Sometimes, a movie is too chatty and slow you call it a TV show. Now, David Miller's (Executive Action) is not a TV show, it's an educational program!
It's supposedly a thriller about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, though it couldn't be a thriller, or a movie. It's all about some people talk spiritlessly, lecturing endlessly, then say something like: "let's get some air", or "let's get something to drink"; as if to assure that they're humans after all, not robots!
It designed its own interesting theory, told the whole thing from the evil guys' viewpoint, and made us skeptical in the way. But the problem is that it did that the way a theoretical book would do. There are no characters, with points of weakness, or mannerisms. They even don't have families, or someone to talk to out of business. Forget about any suspense, or surprises. The conflict has no obstacles or whatsoever; hence there is no conflict in the first place. Everything runs smoothly as it's planned, so why do I care?
The movie is deprived of anything artistic. Is it a lack of creativity or time? At any rate, that made the movie poor and unwatchable. What if - and I'm speaking thoughtlessly - one of the conspirators killed a fly on the wall, ran over a flower while walking, held a dog lovingly, hated seeing blood. Touches like that would have been expressive or ironic, and made the characters look and feel like characters. True that one of them takes a pill regularly (pointless!), and some of them play billiard in the end (maybe to embody the joy of their success, or the idea of toying with the others' fates), but sure that wasn't enough!
I couldn't get the character of Jack Ruby, the killer of Lee Harvey Oswald; the movie shows him rapidly and incompletely. Actually, the last 5 minutes is all about detached short scenes that didn't try to be satisfactory or clear. The dialogue is perfectly wooden. There are no punch-lines of any kind, or maybe there are, however incomprehensible. It's like a teacher who doesn't want to make his lesson fun or attractive. Originally, there is a big difference between lines written in a book, and lines said in a movie, but this movie doesn't know that!
Robert Ryan was extremely unbearable. He phoned-in his lines in great coldness and indifference, which caused a terrible provocation. Burt Lancaster wasn't better off, but at least his familiar way of delivery somehow met with the case of "I have a bomb in belly, and I'm trying to control it". And as for the rest of the actors, well, what rest of the actors?! The only one who I saw real acting from his side was the guy who angrily asked the fake Oswald about his name at the gun club. That guy did his job with enthusiasm and heat, unlike everyone and everything else!
The music, if there was any, intended to be elegiac, not exciting, which suits a sad documentary, not a hot thriller. The many fade-outs got on my nerves; they seemed unnecessary like the moments of "put a commercial here" in TV shows and movies, and - obviously - this movie didn't need more tedium. Some shots were filmed from the same angle, with the same frame size, like the TV newscasts, or the times where Lancaster character was watching the TV news. I was screaming: "Change anything you lazy fool, CHANGE ANYTHING!".
Watching this movie is like turning the pages of a boring book. Even if they meant it to be a documentary-like, then who said that documentaries should be boring in every way?! It's a 90 minutes long, though I fell asleep after the first hour; monotony is soporific, or repugnant to a degree that makes sleeping a good getaway!
This is an early conspiracy thriller, with bold message to deliver, yet done in such a dry and dull manner. I believe all what the scriptwriters did was taking the words from the books of Kennedy's assassination conspiracy theories, made them into numbered scenes, and the director filmed them artlessly. How they thought that anybody would stand to watch this in full is the real confusing mystery. And to everyone who thinks, just thinks, that it was pulled out from theaters very early, and dealt with lukewarmly ever since, due to conspiratorial reasons--please.. think again, some movies fail and get forgotten because they deserve to fail and get forgotten!
After 18 years, Oliver Stone's (JFK) would do it right. Now that's a thriller and a movie, ladies and gentlemen. In comparison, (Executive Action) is the untalented father of it!
It's supposedly a thriller about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, though it couldn't be a thriller, or a movie. It's all about some people talk spiritlessly, lecturing endlessly, then say something like: "let's get some air", or "let's get something to drink"; as if to assure that they're humans after all, not robots!
It designed its own interesting theory, told the whole thing from the evil guys' viewpoint, and made us skeptical in the way. But the problem is that it did that the way a theoretical book would do. There are no characters, with points of weakness, or mannerisms. They even don't have families, or someone to talk to out of business. Forget about any suspense, or surprises. The conflict has no obstacles or whatsoever; hence there is no conflict in the first place. Everything runs smoothly as it's planned, so why do I care?
The movie is deprived of anything artistic. Is it a lack of creativity or time? At any rate, that made the movie poor and unwatchable. What if - and I'm speaking thoughtlessly - one of the conspirators killed a fly on the wall, ran over a flower while walking, held a dog lovingly, hated seeing blood. Touches like that would have been expressive or ironic, and made the characters look and feel like characters. True that one of them takes a pill regularly (pointless!), and some of them play billiard in the end (maybe to embody the joy of their success, or the idea of toying with the others' fates), but sure that wasn't enough!
I couldn't get the character of Jack Ruby, the killer of Lee Harvey Oswald; the movie shows him rapidly and incompletely. Actually, the last 5 minutes is all about detached short scenes that didn't try to be satisfactory or clear. The dialogue is perfectly wooden. There are no punch-lines of any kind, or maybe there are, however incomprehensible. It's like a teacher who doesn't want to make his lesson fun or attractive. Originally, there is a big difference between lines written in a book, and lines said in a movie, but this movie doesn't know that!
Robert Ryan was extremely unbearable. He phoned-in his lines in great coldness and indifference, which caused a terrible provocation. Burt Lancaster wasn't better off, but at least his familiar way of delivery somehow met with the case of "I have a bomb in belly, and I'm trying to control it". And as for the rest of the actors, well, what rest of the actors?! The only one who I saw real acting from his side was the guy who angrily asked the fake Oswald about his name at the gun club. That guy did his job with enthusiasm and heat, unlike everyone and everything else!
The music, if there was any, intended to be elegiac, not exciting, which suits a sad documentary, not a hot thriller. The many fade-outs got on my nerves; they seemed unnecessary like the moments of "put a commercial here" in TV shows and movies, and - obviously - this movie didn't need more tedium. Some shots were filmed from the same angle, with the same frame size, like the TV newscasts, or the times where Lancaster character was watching the TV news. I was screaming: "Change anything you lazy fool, CHANGE ANYTHING!".
Watching this movie is like turning the pages of a boring book. Even if they meant it to be a documentary-like, then who said that documentaries should be boring in every way?! It's a 90 minutes long, though I fell asleep after the first hour; monotony is soporific, or repugnant to a degree that makes sleeping a good getaway!
This is an early conspiracy thriller, with bold message to deliver, yet done in such a dry and dull manner. I believe all what the scriptwriters did was taking the words from the books of Kennedy's assassination conspiracy theories, made them into numbered scenes, and the director filmed them artlessly. How they thought that anybody would stand to watch this in full is the real confusing mystery. And to everyone who thinks, just thinks, that it was pulled out from theaters very early, and dealt with lukewarmly ever since, due to conspiratorial reasons--please.. think again, some movies fail and get forgotten because they deserve to fail and get forgotten!
After 18 years, Oliver Stone's (JFK) would do it right. Now that's a thriller and a movie, ladies and gentlemen. In comparison, (Executive Action) is the untalented father of it!