Deterrence (2000)

the audience applauded

Pretty Good

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Ever had the feeling that life is just one long B-movie ? Well, thanks to a certain inflammatory rhetoric adopted by the Forty-Fifth Leader of the Free World during the summer of his first year in office, this particular low-budget production was on the brink of becoming one of the first fulfilled apocalyptic prophecies outside the Book of Revelation. Indeed, as two legendary Jewish sages of the Sixties famously sang, "the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls" - or, in this case, inscribed on celluloid. A rather dark and ironic twist on the age-old adage of life imitating art. "Make America Afraid Again" - and drag the rest of humanity along for the ride, while you're at it. As it currently stands, the review-page counts about eighty entries, all stemming from before the above-mentioned event(s) even took place, roughly half of which are rather harsh, basically trashing the film as being somewhat implausible, to say the very least. I sincerely wonder whether these reviewers (whose fairness, astute and intelligent observations, depth of insight, and power of perception I in no way doubt, by the way) still feel the same way today, in light of everything that came to pass in the meantime on the world's political stage.

This is a movie that takes nuclear brinkmanship and adds a few twists. I'm not a low budget film fan at all, but this movie is one of those that will make you forget about the budget & will have you so immersed that it will just leave you mouthing the "WOW" (or some variation of that) at the end of the film. Although the movie is a bit dated now, it still ranks as one of the best examples of what it really takes to make a great movie... simply great acting & directing. Very few movies make my best movie list, Kevin Pollack has 2 movies on that list (the other being "The Usual Suspects")which is a feat in & of itself.

I'd like to say there is something redeeming about the film...I'd like to but...Discovered this film in the middle of the afternoon one Tuesday on a movie channel that will go nameless. Badly acted, badly scripted, too many factual and other errors to count, with a political message that thinks a baseball is too subtle. I found myself rooting for Kevin Pollack's character to grab two pistols from the Secret Service agents and start executing everyone who decided to make a "heartfelt" speech starting with Timothy Hutton's character and working through the rest of the cast.Do yourself a favor. Watch "Fail-Safe" with Henry Fonda. Yes, it too has a political message that thinks a baseball bat is too subtle, has some factual errors, but it at least has the virtue of being well acted and at least semi-plausible for its day.

I saw this movie based on one fact only...I had never heard of it and the theatre didn't even have a one sheet for it (one never knows what gems can be found in the unknown) immediately after seeing it I rounded up some friends a took them to see it. This was a very smart screenplay. It could well have been a hint of things to come in the middle east had the events of Sept.11, 2001 not sped up our concentrated involvement in that area. It still, however, shows some dilemmas caused by that areas prejudices between groups. In the film Iraq re-invades Kuwait as a novice "unelected" president tries to handle the situation from a remote location in the Colorado Mountains during a blizzard. Iraq points some chemical weapons at their neighbors- or are they nukes bought from the French who got them from us?? Now the talk gets tough except our president is Jewish and the Iraqis won't parlay with a Jew- while some on his staff insists he not say anything on an unsecured phone line.Of course I'm no film student so my view of the real world is tainted with realism such as intelligent people working in mundane jobs or that people with IQs of 105 can be enlightened about some limited fields such as societal woes or the horror of nuclear fallout. I admit there is a kind of "who done it" ending that wraps everything up in a brief monologue by Kevin Pollack with which I was not entirely comfortable. However, it does put a slant on ones thinking in so far as our on again off again real life political relationship with the French is concerned. I loved this movie!! I enjoyed this drama as much as the unfolding tension surrounding The Contender(another Rob Lurie film) and though I am hardly a Rob Lurie fan (I thought The Castle sucked beyond dry) I have kept his name in my memory since my first viewing of Deterrence waiting for any other gem he may write...or direct. To me- it was that good!!