Great Cast-Mediocre Movie
937596
It was OK.  Based on a true story it is the tale of an Alaskan detective on the hunt for a serial killer.  It would have been more thrilling to see some of Alaska.  But all we saw was a big city.  Could have been LA except for the one moose.  Not much suspense since the killer is identified early on.  If you watch every movie that comes out then this will be fine, but if you have limited time to see things I'd skip it.
2024852
the story itself is not good enough to make the film great. the classical monotonus rigid tempo sound track sometimes is quite annoying. the hairdo with the sideburns of ledger's casanova sometimes makes him look like X-man. his voice is too thick and too low and not attrative at all. sienna miller is a wonderful cast, very appropriate. the english actress who played victoria should  aware herself and pay more attention to her right lopsided mouth, she's too young to get that lopside habit. great cast, great costumes. all the ingredients were there for a great movie, but simply went flat by a mediocre screenplay and the lousy deadbeat sound track.
1876971
I would have given this four stars if the supporting cast in this film hadn't been so bad.  Billy Bob Thornton is just plain flat as the Lead FBI Agent.  Rosario Dawson doesn't do anything with her Air Force character (you don't buy into her character at all), and Michelle Monaghan has done better films.  The best part of this movie is Shia.  He makes some of the unbelievable aspects of this film believable.  He emotes so well.  He's a great actor, and he does the best with what he's got to work with here.  Think a mixture of Minority Report, Enemy of the State, and Speed.  The concept is decent, but the action is better.  Lots of good chasing and crashes.  I felt it moved quickly and kept me interested.  This movie definitely has a political point to make, but I didn't mind.  The best part of the movie, in my opinion, was the last 15 minutes.  It's a good rental and entertaining.  The average viewer should enjoy, and all the teeny boppers will love Shia.  A solid three star action thriller!
3875207
Beautifully shot, well cast, well acted film.

Wish the plot wasn't such a limp disappointment.
2620600
I respect everyone's opinion, but this was a good not great movie. The premise is incredible. And there is a lot of plot lines that can branch out of it. And instead of a performance that unleashed Ryan Reynolds and allowed him to go thru a range of emotions, this turned into a mostly bland action movie. I will say the scene in the mansion with the child is incredible in showing another aspect to this procedure and its uses. The main antagonist has a twist that I saw coming, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. I wish this movie was a little less focused on the action and pushing plot lines when it could have taken moments to slow down and explore the less heroic side of Ben Kingsley's character (Inside Ryan Reynolds character). Before we see Kingsley's character transferred to Reynolds body, he shows a very aggressive and selfish side. I will say that I still think this a good movie. This movie spent too much time on action when the best parts of it could have been the acting. Worth a watch once, but didn't live up to its potential.
87598
This is a good watchable movie, but it ain't no best movie of the year.  Many of the performaces were a bit forced, flat, or otherwise sub-par.  The only standouts were Alec Baldwin and a surprisingly solid Mark Walberg.  The romantic angles of the movie felt uniformly "hollywood", that is, lacking in any real substance or chemistry, or "reality".  I was taken out of the movie everytime Leo or Matt interacted with the female love interest.

This ranks right up there with "American Beauty", "Crash", and "Forrest Gump" for the Academy's tendency to pick contrived scenery-chewing over real substance and depth.
2715291
I purchased this movie, as I had heard from a couple of friends that this topped their list of all-time favorite movies.  I for one, am a fan of Asian "philosophical" themed movies, or ones that have an Asian "flair" to them, and this did have enough for me to fall under that category.  I also think that Forest Whitaker is an excellent actor, and for this move, I do believe he did an excellent job in his representation of the character, "Ghost Dog".  Other than that, while the premise of the movie was good, the story was very weak, the movie "dragged-on" terribly in some spots (ok, I can see that Ghost Dog can drive a car and listen to music, but how many scenes do we have to watch it, and for some many minutes at a time???).  Also , the actors that played the old-time "mob", I think the producer must have gotten some friends to act for these parts (I use the term, "ACT" very liberally here), they were so bad, and so cheesy, one of them reminded me of Rodney Dangerfield trying to play a mobster (I shouldn't say that, I liked Rodney, but this guy???).  It could have been so much more, but it landed flat.
3511343
The premise of this movie is solid, and there are some genuinely funny moments throughout. But aside from the shock factor of some of the scenes, I only found the movie to be mediocre. Enjoyable, but mediocre.
3821959
The cast hits the ground running, and the movie is effectively one long chase scene.  Naturally, the ensemble cast dies off one-by-one.  The actors look good, they all act convincingly, and the some of the scenes do "work".  However, the movie is too flimsy and empty of meaning to rate any more than one star.  This movie needs more of a budget, more of a plot, more of a script, more interaction between characters, *everything* more.

The sound is also badly distorted for most of the movie.  I don't know if post-production money ran out, but the sound really should have been fixed.

The movie commentary is bare-bones, with only the director speaking.  The commentary has long, silent spaces which make the commentary a bit boring.  The director's cell phone rings three times during the commentary.

This is a one-star Asylum film.
1117918
Chasers brings to the screen the story of a sailor, who one day before getting his discharge papers is ordered to escort a prisoner from a U.S. Marines base to a military prison.

