like making a movie in France but having Italian music in the background while people speak Spanish but actually looking like German. Total parody of a movie! Makes for decent laughs!

A horrible film, definitely and I have to say that the main reason Christian Slater and Donald Sutherland signed the contracts to play these two roles in this film was that they not only got the money to play the parts, they also got a free tour to Bulgaria at the production companies' expense. Well, why not took the opportunity in between new movie projects and went to some foreign country, stayed in the 5-star hotel, all expenses including air fares covered. They didn't have to worry about if the screenplay was a lousy one, or the supporting actors good or bad, the director....and so on, they signed on, went there, shot the film and went back to where they used to reside.

I also noticed that the leading production company, Mutressa Movies, only produced 4 films so far, including this one, but all of them were low budgets B-level films, strictly released to DVD rental market. In the meantime, another new production company, Sofia Productions, was sucked in to do business with Mutressa Movies. I really don't know why they always and could only find lousy screenplays that only received the lowest reviews all the time. Christian Slater, well, I have to say that in recent years, he's already fallen into B-movie's first choice and that is not good, man. Because once you signed on those low budget B movies, your career is doomed to go down the hill.

Donald Sutherland played the role so mindlessly easy. He is very old but still very active. When there's money to make, traveling abroad, all expenses covered, why not?