Point of Origin (2002)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Wonderful Movie

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

(Slight Spoilers) Deep and penetrating film about the mind of a serial arsonist and how it works with a really great and controlled performance by Ray Liotta as LAFD top arson inspector John Orr.Checking out a number of arson's in and around the L.A metropolitan area inspector Orr comes to the conclusion that the fires are the work of a single arsonist who's playing deadly a cat and mouse game with the fire and police departments to feed his enormous ego. As the fires get more and more out of hand with not only burning down stores and houses but also causing fatalities the ATF gets involved in the search for the elusive firebug. This cause friction with the L.A Fire Department who feel that the ATF is nothing but a bunch of Federal bureaucrats who will only get in the way and hamper their investigation in capturing the arsonist. It slowly comes to mind with the finding of a long forgotten seven year old fingerprint, found at a crime/arson scene, that the arsonist is non other then one of those men in the L.A Fire Department. The LAFD and police as well as the ATF have to do now is not tip off the fireman arsonist to the knowledge that they have a tail on him and are planing to catch him in the act the next time he goes into action. Very good psychological study that's based on a true story with, besides Ray Liotta, John Leguizamo as Keith Lang extremely effective as Orr's assistant who helps unearth the evidence that put the elusive firebug out in the open. This leads to one of the most unbelievable surrealistic shoot outs ever put on film even though that entire action was just a figment of the crazed arsonists imagination.The arsonist who, in disguise, is always at the scene of his crime and takes great pleasure in what he did so much so that his huge ego causes him to give the authorities all the evidence that they need to put him away for life. Writing the "Great American Novel" about the fires that he caused, a work of fiction of course, reveals to the ATF and his fellow members of the L.A Fire Department just who he is and convicts him later in court by proving that he knew things about the fires he wrote in his book that only the arsonist could have possibly known. The arsonist is also a heel when it comes to his marriage with him constantly cheating on his wife by having an affair with a fellow Fire Department worker which in the end has both, wife and lover, see just what an unfeeling selfish and unstable, as well as criminal, person he is. Very unusual movie that has a lot of dream-like sequences in it to make it's point and even though your kept in the dark at first to who the arsonist is he's revealed with more then half of the movie still left. It's for that reason that makes the film "Point of Origin" that much more interesting. You don't have to figure who he is but you get to see what makes him tick and how he's trapped into tripping himself up by his fellow firefighters.

At first glance it's just a movie of the week. It's true that it was one of HBO's original movies, but to call it a movie of the week would be to limit it to a group of movies with hackneyed plots, weak actors, and clueless directors. Point of Origin is so much more than those terrible excuses for entertainment.The story concerns an arson investigator (Ray Liotta) and his protege (John Leguizamo) who are investigating a particularly nasty string of arson fires. Those of you who remember the news of the incident this film is based on might see the story coming, but most people will not simply because it is too outlandish to be true. But it IS.What grabbed me most in this movie were the two lead performances by Leguizamo and Liotta as well as a directorial vision that is on the verge of brilliance. Every creative decision made in this movie had a very specific goal. Pay close attention to the palette of colors used. Much of the movie is made up completely of black, white, and orange. Special effects are used to great effect in putting the audience and the characters "inside" the fires they are investigating. As far as TV movies go, this one was truly refreshing.

"Point of Origin" takes the viewer into the life of a workaholic top Los Angeles arson investigator (Liotta) who is married with children, having some extracurricular activity on the side, writing a book, and investigating a serial arson case. Jeesh, talk about burning the candle at both ends! On the upside, this HBO product has a promising plot with some twisty-turny stuff. However, pinched at the end, fraught with plot holes, and cluttered with surreal visual effects, "Point of Origin" is likely to ignite little interest beyond that of the wayward channel surfer.

This was a very good movie. The filming techniques were very cool. The ending sort of left you guessing....was John Orr(Ray Liotta) guilty? Some of us thought so, others said he was definitely "set up." We highly recommend this movie to those who enjoy reading a great mystery novel. It's laid out like that only better because you also get all the awesome visual effects!