Avenger

The film is based on the novel by Frederick Forsyth, who coincidentally also penned "The Kill List, "The Day of The Jackal" and "The Odessa File", all which became films. His craftmanship is nothing short of cat/mouse routine. The film turned out to be rather well done. A TNT made for TV movie with Sam Elliot ( Roadhouse, The Mask) at the helm as a former Vietnam Special Forces cleaner. There is great character drive in this film and Timothy Hutton plays a CIA operative sent to stop his character. The plot is very good as Elliot's character is out to right a few wrongs. Strong delivery, great pace of the film and well worth a look at. I give this 6 out of 10

I read the book twice. It is very well written as are most of Frederick Forsyth's books. When I heard the movie was out, I made a special effort to watch it. What a disappointment. This made-for-TV movie deviates in many details from the book. Of course it is not unusual for a screen play to deviate from the book it is based upon. However, in my opinion, there was no need to have this screenplay deviate from Forsyth's book. The location and description of the "home" of the bad guy is gutted in the movie. The scenes where the bad guy is brought to task are a sad parody of the book. The "secret" that is revealed at the end of the book was omitted in the movie, which means the whole use of the "secret" becomes a disconnect. And, as much as I like Sam Elliot as an actor, in this case the part of Cal Dexter was seriously miscast. I will not bother to watch this movie again. My recommendation: read the book and skip this movie.

You can see it is a television movie. There is not much quality to it. They didn't put a lot of effort making this movie. Maybe with a higher budget the movie could have been better. You could do something decent with the story, even though it's one of those typical I'm-a-good-guy-with-a-conscience-and-take-all-the-bad-guys-down-by-myself. It's a revenge action movie, but one without a budget, and I'm sorry to say not great acting. Sam Elliott has been better in other movies but in this one it's all cliché and average. It's clearly been made to entertain a television public on a rainy day. It's watchable but that's about it. I would rather pick another movie if you haven't seen this one. I'm sure you can find better without having to search too far.

I am actually not surprised that some people liked this movie, it's the same thing with the junk food, the more you eat it, the more you want it. The same principle applies here, and there will be some happy customers at the end. So, if you like generic, mindless movies, where unbelievable characters do unbelievable things, you'll like this movie. The premise of the movie is something that was recycled many times over. Forsyth is considered to be one of the most popular authors. However, being popular does not make you a good writer. Even in the 'Jackal', his much acclaimed book, the characters of the OAS are portrayed in a flat, one dimensional manner (you keep wandering why there are people who are willing to sacrifice themselves for a such a cause), but this was (mercifully) not the focal point of that story, and it did not stick out that much. (>>>This part may contain spoilers<<<) The 'Avenger', on the other hand, is focused on such a premise, and we learn very little about the main character and nothing about the main villain, or his fight, except that he is a psychopathic killer (together with his fellow Serbs, a fact speaking how much generic the script is). Forsyth uses the stereotypes left and right, to the point that there is no single original part in his story - first, you have a strong silent hero, who actually might be a hidden psychopath himself (considering his Vietnam past), played by Sam Elliott. Sam Elliott is a lovable actor, a perfect cowboy, but here he does not belong (least because he is over 60 and walks like he needs a hip replacement). His daughter is killed by a foreigner, who happens to be a Panamanian serial killer (because Americans are not capable of such crimes, or because we would relate in an unexpected way to an American serial killer? - no, in Forsyth's lack of imagination, this was a way to show a man beyond the reach of justice). Sam is out to avenge a man killed in Bosnia together with his girlfriend by psycho-killer Serbs (incidentally, there were also six children killed during the same incident, because this is how many children Serbs need to kill in order to be hated?). The girlfriend happens to share the last name with the former president of Croatia, showing the depth of the source of Forsyth's information ("the research", says Forsyth, 'there I was one day sitting in my living room, drinking tea and reading the newspapers, and bam!, there it was, in front of me, my new book!'). The plot never thickens, and the sequence of predictable events follows. The directing is mediocre and did not help in improving the experience (one of the most annoying things were the flashbacks with a 'whoooosh' sound). The action scenes are done without much thought or skill (first fight with the guard who actually ambushes the main character would be, in normal life, the end of the story). In all honesty, there are some bright moments - the CIA director, portrayed by James Cromwell was one of them. If somebody told me that he is, indeed, a CIA director, I might believe. He became an archetypal chief of a governmental institution and he is good at it. Timothy Hutton repeats his role from the 'Nero Wolfe Mystery', but with the sinister twist - that is, he twists arms here. Not enough for me to like the move, or even get close to it. On a good day, I would give it 3/10. But this is not my good day, and Mr.Smith gives it 2/10...

Being a big Forsyth fan, I lapped this one up. The names, James Cromwell, Timothy Hutton and Sam Elliott sounded good and I knew the book. But, I'm afraid something happened in the scripting of Forsyth's book because this film goes from the precision, step by step thriller that is the book to a plodding, happenstance event that disappoints rather than satisfies. The premise of the book is based on the gutsy exploits of the tunnel rats in Viet Nam who went into the tunnels after the enemy. The movie builds on that but loses it in the wrap-up. The ending works on too many circumstantial contingencies and loses the planning and excitement of Forsyth's style. In short, in comes off not bad but rather mediocre. Too bad, as this film had a lot of talent to work with and an exciting thriller. Too bad the script writer didn't know how to put together a workable ending.