Tom Berenger and William McNamara are pretty weak and unconvincing in their respecting roles.  The latter, especially, has to deal with playing a not very likable character as well.

In short, the music is great, the plot/setting is interesting, while the dialogues and the acting are average and sometimes below average, and then there is Erika Eleniak.  WOW!!!  As others have also pointed out, this film is indeed all about Erika Eleniak.

In a nutshell, it's probably not a movie you would want to add to your collection, but it will provide for an evening's entertainment. 3.5 Stars
4216533
Great actors for a mediocre film. It portrays the persons responsible for the Wall Street melt down as victims of a bad system with the men on top being the bad guys. Even in the end, these people made out well. The investors who were ruined were nowhere in sight. Just an honorable mention.
1968768
When I saw the cast listing, I could hardly believe my eyes!  What a group: Bryan Cox (in a lead role, I am happy to say), Paul Giamatti, Derek Jacoby and the truly splendid, James Purefoy.  Great cast, great story - what could go wrong?  Weak, weak screenplay.  The sets were incredibly realistic and all the actors seemed to be working so hard, but there was absolutely no emotional punch - AT ALL.  The fight scenes were vivid and well-staged, but I found myself rooting for ACTORS rather than CHARACTERS.  About the only good thing I can say about the screenplay is that it kept the focus of the story narrow; it didn't veer off into a bunch of muddy secondary storylines.  There was a weak love-interest storyline involving James Purefoy's Knight Templar character, but it added nothing to the film - except of course, to see the gorgeous Purefoy "in action" somewhat.

As I admire the actors SO MUCH, I hate to write this, but the whole Ironclad movie experience was rather like eating plain ricecakes:  filling, but not terribly satisfying.
32876
Sigourney Weaver was brilliant as a very verbal autistic woman who loses her daughter in an auto accident. Alan Rickman does a credible job as the driver who had picked up the hitchhiking 15-year-old. However, the film is rather slow, and the indoor sets have dismal dark lighting--not exactly cheery or uplifting. The character of Maggie (played by Carrie-Anne Moss) is the least developed and somewhat of an enigma.

(WARNING: SPOILER) The story centers around the redemption of the characters, as they meet around the central event of the daughter's death and the resulting funeral arrangements. Rickman, an ex-con who had killed a man in a rage (the man had been driving drunk and killed Rickman's son), re-lives that event all over again but this time has the chance to do it right. Weaver learns how to become more social. And Maggie? It appears that Maggie now has a new friend in Rickman, even though he decides to leave the little town and move on in his life. At least Maggie is now able to enter Weaver's house, despite Weaver's protests, to help with chores etc. We also see a change in the people of the small town as they learn to become more tolerant of Weaver's unconventional responses to death, to lots of people in her house, and more.

Despite the good to excellent acting of Weaver and Rickman, I wouldn't recommend this movie unless you wanted a slow night and had nothing else to watch.
2631089
Michael Pena gives one of the best performances in recent memory in this movie. He is pretty brilliant, and I wish we'd see more brilliant performances like this from him. He is one of my favorite actors because of this movie. This movie, on the whole actually ends up being kind of weak, a little cliched and kind of bland, though. It seems like it's trying to say too much and says almost nothing, or at least nothing we've never heard before. It was ok, but it plays into every racial stereotype out there, while trying to combat stereotypes. It just seemed too sentimental and cliched to be powerful. I can't say that I think it deserved the Oscars it won. At the end of the day, it slid back into so-so territory, in spite of Michael Pena being brilliant.
872396
Pros: great cast and decent CGI
Cons: predictable and underwhelming plot
3112508
The high ratings for the customer reviews led me to have higher expectations of this thriller. What it did do successfully was provide some food for thought on the relationships between corporations, media and the government. Given the situation the film portrayed, what hopes do we have for containing  corruption and keeping citizens informed? It also explores the relationships of three former college buddies--and how their chosen occupations impact their friendship.

Although the cast is a good one, none of the main characters were likable or interesting. Perhaps it was the lack of chemistry between (Cal) Russell Crowe and (Della)Rachel McAdams (both actors I have liked in other movies.) Their characters seemed flat. The defining characters of Cal were his bad hair, love of the Steelers (in Redskin territory no less) and his sloppiness. He is driven by his goal to uncover the truth, but that alone did not make him interesting. I could handle unlikable characters, but uninteresting characters present a problem because it makes it more difficult to care about their outcome. The humiliated wife (Robin Wright) showed some  depth and complexity, but unfortunately has limited screen time--and very little of that showed the dynamics of her marriage.

The movie also lacked the quick pacing and suspense that drives successful thrillers. It starts with an exciting sequence, but then slows down with the majority of the suspense were predictable.

Overall, the movie explores a worthy topic and has a good cast, but it falls short of expectations. I'd give it 2.5 stars if that were an option. Since so many people liked this, it may be worthwhile for you to rent. Just keep your expectations in check and you won't be disappointed as my husband and I were.
4302204
Excellent Kristen Stewart vehicle...her performance outshines a mediocre script.