Avenger (2006)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Sorry, this movie sucks

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Calvin Dexter, a lawyer, is a man whose life has been marked by tragedy. When his only daughter is killed by a greasy boyfriend, he leaps into action. Cal doesn't wait for justice, he deals with the injustices committed against him. He is a Viet Nam veteran, part of a special force, that were trained for risky missions. As such, he has had the experience to deal with whatever comes his way.When Senator Stephen Edwards asks him to look into the disappearance of his son in Bosnia, where the young man has gone on a humanitarian mission, he finds that the man who was responsible for what happened to the boy is no other than the evil Zoran Zilic, a sanguinary man, responsible for much of the atrocities during the war in that part of the world.Cal decides to track down this paid assassin, but little does he know our own government is involved in the usage and protection of this scum bag, now hiding in South Africa. CIA director, Paul Devereaux, upon knowing how Dexter has found out about the war criminal, sends his henchman Frank McBride to eliminate Cal Dexter for him. Little does this corrupt government official realize the former Viet Nam veteran is ahead of all the evil forces and how he will avenge the murdered youth.The film, which was made for television, is based on a Frederick Forsyth novel. Director Robert Markowitz, working on the screen treatment by Alan Sharp delivers a taut action movie. This is by no means an original story, as we have seen before how corrupt public servants can be behind vile acts of violence in the name of democracy."Avenger" was tailor-made for Sam Elliott. His Cal Dexter shows this actor at his best. We have always thought Mr. Elliott was a great character actor that could have been given more opportunities in which to shine. This film seems to prove he can deliver. James Cromwell plays the heartless director of the CIA with verve. Timothy Hutton is seen as the gofer for the head of the spy agency. David Hyman appears as Zilic.This television movie is action filled for fans of this movie genre.

This is when you boil it down, a story about conscience. Conscience being pulled this way and that by the conflicting poles of revenge and justice. If you like Sam Elliott's work and I do, you will very much enjoy this spy story. The story is not overwhelmingly original but the way the steps unfold, I stayed intrigued by it all the way. The assembly of details and camera style and the music all very high quality choices. "Cal Dexter" has more complexity than many similar characters of this genre. Timothy Hutton does a lot with little dialog. Lucy Russell was attention grabbing in a small part. I look forward to seeing more of her work. I liked the settings (South Africa in particular) and the overall visual style.

With no one wanting to hear about Iraq anymore, Vietnam as remote as the War of the Austrian Succession and "24's" lock on the Depraved Terrorist gig, we're heading back to the Balkans. This time we're going with intellectual thrillmeister Frederick Forsythe ("The Day of the Jackal"), cool-as-ice screenwriter Alan Sharp ("Ulzana's Raid") & executive producer Wolfgang Petersen ("Das Boot," "The Perfect Storm"). To get there, we all have to climb together on one of those tiny bicycles that bears ride in the circus. Grizzled Vietnam vet Dexter (Elliott, in the worst role of his life) is an avenging angel-for-hire, either as a lawyer or a mercenary (same difference). He takes a job via classified ad & cell phone to protect his anonymity (wouldn't John Wayne have done the same?) to find the saintly aid-worker son of guilt-ridden tycoon Edmonds (Hope, dazed & neurotic) who's disappeared in Bosnia. After impressing us with how depraved Serb militias can be (heard something about that, did you?), we embark with Wild Bill Rambo Bond on a Quest for Justice that takes us from one exotic, budget-priced location to the next. Cadaverous CIA pencilneck Devereaux (Cromwell, who convincingly mutters catchphrases like "not an option" & "ends justify the means") wants to stop The Fastest Gun in Eastern Europe. Or does he? It's so bad on every level that you won't care. The meticulous description of operational details that Forsythe pioneered forty years ago has been retreaded more times than "The War of the Worlds" & is a big yawn in the Google age. But "Avenger" never bothers much with story details like character motivation or plot, so we're left to wonder why the carefully anonymous Dexter is so willing to let his enemies know he's coming. It brings to mind Otto in "A Fish Called Wanda" ("It's a smoke screen? Double bluff?"), but that was done for INTENTIONAL laughs. The action scenes rival the best that "South Park" has to offer. Without exception, the actors are excruciatingly bad. Elliott is a mishmash of samurai-ninja Honorable Warrior, slick secret agent, aw-shucks good-guy, wise philosopher, technical wizard & PTSD nutjob. Oh, and Truth, Justice & the American Way (or best two out of three). This is definitely one of those "What were they thinking when they upchucked this?" movies. If the batteries in your remote went dead & you've given away all those old "Police Academy" videos, you're in for a rough night.

After seeing the promos for this TV movie, I set aside a night with my youngest son to watch one of my favorite dark actors. Sam Elliot has always fascinated me, from his westerns to his Road House depictions of tough, veteran, leave-me-alone, but-if-you-mess-with-me-you-are-dead-meat types of guys. However, after about an hour of this movie, in its disjointed, unexplained and unfinished scenes, shallow depictions of characters and general lack of creativity and freshness, I said to my son, well, you can leave if you want to. He said no, he wanted to see how bad it was going to get. And it got pretty bad. There were several times during the movie when I said, well, why did he do that. For example, if he was already near the hideout of the bad guy, why did he come back to madame wongs and then have to sneak his way back into the country again. And where were the guns delivered? And did he ever find out the pilot was knifed by the bad guys.There is just so much about this movie that is poor that it is impossible to list all them. Poor plot, poor action photography, poor buildup, poor character development, poor timeline continuity. And the list goes on. Poor Sam, he probably had no idea how bad it was since all the individual scenes seem to be focused. But maybe a lot of the continuity scenes are still on the cutting room floor. I mean, really, who are those two guys that are waiting for him in his hotel room???Maybe it was cut down for TV. Or maybe I should have read the book so I would have known what was going on.