Conspiration

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.

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.

This was a B movie that had no business being released in theaters. The acting combined with the terrible casting was not at all believable. Ving Rhames as an FBI agent with the boss Martin Sheen yelling at everyone at the top of his lungs??? No. The anti-climatic ending was just terrible. Terrible. It was like the movie was a muddled mess and they hurried to get it over with at the end. The bad thing about this movie is it started out great and then devolved as the Eagle-Eye like plot was revealed. All that said, I was highly entertained by the first part of this movie and totally disappointed from just before the mid-point on.

While some reviewers are more in line with how I felt about this movie, others see it differently. This is certainly allowed, but let me just say why I think this film is one of the worst ever to be made. First, the wooden, two-dimensional acting a) is lacking energy b) does not provide an anchor for identification (who talks like that?) c) is just not funny. This flaw is the smallest of the movie, and could be forgiven taking into account other bad movies. Second, the usage of clichés in movies is not a bad thing by itself. Clichés are easy to understand and can give a point of reference from which to build the more intricate aspects of the story. But what the writer and director did here is insulting. It seems ever character has exactly one attribute that defines him or her. The clever protagonist. The beautiful spy. The sinister looking FBI agent. The double-dealing bastard. Most of the "clever lines" you can guess a minute before they are said. There was no surprise in the whole film, except when the true source of the messages was "revealed", which was so dumb and unoriginal I admit I didn't think they would get so low. Third, the assumptions that the movie is based on may actually be somewhat acceptable in a movie where at least a little bit of effort is made to present them to the viewer with some credibility. SciFi has to assume stuff that is not possible by todays standards, but it also has to give you some, any reason to make you believe it could actually be possible. Here, the writer just skipped that part and went right into the part of the story where you are already convinced, which you certainly aren't if your brain has any activity left at all. Which makes the movie just unbearable as it goes along. Fourth, the main thing the plot can offer you is its endless holes and missing logic. Why things happen no one knows. Why people change sides, well they just do. I can appreciate a movie that is just there for entertainment, and must not be taken too seriously. But everything has a limit. The makers of this movie only pretend to have done the necessary work for their (old) ideas to work. I can think of no reason why any actor with a good reputation would take part in this, but they probably didn't know how bad the end result would turn out to be. Stay away at all costs, unless you are capable and willing to shutting down your neocortex completely. It certainly was not worth the time to write this review, unless there's somebody out there whom I spared this experience.

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

This movie is in the vein of Eagle Eye, though told from a somewhat different perspective. Its a fun movie to watch, and it doesn't bore you with technical babble that only a computer geek would understand. I don't want to spoil the plot twist or anything, but lets just say there's a lot of sex, drama, and action in this movie, and the script keeps up the pace. The main character Max essentially falls into a bonanza when he receives a surprise gift, which eventually has him running from guys with guns, flying around the world, and making love to a sexy Mediterranean beauty. You could definitely find worser movies to watch.