User reviews

Enough said. People say that this is a rip-off of Eagle Eye. And people say that Eagle Eye is a rip-off of other movies. Echelon Conspiracy, renamed in Singapore as The Conspiracy, may be a rip-off but it does not mean that it cannot entertain. I was entertained by it. The Conspiracy has its own plot but the main idea is from Eagle Eye. It is suspenseful at times as it nears the mild twist.

The story: The pace is okay. I feel that it could be cut short on some points but anyway, the middle part caught up with the pace. The acting is a bit awkward with some of their priceless expressions. The music is quite good. This is more into a thriller than an action movie so hard-core action fans might be disappointed as it is under the action category. It had misled me into thinking that there should be a reasonable amount of action. It may look like it is a direct-to-DVD movie but it is a lot better than some direct-to-DVD movies.

Overall: It is not as bad as what a lot of people said. Definitely not the worst movie for me. At least, this tries to be fun. Some movies like recent spoof movies, you can clearly see that there is no effort taken to make the movies. People who like Eagle Eye and cannot get enough of the story, should catch this.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing. After all, let's not pretend Eagle eye was particularly original. It was essentially a warmed over version of Enemy Of The State which was probably based on some other movie I've never seen. Basically what you've got is you're super paranoid information state super computer run amok strategy here. And for the budget it actually works pretty well. The budget is far from shoe-string, but you're not going to see a national deficit's worth of special effects like you did in the two aforementioned films. Let's just all be happy this film proves that there is something that Michael Bay CAN'T get his hands on (and more than like ruin...Friday the 13th,anyone?), shall we?

The performances are all fine if not somewhat forgettable. Ving Rames succeeded once again in annoying the crap out of me, but that's nothing new. Martin Sheen is an amazingly easy replacement for Jon Voigt (who played essentially the same character in Enemy Of The State). You know, the somewhat power mad head of any given 3 letter intelligence organization (CIA, FBI, FSB, KGB, CBS, etc.) who realizes the error of his ways after everything heads south. Well...maybe not so much for Sheen, but what do you expect? The guy takes the weirdest projects. In any event, Tamara Feldman does fine as the amazingly hot but somewhat pointless love interest/double agent/tougher-than-she-looks chick. If I had one major complaint about the whole thing, it's got to be the simply massive suspension of disbelief required for all but the most hardcore of the tin foil hat crowd. While I too am concerned about the amount of surveillance used by the US government, I am not worried about being tracked by literally everything with a lens. I am well aware that not every single CCTV, traffic, bank, and security camera is accessible by anyone with an internet connection. That's why it's called CCTV...because it's CLOSED CIRCUIT. And since when do Russian hackers have technology that can get the job done better than a multi-billion dollar agency like the NSA? Whatever. It's still not a bad way to kill 100 minutes of your life. Could've used a bigger budget, but it does fine with what it has. Now if I could just figure out who's dumb enough to do anything a text message tells them I'll be set.

Firstly, let me say that the reviewers giving this film one star can't possibly have seen a truly bad movie. This is by no means mind-blowing, but is a OK attempt at the spy-thriller genre. It brings in some new aspects with regards to storyline, but ultimately coming of cliché'd and slightly cheesy.

The acting as OK, but i never base a film on it's acting unless it is visibly terrible, which this isn't. However, the scripting could have been massively improved just by taking out the attempted humour, which ultimately fails and leaves the film looking childish. The storyline starts off fairly strongly, and is fairly enjoyable to watch. However, it is clearly a copy of Eagle Eye/other similar films, but with a lower budget.

It's only let down is when the conspiracy is uncovered, leading to an ending that is resolved in a very cliché manor, which is a shame, as it could have made the movie more enjoyable if new aspects were brought in, giving it a better twist. Also, some of the characters play seemingly, very confused roles, switching sides from 'good' to 'bad' with no real explanation as such.

However, if you enjoyed films like Eagle Eye, Minority Report, The Island etc etc, then definitely give this a try. It isn't quite as good, but well worth the look if you fancy an easy to watch tech-based film. 6/10

This film got a 5 out of me, because in the end I realized this movie is a lower budget, straight to DVD version of other movies in its genre and subject matter. The film itself seemed hastily put together with what scenes they shot to muster up a simple and digestible, even if disagreeable film.

