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Val Kilmer seems to flirt back and forth between the high class theatrical quality realm, and doing high end DTV films, never deciding where his fate lies. But one thing for sure is that he is a committed actor, and no matter how minimal the production might be, he's going to give it his all. "Conspiracy" is no exception. Kilmer carries the film and is very powerful in his presence alone. "Conspiracy" does suffer from typical "ex marine/delta force/CIA/FBI/Cop takes on massive illegal mob-like force" scenario. These plots are driven into the ground and all live by a handful of rules that must be extensively followed: 1. Protagonist must be a troubled, silent retired law enforcement or military officer having trouble adapting to modern life. 2. Sticks his nose where it doesn't belong, and ends up surviving attempts on his life, and often being left for dead. 3. Takes on massive Corporate/Mob entity and disposes of henchmen that in the first 70 minutes of the movie where impossible to defeat, but now takes them out with barely a deep breath. In that context, it's predictable and nothing is surprising. But new regions are more in depthly explored, such as his Post Traumatic Stress, dealing with his amputated leg, which by the way was very well done, and over all loss of joy in life. Gary Cole gives an enjoyable performance as well as the Haliburton-inspired war profiteer. My only, major complaint, aside the cliches, are the "action scenes". They seemed incredibly dated, and bring up images of bad 1970s chop sokey kung fu films. There were some good brawls and fist fights, but when you seem a character "throw a knife" and a quick cut the "reciever" holding the knife and falling over...you want to look away out of embarrassment. But at the end of the day, I end up liking it. Kilmer and Cole are great, being entire polar opposites, and the lone man in town scenario doesn't get old even as much as we whine about it's unoriginality. I can recomend this title, and I'm sure most will atleast enjoy it as a 90 time killer.Read full review
The plot, in a nutshell, is war vet who now abhors violence and what he was made to do in service accepts an invite to go see his only mate from the Marines in Arizona. When he gets there, there is no trace of his friend and it becomes very clear immediately that the town has some sinister secret and some bad dudes are running the show. Some people are gonna hate this film because they will be expecting an all out dumb action thriller of the type that Hollywood churns out constantly. To be clear this is NOT one of those movies. There is a fine twenty minute finale of violence, which in total adds up to more than there is in all of say -no country for old men- which although is a good movie is overrated. No, this is a movie for the more discerning audience, concerning 'the elephant in the room' that is eating away fast at the heart of America and most of the so called free and civilized world. It is an understated damning indictment of the post 911 corporate/government corruption era that we find ourselves in. What this film does excellently is to reduce that massive agenda down to a small and human scale managing to speak volumes without...as it were speaking volumes. It is a slow broody moody piece without any unnecessary dialog and I for one think it is among the best of the recent spate of films that cover these issues. The direction, script and acting are all great and it's satisfying to see those you want to get hurt getting hurt. There are no surprises, no twists and if I have a criticism is that it's ending is too peachy, too clean, and too easy.Read full review
Engaging story and characters. Cast does a creditable job. Val Kilmer does a good job. Good print and sound. Some interesting discussion of racism that is as applicable today as when the film was produced. Would recommend to action movie fans and Val Kilmer fans, although not his best work.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
Val Kilmer at his best
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Awesome
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
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