48 heures chrono

The Factory (2012)

Well, this is a pretty well made movie with some terrible holes in the plot and the writing. So it ends up being just "stupid" in the way that you are pulled along and want to believe the plot and then it's just not believable. Those few large flaws blow out the whole movie.

Too bad. The photography in particular is really good. And the ambiance in snowy Buffalo is terrific. In fact, the constant snow and all the dark scenes with flashlights seems inspired by "Seven" where it's all rain and flashlights. "The Factory" however isn't as well made as a Fincher movie, naturally enough (few movies these days are). And the basic story here is a little contrived from the get-go, even without the holes in the plot.

The idea of a pair of cops pursuing a mysterious serial killer is a cliché of the movies, of course (including "Seven" which didn't invent the idea). And it could work here. A ridiculous coincidence halfway through throws the movie, and the characters, into a tizzy (one of the characters even bemoans his bad luck). But the basic whodunnit is intact and the great filming makes it pulse along pretty well.

The main character is John Cusack who holds his end up well--he's probably a better goofy dad than a relentless cop but he's decent at both. The supporting cast around him is good, though the female cop sidekick isn't especially compelling, just going through the paces of a female cop sidekick (this is Jennifer Carpenter). The daughter is another story, a surprisingly complex character and a good young actress (Mae Whitman, famous for her role in "Parenthood" more than anything, I think). It's not a bad cast.

In fact, the film has the bones of being excellent. It's the story, and the specific writing that went into the story, that kills it. No pun intended.

After watching this movie, I had to wonder if this genre isn't simply exhausted: basically, psychopath kidnaps daughter of someone he shouldn't have. We all buy into this for one reason. We know that we'll eventually get a pay off in the form of revenge. Make the psychopath as evil as possible so that later we will relish his destruction. We will even overlook inconsistencies and absurdities in the plot as long as we get paid off for it. Well, I'll leave it up to each viewer to determine whether this film paid off, for me, it didn't.

This movie can only work if you accept the amazing coincidence that forms the basis of the story, but then you find that you have to accept a lot more coincidences. What I think happened was that the initial screenplay had logical inconsistencies which the writer(s) attempted to plug which led to more inconsistencies and so on. So you get a lot of contrived scenes and 'wow, look what I found, what a coincidence" scenes. I have a feeling that the whole ending was grafted on as an afterthought and then the screenplay was readjusted to it.

I watched this movie primarily because John Cusack was in it and that gave it a certain credibility. He does okay. There's nothing much in the way of interacting with other characters. They could have been played by mannequins and the movie would have been about the same.

Much of the movie seems like a series of scenes grafted on from other movies like "Taken", "Taxi Driver" and a few others. My advice for potential viewers is to watch those movies instead. The Factory needs too many renovations.

The gamut of ratings doesn't surprise me, as everyone has different tastes. The acting was just fine, and the premise I thought was happening for the majority of the movie read much like Law & Order: SVU. I love that show. So this movie was kind of my niche, and I still watched it despite it being a straight-to-DVD film. Hey, Boondock Saints is a B movie by definition, and that movie is awesome, in my opinion. But back to this film. I was having some issues with Netflix, so I had to pause it frequently. I read some reviews during that time, and I knew there would be a major plot twist at the end. So I was pretty excited through the whole film. I think anyone who enjoys SAW movies will like this film. I love those "no way, it was right in front of me the whole time" moments. Also, the cast towards the 2nd quarter of the film were totally believable to me. I am not an expert on cinema, and I have liked some "bad" movies before, but this one doesn't fall into my bad movie category. Date Movie....that was a bad movie! But if you take away anything, stay tuned for the plot twist. Unless you are Sherlock Holmes, you will not guess it!

I watched this movie over the summer and thought it was really good. Very good story and a great twist at the end. Dallas Roberts, who is now on Walking Dead, is excellent. Jennifer Carpenter is pretty much playing her character from Dexter minus the cursing, but she still manages to do a great job. Cusack is good as usual, but the movie has a great ending and is a nice little thriller. The only weird thing is that you'll notice that a lot of the scenery seems outdated. That's because the movie was taped in 2007. Why it was sitting on the shelf for so long? Your guess is as good as mine!

Please like me on Facebook! We love getting suggestions and warnings on everything horror: http://www.facebook.com/pages/I-Heart-Horror/338327476286206

I had quite a hassle with trying to watch "The Factory". I rented the Blu-ray of the movie, but when I took it home I accidentally dropped the Blu-ray box down my building's elevator shaft. I had to wait overnight for the elevator man to come and retrieve it, and only after he retrieved the movie could I watch it.

It wasn't worth the hassle.

Now, this is not one of the worst movies ever made. For one thing, the movie does has some atmosphere - the Canadian locations covered in snow add a somewhat moody feeling. Also, near the end there is a twist that I admit I didn't see coming... though when I thought about it after the movie was over, it seemed to be silly and not making much sense.

But that silly twist doesn't sink the movie. There are two things that ultimately don't make the movie work. The first is that there is no sense of tension or desperation at any moment in the movie, despite the fact that the story is about a cop's daughter who is kidnapped by a deranged lunatic. The cop - and everyone else for that matter - takes the situation much too calmly. The second problem is with John Cusack's performance. John Cusack has given good performances in past movies, but he's really miscast here. He simply isn't believable as a tough cop, and sticks out like a sore thumb.

As I said earlier, this isn't one of the worst movies ever made. But those problems I mentioned ultimately sink the movie, and it's understandable why the distributor (Warner Brothers) let this movie sit on the shelf for quite some time (the movie has a 2010 copyright date) before ultimately giving it a direct-to-DVD release.