Um Mundo Irreal

...from the train, and almost all the way through the part where Ben (Andrew McCarthy, playing the FBI agent) is telling Billy's (Aaron Lohr, playing the really bad guy) sister (Portia de Rossi, playing the sister) about his mom dying because he was put in a room with an electric doorknob. Now, this was my second time viewing the movie. The first time it was on I wasn't able to pay much attention to it, but was able to catch the premise, and I made a mental note to watch it again and pay attention. Big mistake! Sure, it starts out OK, but when Billy's sister gets in there, it becomes completely implausible. In a matter of minutes we get... 1) FBI agent enters secure room to interview really bad guy and sister just walks in. 2) FBI agent gets in a pushing match with sister, totally ignores really bad guy, who escapes. 3) FBI agent jumps into car to chase really bad guy and sister gets in the back. 4) FBI agent gets into helicopter to chase really bad guy and sister gets in it. 5) FBI agent has a choice, chase running really bad guy or help fellow agent stuck in truck on railroad tracks with train coming. Sister says screw fellow agent and chase really bad guy.

I ended up watching this movie because well there was nothing else on and I recommend watching paint dry, grass grow, anything in fact other than this movie. The premise is intriguing enough in the beginning, there are assassins running around, and they are tied to this weird behavioral scientist. But before you get to the conditioning, you get perhaps the worst car chase in history, they appear to be going the speed limit, not really riveting action. The action scenes are boring, the plot relatively see through, you can guess most of what will happen. The ending however is truly ridiculous, as everything comes together in what has to be the stupidest conspiracy story ever. My recommendation don't waste your time.

A disappointingly routine action thriller with an interesting premise in that conditioning - used in laboratories to shape the behaviour of animals, the most famous case being that of Pavlov's dogs - is used on children to transform them into ruthless murderers. Unfortunately the premise is only a set-up for some stale antics involving a captured killer, and his subsequent escape and chase. By the end of the film we've gone through the run-of-the-mill confessionals and surprises but the film only impresses us during the frenetic action sequences, which are well-choreographed for a television music and enlivened by some pulse-pounding music. The opening in particular is a real showstopper with a public assassination attempt followed by an explosive double suicide. There's also some cool antics involving a train and a helicopter which makes for one hell of a cliffhanger.

Unfortunately the film becomes less interesting as it goes along, packed full of plot contrivances and attempts at mood which aren't too successful. It ends in a final shoot-out which really isn't that interesting and a bit of an anticlimax. The D-grade casting doesn't help this film much either. Firstly we have the bland straight-to-video man Andrew McCarthy as the hero, Ben Carroway. No matter what role he plays, good or bad, McCarthy just seems to be so damn boring in every film he appears in that you can't care less about him. The much better and under-appreciated actor Robert Patrick (TERMINATOR 2) is relegated to a useless comic-relief irritating sidekick type role when in reality he would have been much better as the hero. Portia de Rossi makes for a sassy and beautiful love interest/female lead but her character is given nowhere to go and extraneous to the plot. Old-timer Nick Mancuso is the mad scientist bad guy but he plays it low-key, with none of the overacting you might expect from the role. A BREED APART is only worth watching if you're really stuck for something on telly, as the couple of good action sequences it does have are surprisingly well-staged, but as a film it's a failure.

I don't think it deserves all the negative comments it has gotten, but that's just my opinion. If other reviewers didn't like it, they have the right to say so. So be it. It wasn't the best made-for-TV movie I've ever seen but it wasn't the worst either.

I did like it well enough to watch it when it came on CineMAX and I was entertained by it. This same sort of "conditioning" that was depicted in "Telefon" in 1977. I'm sure the concept has been used in a few other films as well. I watched it all the way through to see how they chose to end it and ended up enjoying the experience despite my disappointment.

My favorite part is when Lana shows Leo she can "handle herself" as she puts it. The reaction is subtle but unmistakable. I laughed out loud when I saw it. However, I was a bit disappointed at the ending but based on the time when it was made, I guess I should have expected it.

I wouldn't recommend this movie to younger kids as some of the content is a bit gruesome and I can see how it earned its TVMA rating. But as far as entertainment value goes, I liked it well enough to add it to my collection. I give it 5 out of 10.

I have a bit of a confession to make. I kinda sorta got to liking Aaron Lohr a couple months back. Unfortunately the first thing I saw him in consciously knowing it was him was the VH1 movie about The Monkees and...well...he made me mad in it because, let's face it, he didn't fill the part of Micky Dolenz. Sorry good buddy.

But I decided to give him another chance. So I picked up this movie to see what it may be like and to see Robert Patrick again other than an evil shape-shifting robot like in T2. Let me tell you, this movie made me feel so much better after the VH1 movie. It was so awful that I was laughing my head off. Funny though, I found it in the Adventure section of the store and not Comedy. The plot was terrible, the story was that worthy of late Sunday Night Sci-Fi Channel and the acting was...well, take a guess at it. I'd just like to thank this movie for giving me the biggest laugh I'd had in a good couple months. Sorry Aaron ol' pal. My advise is stick to musicals and dancing and the Gap commercials, not this.