Conspiracy

There are a couple of thoughts that might pop into your mind while you are watching Conspiracy, the new movie with Val Kilmer and Jennifer Esposito. They are as follows (if you will so kindly permit me):

• What the hell happened to Val Kilmer
• Are the action sequences suppose to be this funny?
• Why does Bad Day at Black Rock suddenly come to mind
• Are the action sequences suppose to be this funny?
• So you can download this movie on my PC and watch it? Damn, what next.
• It warms the cockles of my heart to see "Watership Down" mentioned in a movie
• Tell me the truth, are the action sequences REALLY suppose to be this funny

The movie begins as a war picture where we see MacPherson, played by Kilmer, and his buddy in action in Iraq. It shows how they got injured in a bomb blast and sets up the rest of the plot still to come (so far so good). Then cut back to a couple of years later, MacPherson gets a call to join his friend in Arizona, but when he gets there, the friend has disappeared, and no one is talking. There are a couple of hints about a Halliburton type company that is behind all of the bad things going on, and of course MacPherson wants some answers, NOW.

The movie's point of view is mostly from MacPherson's eyes. He is on screen almost all of the time in this movie. So when we see Val Kilmer, as MacPherson, you can't fail to notice that Val Kilmer, while playing MacPherson, doesn't look all that great. And it isn't just part of the plot that he looks bad, he doesn't look good in the prologue either (even before he gets injured). Val looks out of it. Despite this drawback, Val is probably the best thing about the picture, even in this state you still WANT to like him. It does distract from the movie though. The whole time you are watching this, you keep repeating to yourself over and over again like a mantra, "What the HELL happened to Val Kilmer". He didn't look anywhere near this bad in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

Conspiracy probably looked a lot better on paper. It does have a plotline, though the dialogue is not very sharp anywhere (though I did like the fact they threw a reference to "Watership Down" in there just for the hell of it). The sound design is actually pretty good, and there is a good use of the surrounds in many of the scenes.

But for an action thriller type movie, the action sequences are horrible. They are REALLY horrible. If you are thinking about making an action thriller soon, you might want to get this just to see how not to do an action sequence (for the how TO do it, check out the complete tank sequence in the third Indiana Jones movie, which is being rereleased AGAIN on DVD as we speak). I remember reading somewhere that John Ford liked to watch bad movies to see how not to make one; apparently it paid off for him. I like to think he would have wanted to see this movie. One of the important things in an action sequence is that you have to have a feel where everyone is. In one sequence towards the end of Conspiracy, one of the bad guys is standing right in front of MacPherson, but doesn't see him. There is nothing preventing the bad guy from seeing MacPherson. MacPherson is right in front of him. Then of course, Macpherson jumps up and pops the bad guy on the nose. This happens not just once but in almost every action scene. Not that exact same scenario, but the way that the action sequences don't really make sense the way they are staged. People pop out of nowhere, just POP (out of nowhere). The director, Adam Marcus, needs to go back to action sequence school. I don't understand how you would invest all that time and money and let a movie get released with these types of problems. If I had invested my money to make this movie there would be some explaining to do. I would POP (from out of nowhere) and ask "What were ya thinking?".

You can write James Harper at movielover77061@yahoo.com