Proximity

I'm sorry but who put this thing together? This is a very sad example of something. Um, could it be nepotism? I dunno. It's difficult to imagine anyone putting money behind a production of such low, stunningly inept calibur. I simply feel shocked that this film was made. "Proximity" is an incredibly empty attempt, in every filmic aspect. Very sad. Give me the money and stop wiping your bums with it, LOL! Was this written solely by the computer program Dramatica?

I saw this alleged B-level movie on a sleepless night. Although these conditions hardly qualify to say that a movie caught your attention because it was so good, I must admit I found it very intriguing, not because of its quality, but because of half its quality. I'll explain.

The strange thing about this movie is that it appears to be made in two stages, clearly distinct in cinematography, script and acting. I'm not saying it was, but it would explain why these two parts are so different.

In the "background part", the mechanics of the Justice For Victims movement are displayed, with victims and relatives lamenting the abstracted judicial system which is too lenient on perpetrators and does not care about the victims' justice. The movement's chief sets up an alternative circuit, where perpetrators are killed or "sentenced to death" so to speak, paying the killers with money financed by the victims, while some of it sticks to the hands of the movement's chief and the corrupt prison manager. This whole idea of restoring the old "eye for an eye" has been crafted very well, with sublime acting by the victims in an almost documentary fashion, and the intense characterization of the chief, whose motives are revenge, money, power and some true sense of justice altogether. It installs a double bind with the viewer, who sympathizes with the victims but struggles with the morals of revenge outside law.

The "foreground part" however, starring Rob Lowe, is your way below average stupid "escape, run and get shot at" B-movie, with only a handful of villain guards and a mole inmate running and shooting about, complete with a romantic happy end, pulling the movie away from reality entirely.

I could not help but feel that this movie was initially based on a sublime script, when half way some box office oriented but lame producer entered the scene, replaced the story writers with cheap off-shore scenarists and added a bunch of stars to turn it into an easy going action movie. It must have gone like that. How else to explain the discrepancy between the two parts?

I missed the first half hour of this, while watching something else on cable. Nobody has yet reported on it, so here's what I can contribute. The film was certainly better than average for its genre, which is pretty top-heavy with trash. The story-line is definitely imaginative, escaping quite well from the same-old-same-old. It should come as no surprise to anyone that James Coburn did not become a better actor during his absence from the screen, but he was not badly cast in his role. In general, a watchable film. With 20-odd choices on my digital cable, anything I watch is at least in the 95th percentile, which makes it about *** out of five.

Prisoner Rob Lowe in the Ohio State prison system for a vehicular manslaughter charge overhears a murder plot being hatched by a pair of prison guards. Little does he realize he's next on the list and the prison warden has a nice side business in getting rid of prisoners that should have gotten capital punishment.

Lowe was a professor carrying on with one of his teenage students some years back and he was intoxicated and killed her in the crash. When his wife left him after that and he went to jail he got a chance to take a good look at himself.

Still some wanted him dead and guards Jonathan Banks and Terrence Carson and fellow inmate David Flynn are ready to do the deed. But a freak mishap leaves Lowe free and looking for answers.

In this minor thriller Lowe does a good job as an almost Hitchcock like protagonist with forces arrayed against him whom he does not know and their reasons. Joe Santos is the malevolent warden and James Coburn plays a victim's rights advocate to whom this all traces back.

A decent enough if not outstanding thriller.

There are a variety of reasons to watch this interesting and visually off-kilter piece. As a story, it leaves a little to be desired, and Rob Lowe's performance doesn't do a lot for me. But the supporting actors are a real joy, and the real reason to watch. James Coburn is as good as ever; Joe Santos is always fun, and Jonathan Banks is superb as the bad guy who might not be as bad as he seems.