Liberty Stands Still (2002)

Heavy handed politics ruin an interesting film

Warning***Some spoilers below

This movie has good moments, and creates a surprising amount of intensity for a story that revolves around an individual literally standing still. However, the political statements related to gun accessibility are way over the top and so heavy handed that they become trite. After a short while I found myself focusing more on the inaccuracies and inconsistencies of the political arguments instead of the movie itself.

For example, the individual who is upset about the random murder of his daughter by a gunman thinks nothing about killing other people's children. Hmmm... Not a particularly good protagonist.

There is absolutely no counter balance to the story, and the characters become so stereotyped that they lose an real appeal. This is especially true of Liberty, who lacks any redeming quality. Further, nearly everyone in the story winds up dead, except for Liberty, who gets to walk off with her boyfriend after leaving her husband, who unnecessarily placed himself in danger to try to save her, dieing on the street. She didn't even give him a backward glance. I have to admit that by the end of the movie, she was the only character I really wanted to see die. Instead, she is the only one who lives. Go figure... (I think the director wanted us to think of the husband as the villain and Liberty as the hero, but I can't think of a single appealing characteristic of Liberty whereas the husband demonstrated bravery, motivation, and a willingness to sacrifice for others.)

Over all, the movie isn't worth the ride. The cinemaphotography is stylish and the concept is neat. However, the politics are just too dogmatic and poorly argued, and the characters are not compelling. It could have been a good movie, but it just didn't turn out that way.
February 21, 2006

Just a simple entertaining movie!

A desperate man - Wesley Snippes - wounded in his most intimate feelings , betrayed and shocked by his daughter's loss decides to assume the justice according his ethical codes. A man who knows the most detailed issues concerned with explosives, high precision weapons and electronics.

His chosen target will be the seductive wife of an important executive. She is not precisely a special angel and devoted couple.

Despite certain inconsistencies in its dramatic profile and two serious defaults of artistic edition the film gets its goal. A good entertaining with some awesome statements in the overlong cell dialogue between the hunter and his frightened victim.

In the other hand the dramatic parallelism with Phone Booth is more than obvious.

Which are the two faults? . Well, the first of them is Where could Linda Fiorentino get a blanket to cover the corpse of the murdered? Do you really think it was inside the Hot Dogs expenditure?. And the second issue is related to a clever mistake in the make up and stylist hair of Fiorentino . Please watch very carefully in the second third part of the film this detail: if she is enchained to the car after several hours of high emotional tension I guess she must be tired, with a no delineated make up and disordered hair: But not , she looks gorgeous, splendid as if she came from the hairdresser.

These little details may seem unimportant for many people but it delimits the best intentions because you must not bet with the intelligence of the viewer.
February 5, 2005

GOOD, BUT IT SUFFERS FROM BEING COMPARED TO PHONE BOOTH

SEEKING REVENGE FOR HIS YOUNG DAUGHTER'S MURDER, A SNIPER [WESLEY SNIPES] TRAPS A GUN COMPANY OWNER [LINDA FIORENTINO] TO A HOT DOG STAND THAT'S TRIGGERED TO EXPLODE. I AGREE, THIS AIN'T AS GOOD AS PHONE BOOTH, BUT IT'S A GOOD MOVIE NONETHELESS. THIS MOVIE'S DEFINITELY WORTH A WATCH IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY SEEN IT. IF YOU DON'T WANNA PAY ANY MONEY TO SEE IT, ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CATCH THIS MOVIE ON TV SOMETIME. August 8, 2004

Lamentable "Sniper" Thriller: See "Phone Booth" Instead

Linda Fiorentino, Wesley Snipes and Oliver Platt (in that order) star in this awfully tedious thriller with a questionable political message. Let's not talk about the issues like pro- or anti-gun control for now, because the film (which is directed by the same person who did "Children of the Corn 666" -- quite a damning title) has no thrills or suspence. And at the time of writing this, we have not seen Ms. Fiorentino for two years -- hope it has not killed her career.

The story is marginally interesting; I say marginally, for we later are to see much better "Phone Booth." Like Colin Farrell film, the protagonist Liberty Wallace (Linda Fiorentino) finds herself in a big trouble. Someone named 'Joe' (Snipes) aims a rifle at her while she is chained to a hotdog stand where an explosive device is set. And Liverty is a wife of a rich gun manufacturor (Oliver Platt), and Joe claims he lost his daughter because of the gun her company made.

The story, which starts promisingly, suddenly loses steam in the first fifteen minutes. And then, it's all about the confusing situations and paper-thin characters whom we just don't care. In terms of thriller, first of all, it is a total failure. See, if the guy Joe is really a good marksman as the film shows, why does he need a bomb in the first place? Unaccountably, the film introduces another 'bomb' rigged to the body of a poor fellow (who is supposedly having an affair with Liberty) which only detracts the tension of the main story.

The film rasies interesting questions such as, Is Liberty (or her husband) really responsible for the death of the people killed by guns? The director clearly leans on the left side, which in itself is no problem. But as the character of Joe is so superficial and unconvincing that his logics start to look like that of a monster. He never tells us what happened to the daughter, nor he blames the culprit while he could kill innocent people. There is little sign of intelligence behind his characterization, which is an insult to the victims or survivors of the real murder cases.

Of course, the film could be an example of escapism, (like "Phone Booth" again), but the film suffers at that point from the bad acting and awful dialogues with cluttered pace. Wooden performance from the two leads are deplorable, and as to Ms. Fiorentino, we sincerely miss her in "MIB."

Need a thriller with snipers? Again I say, see "Phone Booth" instead. And its sniper Kiefer Sutherland is ten times more authentic than Snipes, though -- or perhaps because -- Kiefer scarcely shows his face. July 14, 2004

Straight to video FOR A GOOD REASON

I can't believe they got Wesley Snipes, Linda Fiorentino, and Oliver Platt to do this ultra-stupid movie. The acting is flat, the story is non-existent, the editing is just ridiculous, and the whole movie is terrible and boring.

I kept waiting for something to happen, but nothing ever does. No plot development at all. It's easy to see why this movie never saw theatrical release. I'm just sorry for the investors who sunk their money into this turkey.

Not only is the movie awful, incomprehensible and boring, but it's also just a stupid piece of anti-gun rights propaganda. There's supposed to be some stupid message in this flick about how the gun industry isn't doing anything to keep guns out of the hands of kids and criminals, but the movie is so stupid that any message-political or otherwise-is completely lost between yawning and checking your watch. I bet this whole mess was funded by anti-gun activist groups.

I don't know why anyone would buy this DVD, but I'm hoping that other people out there do what I do and check reviews on Amazon before they even waste their time renting something..... so here's the nut: DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME ON THIS STUPID, BORING MOVIE. Don't even watch it on cable.... at the end of it you'll want your time back.

I seriously wish I had turned it off halfway through like I wanted to instead of watching the whole thing. May 31, 2004

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