Surveillance

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Surveillance

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Surveillance

Julia Ormond, Bill Pullman, Pell James, Ryan Simpkins, Cheri Oteri

It’s been a hell of a day on the highway.

When Federal Officers Elizabeth Anderson (Julia Ormond) and Sam Hallaway (Bill Pullman) arrive at Captain Billing’s office, they have three sets of...( read more  read more... ) stories to figure out and a string of vicious murders to consider.

One zealot cop, a strung out junkie and an eight year old girl all sit in testimony to the roadside rampage, but as the Feds begin to expose the fragile little details each witness conceals so carefully with a well practiced lie, they soon discover that uncovering ‘the truth’ can come at a very big cost…

Id: 11001776

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Recent Reviews

Surveillance Recent Reviews
  • Deano78
    December 7, 2009
    Deano78
    A pretty decent straight to DVD thriller with a familiar cast. It's quite entertaining but really relies on the twist, which is good but most film fans will probably work out early on. Still a nice change from the norm.
  • thefog1331
    October 18, 2009
    thefog1331
    An offbeat thriller that is well-made but not really all that thrilling or surprising. In fact I'm still not sure if the "twist" was really supposed to be a twist since if you pay any attention it all but smacks you in the face by the halfway mark.
    Anyway it features a great cas...( read more)t all around and is surprisingly funny-- although most of it is of a darker variety.
  • DerekA101
    October 15, 2009
    DerekA101
    Jennifer Lynch, daughter to renowned director David Lynch, makes her debut here with Surveillance and has inherited his eye for style and taste for bizarre twists. This film involves 2 FBI agents investigating a spree of gruesome murders across the countryside. They have...( read more) 3 witnesses to one of the crimes who are all give differing accounts of what they saw.

    It was no secret that a big twist was coming at the conclusion of this film, but I easily predicted it in the first 15 minutes. Maybe my senses were to keen on searching for it, but it was a very disappointing and obvious twist.

    The acting was stiff and atrocious, and the plot was rather weak. Bill Pullman, a fine actor, was really really bad here. I don't know if he didn't care or what, but his performance was laughable.

    The directing and signature flare was there, which served to help the film a little. And the violent scenes were graphic and shot very well. But overall, this film is a bit of stinker. Not impressed...
  • madmac17
    July 31, 2009
    madmac17
    I don't know if this is supposed to be funny or not. I hope so. But even if it's supposed to be, it's not. I like Bill Pullman and Julia Ormond, and Pell James was good in The King, but their talents are wasted in this pathetic excuse for a movie from writer/director Jennifer Cha...( read more)mbers Lynch (daughter of David). She tries very hard to inject this movie with a weirdness similar to that made famous by her father, and it starts out looking promising. But, as soon as we are introduced to the two police officers played by French Stewart and Kent Harper, the film loses all credibility. I don't believe there are policemen who would be so stupid as to perform the outrageous acts that these two engage in. Admittedly, there are corrupt police officers in the world, but the behaviour of these two is so reprehensible and so easily traced back to them (through ballistics, etc.) that suspension of disbelief just isn't an option for the viewer. And if you can't believe the actions of the characters in a film, at least on some level, if you can't see them as believably human, then how can you care what happens to them? You can't, and in this film I didn't. The only character that was remotely sympathetic was the young girl Stephanie (Ryan Simpkins), but the film has been so poisoned by the other characters that it's impossible to care what happens to anyone in it. You just want it to be over as quickly as possible, so you can go find a good movie to watch to take away the bad taste that this one has left in your mouth.
  • TheMachinist
    May 24, 2009
    TheMachinist
    "I'm not... having... a very good time."

    Jennifer Lynch has surely inherited her father's, one of the most eccentric directors of all time, David Lynch's talents for filmmaking. 'Surveillance' is her second film, she made 'Boxing Helena' back in '93. Haven't seen it and will pro...( read more)bably pass but I'm glad I watched this one.

    It seems odd to me that, here in Finland I got to watch this on DVD but in the States it has only been screened at some festivals and will have a limited release in July. And the DVD is only on pre-order! I guess it may prove that this film is not for everyone...

    I can't remember when was the last time I saw a film that surprised me as 'Surveillance' did. It starts as an usual "FBI ivestigates serial killings" and does have a pretty slow start. I almost gave up on the movie, thought that this would be a waste of time but like I said earlier, if you give the film a chance, you'll be thoroughly surprised and entertained.

    'Surveillance' gives an entirely new meaning to "Protect and Serve". Good cop bad cop scenes are usually so full of clichés but in this movie, Lynch has taken the whole thing a bit further. I've never seen cops as brutal and crazy as in 'Surveillance'. Guess living and working in some yokel environment may mess up your mind...

    The actors, who are mostly well known actors, perform well in their roles. Some surprising names in the cast, mainly French Stewart, who's best known for his role in '3rd Rock From the Sun' TV series. Didn't know he could act such an asshole on screen. Michael Ironside gives always credibility to any movie he's involved in. The two lead actors, Julia Ormond and Bill Pullman have both worked with David Lynch before so Jennifer probably knew what she was getting. Bill Pullman was nice to look at again. I like him in these smaller, indier films, not as a superhero "fighter pilot turned US president" as in 'ID4'.

