Perfil

I am disturbed by the review that I read by "An Impartial Reviewer" and how they commented that the movie and director only portrayed the dark side of Isis. What?!? Hold on a gosh-darn tick! "Only the dark side"?!!! There is NO LIGHT SIDE TO ISIS!!! They are TERRORISTS, for "Effs" sake! TERRORISTS! They murder innocent people. They cut of their heads, they stone them and the blow them up. They sure do love killing women and children and selling women as sex slaves. There is nothing light or good about them. NOTHING!

It astonishes me that a movie set entirely on a computer screen can be in any way entertaining, and yet all the movies I've ever seen using that concept ('Unfriended 1 and 2', 'Host', 'Searching' and now 'Profile') are terrific. The concept requires a really well crafted script that moves at a lightning pace. 'Profile' does this extremely well too because it never feels like it's rushing either. I had a really good time with this movie.

The thing about this story is that it feels very real. Obviously it is based on a true story which helps, but the subject matter is very raw. Ghosts and demons attacking people can be scary, but it's always in your mind that they aren't actually real. Terrorists on the other hand are extremely real and are always in the deep recesses of our minds. This creates a very uneasy feeling that the film gives to its audience.

I was going to be very interested in how dark the ending of the film got. Found Footage films are notorious for having particularity brutal and ominous endings (one of the main reasons I lover them so much). I liked the ending 'Profile' went with, but I think I would've liked them to take an extra step further to really keep the film memorable. That's one of the only flaws I found though in an otherwise extremely good film. I highly recommend this one.

7/10 - probably my least favorite of the Screenlife thrillers (I have an unhealthy obsession with Unfriended and Searching), but still a really interesting true life story about ISIS recruiting all on the computer screen.

516. Profile. The whole movie takes place looking at a laptop screen, I thought I was going to be bored out of my mind, but I was wrong, it was well done. Again though, the trailer is most of the movie. But that is just the way things are these days, no surprises in cinema released movies. The story is about a journalist, Amy, posing as another younger girl, Miranda, and how she comes in contact with, Bilel who's part of a terrorist organization, and how that organization recruits young women from foreign countries, promising them love, then sell them into slavery. What a world!! It shows Amy's relationship with Bilel and how his words may be working on her, shows her work life and social life spiraling out of control! So basically, it's a public service announcement brought to you by Skype, Facebook, and Microsoft on watching who you talk to over the internet! Builds up to a pretty scary ending, that's apparently based on a true story, swell. Filmbufftim on FB.

Online seductions are many and varied and not new to those of us who engage with the Internet regularly. Profile takes the online search further than Searching or Her did by showing an undercover journalist, Amy (Valene Kane), being recruited by ISIS as easily as you might order a pair of socks from Amazon. Based on a true story, Profile has cultural and global inferences as many as the seduction techniques.

Brit reporter Amy interacts with recruiter Bilel (Shizad Latif), who thinks she is a naïve young aspirant for ISIS. Such is the power of the Internet to bring world computer travelers together in real time showing real emotions. In a sub-genre of the Stockholm Syndrome, Amy falls for Bilel and eventually agrees to marry him.

Profile doesn't give much information on Amy's background to justify why she falls for the dangerously charismatic, except for her clueless boyfriend, Matt (Morgan Watkins), who is one of the reasons such an attractive woman would go to the other side. Yet, the film is not really about being a recruit for global cult ISIS; it is about how the medium of the Internet, with the dexterity it gives to cons like Bilel, makes crooks out of the smartist of us.

Or should I say in Bilel's case, to a charming grifter are given the tools to conquer the world. On an esthetic note, Valene and Shizad are gifted performers who could sell just about anything. Likewise, director Timur Bekmambetov and writers Britt Poulton and Olga Kharina have crafted a thriller that shows the awful potential of the Net, even more than the notorious ISIS.

Persuasion has a new level of sophistication: Witness two smart operatives persuading each other. Profile will add to your understanding of human emotion and the power of the computer.