Shadow Conspiracy (1997)

Absolutely the worst movie.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

This was the last film directed by George P. Cosmatos, a Greek born in Italy, who directed numerous Hollywood action movies and thrillers over the course of 24 years, including several with Greek settings. This one is set entirely in Washington, D.C., and it is a cracking conspiracy thriller about traitors inside the White House. The hero (who spends most of his time on the run from an assassin hired by the conspirators) is played by Charlie Sheen. Linda Hamilton plays a Washington political journalist with whom he is involved on and off, and they become co-fugitives. The dominant presence in this film, however, is that of Donald Sutherland, who acts circles round everyone else, as a security chief. Theodore Bikel has a bit part as a Russian scholar living in the USA who gets killed at the beginning of the story because he has discovered the traitors. Ben Gazzarra plays a character who stands around tables at the White House looking important and smug, but I did not understand until I looked at the credits on IMDb that he was meant to be the Vice President. The President is played by Sam Waterson, but he too is just a supporting character in the story. Gore Vidal has a fleeting bit part as a Congressman. The film contains an excess of action and not enough story. But it is very tense and 'thrilling' as a thriller should be, so it works within its genre. Charlie Sheen is very convincing as a young Special Assistant to the President who is constantly on the run because he has discovered the traitors who wish to assassinate the President. The assassin who keeps trying to kill him is played by Stephen Lang, who is absolutely terrifying, though why he wears a long white coat down to his ankles, thereby attracting a lot of attention to himself, is a mystery. (Aren't assassins supposed to be inconspicuous?) And how does he stow all of those guns under that flimsy coat? And how does he not get stopped by the police when he is shooting all those innocent bystanders in the streets like that? Oh, well, it's only a movie.

This is one of those movies whose cast and trailer sound promising, only to drop the ball altogether when you watch it. It is no surprise it bombed miserably on the ticket booth.It was yet another conspiracy movie of they stream that peaked with Enemy of State in the mid-1990s. The Soviets and communists used to offer an easy, credible enemy to write a thriller movie about, so "average" plots could fit well on the screen. Without Soviets around, it became tricky to explore other enemies, and many movies were shot around that time with internal conspiracies within the US government.The cast is not bad at all, on the contrary, it is quite respectful. Photography is lackluster, though, and the characters are just not credible. The first 5 minutes are definitively the only salvageable part of the movie.As usual in this type of movie, the real intentions and objectives of characters are not clear from the beginning and there are some twists. Again, unfortunately those twists happen without any explanation or any crescendo that leads to them. It gives the viewer the impression that they needed to turn a "good guy" into a "bad guy" and just did it in a frustrating way.Were the cast not a A- cast as this is, it would have been a trash movie. The cast, indeed, did a good job on containing damage and ameliorating the failure this movie is.

Now, this work doesn't reek, it's enjoyable, and energetic, in spite of its inability to be great. But it tries too hard to reach for that greatness, while still holding on to the life raft. Charlie Sheen never had it in him to be great. He was good, in many performances, in many different roles, but he is not capable of greatness on screen.The same can be said for Donald Sutherland. His son Keifer is far more talented, far more believable in roles as something great. Even when that something embodies a terrible darkness.This work, like its actors, tries to be great in its story, action, and political posturing, but like most who posture, it can lead nowhere, as posturing is not being, it's pretending to be. And that's all this movie could ever hope to achieve.The action is good, the story is good, the performances are good, and the characters are well written, but well written and good is all this has to give.It rates a 5.2/10 from...the Fiend :.

I just saw this on a local independent station in the New York City area. The cast showed promise but when I saw the director, George Cosmotos, I became suspicious. And sure enough, it was every bit as bad, every bit as pointless and stupid as every George Cosmotos movie I ever saw. He's like a stupid man's Michael Bey--with all the awfulness that accolade promises.There's no point to the conspiracy, no burning issues that urge the conspirators on. We are left to ourselves to connect the dots from one bit of graffiti on various walls in the film to the next. Thus, the current budget crisis, the war in Iraq, Islamic extremism, the fate of social security, 47 million Americans without health care, stagnating wages, and the death of the middle class are all subsumed by the sheer terror of graffiti.A truly, stunningly idiotic film.