The Pros: I'll name these first to be kind. -Story and characters make sense... more on this later. -It's international, but mostly American. They travel around the world (or so they say in the film but mostly in Prague, Moscow and somewhere in the US).

The Cons: -Too many holes and unanswered questions in the script and story line. -The main character lacks intelligent initiative. -The script itself is lacking in many areas and just assumes things without presenting them to the audience. -They give too much credit to the computer and to the characters without establishing any premise.

Straight to DVD in my opinion and not worth a watch in the theater. However the premise and subject matter is somewhat realistic with the findings of Ghostnet and other information gathering computer attacks found by Canadian and US university researchers.

I'm only really commenting here because I get the sh!ts with dickheads who post comments about what an abysmal film this was when they only watched the first ten minutes of it.

Sure, it could have been done better, it's no Enemy of the State, after all, but as a reasonably enjoyable way of wasting 100 minutes, it does the job just fine.

So what if it's full of clichés, plot holes and technical faux-pas? Like, disguising your use of a cellphone by using an earpiece with a brilliant flashing blue light, well, it's something I probably wouldn't do, but I probably wouldn't unquestioningly do anything I was told to do by a text message from a total stranger.

Never mind, just enjoy it for what it is.

Nice, not boring, cliché-oriented, Martin Sheen & Ving Rhames among others, nicely packed "Eagle Eye" 50% clone, super computers going wild, the human brain winning again, the assumingly good guy in top position being called to some committee... Seen these before? So did I, but, as I said, for a rainy Saturday evening it's quite OK. It could've been worse, could've been a lot better. The script started really interesting, but lost something on the way. Nothing to do with the acting, just some childish solutions when there was room for more strong approach. Anyway, you can stay to the end credits, enjoying some action and "what's the next camera watching?"...

This movie has been the reason for me to register with IMDb ... I was expecting a lot from it and the whole story does not make sense. It is poorly written, the story and the plot do not make any sense. Martin Sheen is doing "his bit" , and the main character (sorry I don't remember his name) really does a poor acting job. The story moves fast from one place to the other, with some sort of semi-fake-love story between the main character and this "gorgeous" lady, but the story does not connect whatsoever. The locations of the movie skip to quickly (from Thailand to Czech Republic, and it hangs for an hour or so ... in the Czech Republic. I definitely found it very boring to watch no characters evolve, the storyline being very weak, and the plot (again) is just a cheap trick.This is one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time, and I definitely do not recommend it !

I watched "The Echelon Conspiracy" last night and found it to be a fun escapism movie. Much better than "Eagle Eye" however...

The casting was horrible. Lead actor, Shane West was just dreadful - and I have enjoyed his work in other roles. And, Edward Burns as a casino boss that's an ex-FBI agent - totally unbelievable. His wimpy little voice commands no authority in this role.

All in all, the movie was fun but I can definitely see why it did not get a big U.S. release since "Eagle Eye" is probably still in everyone's mind and the miscasting of actors for the most important roles didn't help either.

Man, I cannot believe how so MANY here just stupidly mention things in their summary COMPLETELY giving away a VERY major plot point in this movie. Thank GOODNESS I didn't read any of these before watching the film or it would have totally ruined it for me...

Idiots...

Anyway, you won't get that here... There are indeed other films that really remind me of this one, but I have enough sense NOT to mention them here so as not to spoil anything for you.

Not a whole lot to say that hasn't already been said by others here. I fully enjoyed the movie. Sure, it wasn't exactly the most polished film out there, and there are some slightly awkward sequences of dialog and plot progression. The acting is not stellar, but it is okay with the script they had to work with. I really like Ed Burns and I also enjoyed the story because I like these types of themes. BUT... with that said, there ARE other films out there that tell this kind of story better.

It helps if you can forgive some of the clunky dialog and character interactions and just concentrate more on the action and story. Without giving anything away, I DO have to tell you something that I thought was kind of funny and probably a bit corny, but I have a soft spot in my heart for this. Towards the end, there is a Classic Captain Kirk moment. I won't say any more, but those of you who like the Original Star Trek Series will know exactly what I mean.

So, we are definitely not dealing with Oscar material here and there have quite honestly been other movies about this subject that are far better, but if you don't take it too seriously or expect it to be of full-on 'BOURNE' or 'MISSION IMPOSSIBLE' caliber, then I think there's a good chance that you can just sit back and have fun watching this.

I DID give it a '7', which is probably a little generous. Maybe around a 6.5 might be a bit more accurate...

