“You’ve been activated!”
The President of the United States of America is called on to make the most difficult decisions on a daily basis, decisions of national security – life or death, the buck stops with him when it comes to the toughest calls, something to think about as we come to the conclusion of our national election. What happens if the President makes the wrong call, what are the consequences of his failures, and who determines success or failure?
This film will make you think, what can’t they do, what can’t they know, who are they and how much power should we offer them to protect us? Or on a more introspective slant, what is the limit of your resolve, what would you do if you were activated?
The message of this movie was pretty clear, it was a frontal assault on the Patriot Act rife with all the typical Hollywood big-brother paranoia direct from the trenches. You will definitely have to put on your suspension of disbelief field-glasses to enjoy this plot, but enjoy it you WILL. I can’t imagine someone sitting in the theater watching this film and being bored or so overwhelmed by the “yea right” factor that they have to leave or they simply can’t enjoy it. Without question, this is certainly a popcorn flick filled with awe-inspiring action sequences, vehicle crashes, explosions, and fight scenes. It runs the gamut never failing to deliver to its target audience.
There are some weak transitions (Director D.J. Caruso knows where the casualties lie), and Shia LaBeouf isn’t my favorite actor, but he is growing on me. He does a solid job from cue mark to cue mark keeping you on point as Jerry Shaw. He is good at playing the every-man, anti-hero which suits him well – his Indiana Jones role being the only notable diversion from this type-casting. But he needs to develop himself more as an actor before he deploys from that comfort zone. His leading lady (Michelle Monaghan) looked more like a teenager than a single mom with a young son, but she could hold her own on the battlefield well enough, saving a few forced scenes – granted, her character Rachel Holloman isn’t supposed to be an action hero, so I will let that slide. I didn’t remember this actress from anything else and had to look up her name on imdb, she will probably segue this role into some more parts, but I didn’t see anything out of her that demanded positive nor negative scrutiny.
The soundtrack was decent, nothing to inspire emotion, more to set the pace, but the real soundtrack was the mysterious voice on the other end of the cellphone which starts everything into motion. With an almost hypnotic and soothing tone (reminiscent of a theme park voice over that reminds you to keep your arms inside the ride), she demands immediate action, and without obedience . . . there are consequences.
Choice is the main theme of this political thriller; choose life or death, choose right vs. wrong, choose duty over self. What you have to decide is, do you choose to be activated?
