The Couchpotatoes
You can see it is a television movie. There is not much quality to it. They didn't put a lot of effort making this movie. Maybe with a higher budget the movie could have been better. You could do something decent with the story, even though it's one of those typical I'm-a-good-guy-with-a-conscience-and-take-all-the-bad-guys-down-by-myself. It's a revenge action movie, but one without a budget, and I'm sorry to say not great acting. Sam Elliott has been better in other movies but in this one it's all cliché and average. It's clearly been made to entertain a television public on a rainy day. It's watchable but that's about it. I would rather pick another movie if you haven't seen this one. I'm sure you can find better without having to search too far.
I_should_be_reading_a_book
In sum: Read the book, skip the film --it will only make you angry.Warning: Spoilers may follow. The cast: Awful. Sam Elliot, Thimothy Hutton, Paul Deveraux are all great actors and I usually enjoy them. In this picture they are grossly miscast; Dexter is a guy in his fifties, Elliot is over sixty and looks seventy if a day. McBride is a crucial element of the book and is completely perverted both in appearance, importance and plot in the film.The plot: Why do some people feel compelled to make a lousy hamburger out of a fine sirloin? The book has great subplots; the daughter seduction assassination and subsequent vengeance is elementary for understanding Dexter. It's glossed over in a gross way. Even the actress that plays the daughter is completely out of context. The Vietnamese woman is completely unexplained in the film. Ditto the computer whiz kid. The subplot involving the kid assassinated in Bosnia is, in the book, superb. In the film is almost beyond comprehension unless you have previously read the book.Frankly, again, these kind of crappy films should warn the viewer before starting: "WARNING, persons having read the book this film is based upon will be seriously outraged. View at your own risk".
pavor nocturnus
I am actually not surprised that some people liked this movie, it's the same thing with the junk food, the more you eat it, the more you want it. The same principle applies here, and there will be some happy customers at the end. So, if you like generic, mindless movies, where unbelievable characters do unbelievable things, you'll like this movie. The premise of the movie is something that was recycled many times over. Forsyth is considered to be one of the most popular authors. However, being popular does not make you a good writer. Even in the 'Jackal', his much acclaimed book, the characters of the OAS are portrayed in a flat, one dimensional manner (you keep wandering why there are people who are willing to sacrifice themselves for a such a cause), but this was (mercifully) not the focal point of that story, and it did not stick out that much. (>>>This part may contain spoilers<<<) The 'Avenger', on the other hand, is focused on such a premise, and we learn very little about the main character and nothing about the main villain, or his fight, except that he is a psychopathic killer (together with his fellow Serbs, a fact speaking how much generic the script is). Forsyth uses the stereotypes left and right, to the point that there is no single original part in his story - first, you have a strong silent hero, who actually might be a hidden psychopath himself (considering his Vietnam past), played by Sam Elliott. Sam Elliott is a lovable actor, a perfect cowboy, but here he does not belong (least because he is over 60 and walks like he needs a hip replacement). His daughter is killed by a foreigner, who happens to be a Panamanian serial killer (because Americans are not capable of such crimes, or because we would relate in an unexpected way to an American serial killer? - no, in Forsyth's lack of imagination, this was a way to show a man beyond the reach of justice). Sam is out to avenge a man killed in Bosnia together with his girlfriend by psycho-killer Serbs (incidentally, there were also six children killed during the same incident, because this is how many children Serbs need to kill in order to be hated?). The girlfriend happens to share the last name with the former president of Croatia, showing the depth of the source of Forsyth's information ("the research", says Forsyth, 'there I was one day sitting in my living room, drinking tea and reading the newspapers, and bam!, there it was, in front of me, my new book!'). The plot never thickens, and the sequence of predictable events follows. The directing is mediocre and did not help in improving the experience (one of the most annoying things were the flashbacks with a 'whoooosh' sound). The action scenes are done without much thought or skill (first fight with the guard who actually ambushes the main character would be, in normal life, the end of the story). In all honesty, there are some bright moments - the CIA director, portrayed by James Cromwell was one of them. If somebody told me that he is, indeed, a CIA director, I might believe. He became an archetypal chief of a governmental institution and he is good at it. Timothy Hutton repeats his role from the 'Nero Wolfe Mystery', but with the sinister twist - that is, he twists arms here. Not enough for me to like the move, or even get close to it. On a good day, I would give it 3/10. But this is not my good day, and Mr.Smith gives it 2/10...