This is the first time I am leaving a comment about a movie. I should have done this many times when I was satisfied or blown away by a really good piece of work like the recent Oscar-nominated films.

When I saw the trailer for this, I thought it was a rip-off of Eagle Eye. But copycats are common in Hollywood and I wanted to see Shane West again whom I adored in "A Walk To Remember".

What a disappointment! Shane's acting is lousy! I was hoping he would have matured by now. I believe he still belongs to teeny-bopper roles and he seriously needs an acting coach before he ruins any more in the future. I cannot enjoy a movie regardless how good the plot is if the lead actor fails to deliver. You can have an easy plot or a movie with hardly any special effects but if performance was outstanding, I will give that a 10 (case in point- Clint Eastwood films; Leonardo DiCaprio's acting.) Ed Burns doesn't help either - his voice together with Shane West is very irritating. I don't need to see good-looking men with no substance, no thanks.

Honestly, I didn't bother to finish the movie. I couldn't bring myself to waste any more time with it. I have no idea why Ving Rhames and Martin Sheen agreed to support this.

Watch this if you have nothing better to do.

Max (West) a computer security installer gets telephone messages telling him when to play blackjack at a casino and wins. The messages keep coming everywhere he goes. Who is sending these messages? The casino and the FBI are concerned. The previous recipients of those messages have all died. Max is concerned too.

This movie is like War Games 1, and EagleEye. Very good, suspenseful, keeps you guessing and moves at a good pace. The acting by all is excellent. It's a good story. Not much in the way of stunts or CGI, but it keeps you engaged.

I believe that most of you know what Echelon is all about. It's real, but in this story who is using Echelon to send the messages? Do I hear the word "conspiracy?" Inquiring minds, you see.

Now, I couldn't help noticing that Shane West bears some resemblance to the actor who played Doogie Howser (character in the TV show: Doogie Howser, MD). And, also Edward Burns does resemble Brian Williams (TV News Anchor) somewhat. If you look hard enough at someone you will see yourself in there. Try it. Got to look hard though. Of course, some make it easy to look like someone else because they do. Ha ha.

Anyway, all is good and worth the price of admission or DVD rental

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: One F-bomb was heard

yes its been done before but so were the ones that came before it. If films weren't remade copied or rehashed we wouldn't have much to watch. so just chill the f out there's lots worse out there! i know i would rather watch this than most of the films that get Oscars nowadays, they normally work better than a sleeping pill on me at least i stayed awake watching this! probably best to wait for DVD release if you cant make your mind up but honestly with some rating and rantings on here nowadays i really am starting to ignore them and judge myself as i have nearly missed a few little gems by going on this sites ratings and recommendations

I simply do not understand what happened to this movie. I generally judge a movie if it is worth paying full price, matinée or on-demand/Netflix. The movie isn't worth getting off of Netflix. First of all, the actors are all top notch. Shane West needed a little bit more polish for this movie. The location and cinematography were very good. The storyline lacked substance and was utter garbage. I've seen better story lines on public access television. The movie attempts to copy cat War Games and Eagle Eye which were both excellent movies. It's a pity Echelon Conspiracy failed to copycat the brilliance of those two movies. Some of the lines spoken by Mueller (Jonathan Price) were simply farcical. I can't believe the writer would ask Jonathan Price to utter such ridiculousness. I guess the budget must have gotten tight because whoever they hired to do the graphics on the computer screens just got off the special bus. Finally, the open, in between and closing music were terrible. You are not going to hear Hans Zimmer, Craig Armstrong and the like on this one. The movie is not part of the Matrix trilogy so the opening and closing soundtrack were totally wrong for it. Overall, this was a very dissatisfying movie and should be called Ishtar III.

No, this was not a great movie, action movies rarely are, but it was certainly better than Eagle Eye.

Common complaints:

-"The acting sucked": Who the hell cares? It's an action movie! At least the characters were interesting and developed. At least the love interest was more than just a pretty girl along for the ride.

-"The plot was confusing and I couldn't figure out if they were good or bad guys": OMG! You are the stupidest idiot alive! You're the reason they dumbed down MI2. You are never aloud to watch a suspense movie again. If you said that the plot had too many detours, holes, or didn't explain itself right, I'm sorry, but you obviously just couldn't follow it. It all fit together in a neat little package.