    Pretty much everything looks and feels minimalistic. The cinematography is very impressive with a rough image. The acting is solid, may go a bit over the top in the end when the plot twist occurs but it doesn't have a bad effect on the outcome of the movie. I've always been a huge fan of indie and I'd like to see more of films like this. Films that obviously have a small budget but a huge factor of entertainment.

    'Surveillance' deserves a chance. If you haven't seen it or even heard of it, I recommend you to remember Jennifer Lynch and 'Surveillance'. The film may not be suitable for all but those who are tired of seeing those totally unsurprising movies, this movie is definitely for you.
  • kennybelievesinyou
    December 18, 2009
    kennybelievesinyou
    Two FBI agents show up in a small town where a team of serial killers has been running wild. They have three witnesses. A shy soft spoken 8 year old girl whose family has just been brutally murdered. A strung out on cocaine Junkie whose boyfriend has just been killed and a corrup...( read more)t cop who during the shootout lost his partner. All three begin to spin a web full of confusing plots, mismatched timelines, death and violence. Nothing is what it seems to be, none of these people can fill in the missing piece of the puzzle which is who the killers are.

    A 97 minute movie turns out to feel like 197 minutes. The first 77 were boring, and skipped the point of the film,. and then they just loaded it all on in the final 20 minutes. But still when waiting so long to reveal so much so late it doesn?t usually make sense. I was watching this film hoping for something different, but it was all just silly interrogation with silly characters. It seemed like I hated this film which I did not, I just have mixed feelings about it. Ever since I saw it, I have been contemplating what to rate it, how to review, it was different, slow and boring with a twist at the end that wasn?t surprising if you have seen good films. I didn?t want to hate this film, but I don?t want to rate it with a 4 either. One of this films you want to be friendly harsh with because there was good elements in it.

    The cast was one of those elements. Pullman, Ormond and the rest of the cast did good jobs. At times Pullman seemed forced, annoyed, but he still managed to deal a performance that was worthy for a decent film like this. Still not the best acting I have ever seen.

    As for the twist it wasn?t so shocking with the hints that they gave you along the way. It was annoying that they were handing you hints on a massive silver platter and playing down the intelligence of the audience. Don?t play on the intelligence of the audience shock them beyond belief. This film couldn?t do that just like many films cannot. The ending was bizarre but not the kind of bizarre you could enjoy. It was a psycho sexual kind of ending, pleasure from pain, pain from pleasure kind of idea. It really weirded me out, not because it was good, because it sort of just happened and it was weird. Throughout the film there was a weird sense of sexual tension with the corrupt cops only to find out the FBI agents who were brought in to help were there for the exact same reason. They killed the entire police force the junkie but let the little girl roam free. Why is this? Didn?t make much sense. The scene where they killed the junkie was as messed up as movie scenes go, I know it shows what they have been doing the whole time, but it was pretty well the exact same thing the corrupt cops had been doing the whole time.

    This film fell off the beaten path early and managed to stray further and further from its goal, which is to shock and awe, it just ended being a weird sexual tension movie. Not what I was expecting at all.
  • The13xxx
    December 18, 2009
    The13xxx
    I heard about David Lynch, but never bother to look for his movies, and now his daughter is directing? well, i never thought Surveillance would be good or at least disturbing for that matter. I really enjoyed the movie, the way the movie goes - i read in other sites, how people c...( read more)omplained about how slow the movie is; but well trust me i have watched slow movies, and this is not one of them. The build up tension was exhilarating; disturbing, sharp and the gore involvement was amazing. It was disturbing caused, you can't guess who is the good guy in the movie, no happy ending, and just plain harsh reality of the world - and that's what exactly what i like in a movie.

    Bill Pullman could easily be replaced, Julia Ormond did good - and so does the supporting actors. Not a long movie to watch, but surely memorable one.

    8/10
  • danieljparsons
    December 13, 2009
    danieljparsons
    I'm being generous in four stars, because the twist, which was too obvious, deadened the pace thereafter and - above all - required far too much suspension of disbelief, was ludicrous. What I like to call the High Tension factor. However, the first 1 hr and 12 minutes are ...( read more)near perfect; controlled, blackly humorous and laugh out loud funny, tense, scary and visceral. Props to the great performances and beautiful photography too.
  • ElDuderinoLebowski
    December 8, 2009
    ElDuderinoLebowski
    Just really, really bloody, really crass and all kinds of really.

    Jennifer Chambers Lynch attempts to follow in her father's footsteps at first, but in the final 30 minutes, the film becomes a much different kind of crazy, something which will either make or break your opinion o...( read more)f the film.
  • Lummy08
    December 8, 2009
    Lummy08
    What a sick movie, with a massive twist... it's shocking! Cast is poor tho, i'm sure it could've been more of a hit if better actors are inveted in! and some stunts or fight scenes atleast.
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