Code Pandora

Due to the character limit I'll toss good grammar to the wind and just do some run-on listing.

Pro's: possibly *zero* gratuitous swearing, pockets of appropriate orchestral music, some beautiful aerial photography and ground scenery, some experienced acting, a few nods/tributes paid to other movies including a funny Clint Eastwood-ish scene, no young-and-cookie-cutter actors, good/believable explosions, some pretty good "energy bomb" effects, excellent voice track, especially compared to some other B-movies, and the credits show *two* fire safety advisors, an excellent thing. Unfortunately, the credits got cut off to start a Pokecrap cartoon.

Con's: movie can't hold my attention for long spurts, something about Baldwin's hair is very bad, some amateurish and over-cooked acting, a guy gets shot on left and spins to the right, another guy gets shot on left and falls backward, straight to the floor like a stiff board that got hit dead-center, some unnecessary "Old West" guitar-twangin' and some attempts at humor that seem badly written and/or poorly acted.

The plot is hackneyed and I believe that some of the footage was actually taken from Top Gun and Patriot Games. This is just a BAD movie, which is a pity because Baldwin has done some quality stuff in the past, and Eleniak is actually a good actress. However, it seems that both need to do projects like this to pay their mortgages.

Ok, ok, I know. Still, after HLOTS, Trees Lounge and Vampires; if I see one he's in, I take a peek. He's the only Baldwin brother who can truly act, when he has the script *or*, as I see here, when he has enough direction keeping him from just walking through a movie he obviously made just to pay bills. The poor acting by all involved was painful to watch.

Not that there's much to do in this one here, the plot is lame, unexciting and predictable and the filming routine and uninspired.

After someone once adamantly told me, that for a screenwriter to be read at all means a break of luck, to be produced is like winning the state lottery and how much horrid, amateur scripts are out there through which producers have to wade, well after that I keep wondering just how duds like this one sneak past. Because this *is* a bad story, a bad plot, a bad film, an entire waste of people's time -- where did they get the money for it?

My high school students write better.

This is a lousy action film that at least confirm two things. First Erika Eleniak deserves to be in better movies and that the Baldwin brothers should be banned from Hollywood. Daniel Baldwin, I Think (I don't know and I don't care frankly), plays the hero and from the first scene you know that he knows he's gonna win. He's too confident and too impressed with himself. I don't know if this is a spoof or what? Hell even Steven Seagal gave a better performance in "Under Siege". Baldwin never look like he's in peril. I almost kicked the TV set in after he came up in that Eastwood get up. As for the action sequences they were laughably bad and shot in the most amateurish way. How come those current Hong Kong directors can come up with great action sequences and they have smaller budgets than this. As for Erika Eleniak she played her part straight and for the most part it worked, she is a good actress whose career was ruined by being a playboy playmate.

This movie is probably one of the worst action movies I've ever seen. The plot (if there is one) is the same as in all simple action movies. That's not too bad really. However, they managed to make it even worse. Seeing an overweight guy walking in the middle of nowhere pretending he's a super marine is terrible. The special effects are a disaster... Eye candy consists of the occasional bright flash (*duh*). The stupid girl-gets-caught-by-enemy; guy-frees-girl; guy-kills-enemy routine is mind-numbingly dull. In short: I wouldn't recommend this movie even to my arch-enemy.