Encrypt

I watched most of this film recently but had to leave towards the end due to an appointment. It was by no means a great movie but it wasn't terrible either. In fact I was drawn in after a while. I agree that with a bit more budget this could have been really good. A couple of things that would have helped a lot are more interesting sets and perhaps a sexier girl in the role of the hologram. This might have created a bit of sexual tension thats always a good thing. The actress that played the role was OK but i don't think the camera found her very compelling. Grant Show isn't especially charismatic either but hes not bad. I liked the suits they wore and the guards looked pretty decent also. At times the constant and slow paced moving from room to room got a bit tedious but thats why i say the scenery could have been more interesting, giving the viewer more visual twists if not plot twists. Overall, its not a bad way to spend some time, i would take it over 75 percent of Arnold's movies...I gave it a six, almost a seven. Sorry i missed the ending, but thats OK i can catch it later.

A user comment by Roger Tay states: "How on earth does dreck written as badly as this actually get made?" Well Roger, let me explain.

This was an original script and I happen to know the screenwriter on this project, (God I love living in L.A.). I read the script way before it was produced. This is not what was written. Producers, and there are many on a project, try to dance around each other making changes to justify their existence.

When enough changes are made, the producers bring in another writer who knows nothing of the original intent of the writer and tries not only to make the lame changes the producers want, but will do his/her best to change at least 51% of the script in order to share a full "screenplay by" credit on the project. And that's how this was re-written.

So, to answer your question.... you take a bunch of 30 year olds who know how to dress but know nothing about story telling and give them a decent script to destroy.

Guys,

As the author of the EnCrypt screenplay that was the basis for the Sci Fi Channel movie of the same name, I must point out that writers receive no credit when a film is good (because it's the result of the 'director's vision'), and often all of the blame when it's bad ("Man, this was a piece of crap! What was that writer thinking?")

The EnCrypt film is not the spec screenplay I wrote, which, after all, was shiny enough to sell to strangers at the Sci Fi Channel. Another writer was brought in behind me and extensive changes were made resulting in the film you saw. If anyone is interested I'll email them the original spec screenplay. Judge for yourself what EnCrypt would have been in a perfect world.

The world is not perfect.

-- Richard Taylor

While Encrypt was watchable due to its ok production quality, the feeling this left me with was just how low quality the plot was and that this production was just made for the sake of making a sci-fi production.

The challenges faced by the protagonists during the show seemed like they were inserted just to pad out its length. In addition they weren't generally very interesting or convincing as actually being much of a challenge except to serve as an excuse to remove cast members. While the ending and direction of the storyline were moderately interesting, what role various cast members were going to play was pretty predictable given their shallow dialog and tacky names.

How on earth dreck written as badly as this actually gets made I have to wonder.

"Encrypt" is a medium-budget film that tries to do at least three genres simultaneously: post-apocalyptic sci-fi, commando-type action, and philosophical rumination on what it means to be a human or a machine. It achieves modest success in all three fields. Occasionally the budget constraints show through and it becomes a bit too talky, but in general the effects are pretty good and the relatively unknown actors play their parts solidly (the most familiar name is probably Vivian Wu, who appears exclusively as a hologram). The script is rather ambitious and concludes with a hopeful but not happy ending. If you can find this movie, it's worth a look. **1/2 out of 4.