When I first saw this flick back in February of 08 I said that it very well may end up being the “best movie of the year” in my opinion. Well it didn’t quite get there (as The Dark Knight definitely stole that show) but it was DAMN close in the end.
This was an absolutely incredible movie! A great way of telling the story with some great actors turning in outstanding performances. While this movie certainly will not win any awards for specific actor’s contributions, when it’s viewed as a whole it’s almost a masterpiece.
Without ruining anything, the story is about an assassination on the president of the United States. The entire movie takes place in about 15 minutes of “real time” but is shown over and over again from different “vantage points” – get it? It’s not just a catchy title.
After first viewing the scene, you think you’ve got a pretty good idea of what’s going on. After the second viewing you’re confused, after the third more so and so on and so on. Ultimately, you get to the final viewing and all of the pieces fit nicely into place.
For fans of action movies you’ll have plenty here. A pretty high body count with an absolutely OUTSTANDING car chase thrown in for good measure. For the thinking man, this flick is full of more twists and turns than television’s Lost (with a great performance by none other than Dr. Jack Crawford – Matthew Fox for non Losties out there) Dennis Quaid turns in a great showing as an aging secret serviceman, Sigourney Weaver is great as the controller of the local TV station and Forrest Whitaker is great in just about everything he’s in. The “bad guy” (sorry i don’t know his name) is great except for his lack of screen time.
The only really bad thing that I can say is there is some “believability” issues in here. I understand that we need to “suspend disbelief” when we go to the movies but Forrest Whitaker’s character in particular has some huge holes in it — I have no idea why his character would do what he does throughout the whole flick.
The way the story is told is absolutely superb. I thought I’d get annoyed watching essentially the same story over and over again but it was done in such a way that you really forget that you’re watching the same sequence of events again. Because of this “choppy” way of storytelling, you won’t see any individual acting awards for this flick (just cause each person isn’t really on screen enough to warrant it) but you very well may see the film get some awards come next movie season.
All in all, an outstanding flick — highly recommended. I had high hopes for this one and I was not disappointed.