-"The plot was too predictable": You also seem to be the folks that complain that the movie copied Eagle Eye. Do you really think that Eagle Eye had a good plot? =Jump through hoops or I'll kill you! By the way, I need your face or I'm blowing up a diamond.= That's not a plot! That's a really long car chase with gratuitous special effects. The plot only seems predictable because you've heard the story before. Standing alone it was interesting and well executed. They went about it far better than Eagle Eye here too. How long am I expected to listen to Shia LaBeouf whine that he doesn't want to play along!? Phone lady can kill you dude! Do what she says! At least Echelon was a smarter computer than Eagle Eye and bribed you first.

-"The end was cliché": Yeah alright you got me there. But once again...ACTION MOVIE! There was limited computer cliché amidst awesome gun fight and car explosion! Then he walks away with the girl...DUH! Complain about this and you complain about 99% of action suspense movies.

-"Unbelievable suspension of reality regarding computer technology": Uh...yeah. If you can't make this leap then you don't have any business watching a movie with "conspiracy" in the title. What do you want? A prologue that says "It must be understood that the computer is omniscient"? If you don't get the reference then you're not aloud to review movies anymore.

This was probably one of the worst films I have seen in quite a long time. Just inexcusably awful. The acting was painfully pathetic and the script was laughable. Indeed I did laugh quite a bit each time a line was delivered or every time the swiss cheese plot gave away another predictable turn for the inane. Clearly this film has been on the shelf for a reason and I can only imagine the putrid stench that shelf now has. I used to think that I'd see any film with free screening passes and I'm reminded of all the good I could have done with that 1 hr. & 46 min. that has left me. I would've rather watched a McConaughey romantic comedy in an endless loop than be subjected to this again much less know that anyone was subjected to this.

This movie, for the budget, is a very good movie. It is very underrated despite its poor rating. It does take a while to get into, but once you understand the main premise behind the movie, it is fantastic.

Plus, the girl in the movie (Tamara Feldman) is absolutely gorgeous and needs to be in more movies.

This movie is a better, lower budgeted version of "Limitless" (Bradley Cooper); different variable, same premise. It's the same as comparing "Equilibrium" to "The Matrix". "Equilibrium" has a lower budget, and is a better movie than "The Matrix".

This movie is definitely worth watching, even though the main actors voice is tough to get used to.

Echelon Conspiracy - a very promising title for fans of the genre. But how were we disappointed. If you like conspiracy movies, you have to be open to bending the rules of plausibility and statistics. But what they presented here was such complete and utter nonsense, delivered by the most stereotypic characters, that it almost made me angry. It's not the actors' fault, they did a good job (well, Shane West isn't exactly subtle but the film wasn't either). The locations were interesting, the filming was OK. But the story? Come on! Even the most open minded X Phile must be disappointed. And that one scene where a guy shoots a car and with the second shot the car explodes and jumps 2 meters into the air? Hello? Haven't seen that in a while because by now even James Bond fans don't buy that anymore. So while I really enjoy good conspiracy movies like Enemy of the State or Conspiracy Theory, this one was a lame attempt. You should have spent more time and money for the script.

Your desire to watch this film will be sapped within the first 10 minutes by the horrendous acting in Echelon Conspiracy. A perfect plot and mind-blowing special effects would do little to save a movie from terrible actors, and unfortunately, this movie doesn't offer those either.

Plot 1/10: The very first scene of this movie only foreshadows the total lack of effort that was put into creating a story with even a grain of substance. It brings nothing new to the table, offering only clichéd plots.

Acting 1/10: More painful than the plot was the acting. There are a a few well known actors in this film, yet they play such small roles that it does nothing to save the dreadful acting of virtually every other character that appears.

Special Effects 2/10: The camera work in this movie is the only reason it's receiving more than 1 star. Granted, there is nothing truly special about it, but it is at least not as bad as every other area of the film.

Costumes/Makeup 2/10: The lack of any proper use of makeup damages this film further. For instance, when someone is punched in the face (hard enough to knock them out cold,) you would expect to see some bleeding or at the very least some swelling. Well not in Echelon Conspiracy you won't.

Sound 1/10: Sound effects and music are used so poorly that it spoils the atmosphere in Echelon Conspiracy, rather than helping to create it.

Overall 2/10: Household chores would have been more fulfilling than this film. Seriously, I regret the laundry I didn't do while suffering through this 1.5 hour long mess.