Operação Sofia

Sorry to say, but this Bulgaria-made movie is by far the most idiotic piece of cinema you could possibly imagine. It is hard to believe this had a budget of 5 million to work with and I guess most of it went into paying Slater and Spall, whom I would hardly imagine will take the part without a substantial paycheck. Concentrating on the actual movie, I would start with the story, which is non-existent and so badly written you could hardly follow what exactly is going on. Advertised as an action movie, the action is so little you could easily fall asleep. The biggest fight scene between Slater and the woman near the end is banal and completely detached from the entire plot (if there is any plot at all), that it makes you wonder if they just needed Slater to be brutally beaten because he was so stupid to take the part. The woman, whose name I can't bother to remember is such a bad actress, it made me feel uncomfortable and I would strongly advice her to find a real job as acting can hardly get worse nowadays...not to mention how incredibly unnatural everything she does is. I never say this about any woman, but sometimes people who are obviously terrible actors are cast because of their good looks - not the case here unfortunately, but then again I doubt there were any auditions for the role as the actress is also the writer. Screenplay-wise I would say this is the most unrealistically portrayed Bulgaria ever seen. You see scenes more suited for Iraq or Afghanistan 20 years ago rather than Bulgaria. Buying typical Arab clothing on the street in a European country is very unusual even for a movie. I assume the author wanted to ridicule the current situation in Bulgaria, where corruption and organised crime are thriving but involving some middle-Eastern terrorists and basically making it look like Bulgaria is more or less the center of modern day terrorism is moronic. I am not going to discuss the endless belly dance scenes and perverted moments involving Slater in a public place seemingly having an orgasm, but one thing is certain - sexuality does not always sell!

I would not recommend this piece of "action" to anyone, who considers themselves moderately intelligent! In fact I would not recommend it even as a joke as that would be too cruel!

I'm stuck by the 10 line requirement, too. I could lift the best bits from the previous reviews. Anyway, this movie was awful, almost laughably terrible. I, too, could not figure out what fine actors like Donald Sutherland and Christian Slater were doing in it. But I just read an article about actors who don't see their pictures, just the pools and cars that they buy. Watching Slater become lovestruck by the female lead was hilarious. She's a belly dancer with a pretty bad overbite with hideous make up and bad hair (she's lovely in person, I am sure). Say what???? She did look good in her black ninja costume. And Sutherland employed his twinkle a couple of times to good effect. But gawd - we kept watching like we would watch a train wreck and because we paid extra for the "in theaters now" cable version. Don't waste your money.

"No questions, that's all I ask." When members of the Most Wanted terrorist list in Europe begin to get killed off the US Ambassador (Sutherland) sends for the best of the best. A former FBI field agent (Slater) begins to investigate. Judging by the plot and the cast this is one I was all ready to watch and enjoy. I had high expectations and was excited to see this. Then the movie started. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. The acting was OK, but the movie was just so incredibly slow moving that I really found it had to pay attention to. This really felt like a made for TV movie with better actors. There have been a lot of anti-terrorist movies lately and none of them seem to really be that interesting. This one had the possibility of being one of the best. Then I watched it. While not as bad as the Steven Segal or Dolph Lundgren movies that have been coming out it's still not anything to rush out and see. Overall, long and boring and hard to stay focused on. I give it a C-.

It's a somewhat decent made and looking low budget genre flick, that is however suffering from a terrible written script.

Problem with the movie is that you for the longest time will have no idea what you are watching here. You have no idea who all these characters are supposed to be and where the story will be heading at. I hate it when a movie does that. It's lazy writing and not a clever way to keep the audience in the dark for as a long as possible, concerning its story.

And really, when the plot becomes apparent it gets very easy to guess each time what shall happen next. The big 'twist' also is hardly something clever at all, since probably most will figure it out half way through already. It's just too obvious all and unfortunately also nothing too convincing, making this movie and its plot quite ridicules all.

It also really makes this a pointless movie to watch. It's lacking a clear point and direction with its story and there is nothing in it that shall ever truly surprise or thrill you. Not even the action, which isn't even all that much present anyway but you can blame the budget for that.

It's a sad thing Donald Sutherland's talent has to go to waste in this movie. Well, guess it was just some easy and fast money for him, since he isn't even all that much present in this movie, though it of course still gets advertised like he is playing a big part. But same can be said for Timothy Spall really, who should be above these type of movies.

Just not a very good movie to watch.

4/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

I had high expectations for this movie because of the cast. However both Slater and Sutherland seem to be going in slow motion. Christian Slater's facial expressions, especially scenes with Timothy Spall, who is far too good for this-were of the school play ilk. All seems very amateurish and the acting from these great stars was extremely disappointing. Obviously the director who was also the author and female lead was very inexperienced and so the acting was very wooden. Bad direction, but good camera-work. The story and location were good but don't fulfill the potential. Such a shame that my wife and I wasted an evening on this. Not much more I can say just to fill my ten lines - Boring, Yawwwwwn!