Absolute Deception

This movie starred a couple of pretty faces that knew nothing about playing simple make-believe (acting). The acting was so bad that one could have transported the actors on the stage of SNL and you would have thought they were performing a parody. They exaggerated the seriousness of their characters to the point that they could have been with Leslie Nielson on board the movie "Airplane". Cuba acted on the script that was given to him, and it left him looking like an amateur. This was so bad on so many levels. I guess they had to push it in the market places (trusting enough people would watch it) to pay off the cost of making it. The director should have directed himself right out of doing any more movies, and the actresses...well don't quit your day job.

There were 16 reviews for this film and I read them all. They all have valid points, and I thought the 4.2 rating was fair as well.

The opening credits immediately told me that this was a film with a limited budget, although I hoped for better with one famous actor starring.

I soon got engrossed with the film and lost my low-budget reservations. There were a few little continuity issues. But overall, not too bad.

Though I an not a police detective, nor reporter or journalist, I do have enough knowledge to know that police investigations do not operate nearly this bad.

Though I am not a crime scene investigator, I also know that there would be enough police to be stationed outside a crime scene where a multiple murder has taken place for days or even weeks upon end and nobody with a 2 block radius would just walk nearby without being questioned - especially in a wealthy neighborhood,just as the dead wife's house.

Let alone have people wander around on the very evening of the murder investigation without having police stationed outside or inside the house.

This story could have been very good had some thought been put into it, but I can only assume that the budget did not have enough to cover another 40 rewrites and proper effective detective research and operation techniques as well as computer hacking methods.

The entire script is crap from opening scene to closing scene.

This was not even amateur writing, this was so poor in construction that amateurs should feel proud.

It was an easy payday for Cuba and a nice vacation, because there is no other reason to want to sign onto something this bad when you are as established like him.

Crap script and a shame that somebody would sign off on this as something that was good enough to be released for TV or DVD viewing.

Baad, bad, bad.

Thought a 1 was a bit harsh, it's a watchable film, with a mystery to it.

Aussie director Brian Trenchard-Smith's reputation for squeezing every penny while delivering action mixed with a somewhat warped sense of humour is on scant display in his latest project, Absolute Deception. Queensland's sun-drenched Gold Coast is the perfect backdrop for a high- stakes game of cat and mouse, and the film makes for a mostly tolerable experience, but lacks any point of difference amidst the stunted landscape of action-thrillers.

Cuba Gooding Jr. plays a no-nonsense FBI agent who witnesses the murder of Miles, a man about to placed in witness protection. In giving the bad news to the victim's wife (the stunning Emmanuelle Vaugier), we learn that Miles faked his death two years prior, setting up a web of lies that seem to tie in with Miles' shady second wife and Murdoch-esque media mogul Mr. Osterberg.

Gooding and Vaugier display solid chemistry as the reluctant tag team, and their snappy interplay forms the highlight of the film. Unfortunately, outside of these fleeting moments of creativity, there is little else to stimulate the senses script-wise. Even more surprisingly, it is actually Vaugier, as the nosy and fearless reporter Rebecca Scott, who drives most of the plot. Meanwhile, Gooding feels more like a bit player despite his top billing, leaving much to be desired considering he is infinitely the more interesting character.

Although highly revered by a man who built an empire on cinematic thrills in Quentin Tarantino, Trenchard-Smith fails to impose his will on the film's direction. This isn't without giving it a decent shake-up in the process, but every time Absolute Deception looks primed for a step into the big leagues it grounds out in a blaze of unfettered predictability; a matinée shell of something that could've been a ton of fun.

*There's nothing I love more than a bit of feedback, good or bad. So drop me a line on jnatsis@iprimus.com.au and let me know what you thought of my review. If you're looking for a writer for your movie website or other publication, I'd also love to hear from you.*