The Librarians (2004)

Too much of everything

Simply Perfect

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

After reading all the negative reviews, I expected this movie to be so much worse than it was. Actually, I didn't think it was bad at all. I have seen hundreds of far worse movies in my time. The only thing that really had me shaking my head was that the main girl took out Matthias Hues' character in a physical match at the end. Haha...please. I liked her tough character and all, but seriously... (Yes, I know, 'it's just a movie.') :) Anyway, because I am a big fan of Hues, that's why I watched it. (And that above comment is the only spoiler I will give here.)Although there are a few slower parts with lots of talking, there is still plenty of action (both physical fighting and shooting) to keep it from getting boring. I wish they had done a little better with closure on the story however. Nonetheless, if you like medium to lower budget action/detective/crime drama, this one is worth watching at least once.

"Strike Force" AKA "The Librarians" is strictly routine B-movie action fare about a team of mercenaries who are trying to locate a kidnapped girl (the granddaughter of the team leader's best friend) and bring down a powerful and sadistic crime boss operating in Miami. The locations are well-shot and the action scenes get as crazy as the budget will allow, however the good guys are just too outnumbered for the outcome to have much believability, and the fight choreography is nothing to write home about. Andrew Divoff makes a convincingly slimy and hateful villain, while Erika Eleniak is a knockout in more ways than one (I don't want to spoil her best scene, but it involves a barrel full of water). Nice to see Matthias Hues again - but is it just me or did they cut out his final scene? And why is Burt Reynolds - even if he appears in only 1 scene - not credited in either the opening or the closing credits? He shouldn't be ashamed of his involvement - he has appeared in worse films than this! (**)

QUESTION: How does a film merit two different titles like "The Librarians" and "Strike Force"? ANSWER: The film is sooooooooo bad that the filmmakers couldn't even decide on a title!!!! This film is a hodgepodge of martial arts, death wish-vendettas, melodrama, romance, and other cliché film techniques. The story focuses on a vigilante group called The Librarians led by Agent Simon (WIlliam Forsythe). The group is hot in pursuit of a nefarious, multi-lingual, pockmarked creature named Marcos (Andrew Divoff) who captures women and holds them hostage in the lawless urban world of south Florida. Burt Reynolds appears as a cameo in this film, and his scene is entirely extraneous to the action. Burt delivers a long monologue in one of the strangest drawls I have ever heard. This may have been Burt's attempt at an Irish dialect, but the overall effect is a kind of perverse imitation of Marlon Brando in "The Godfather." Also appearing in this film is Erika Eleniak, who has infiltrated the inner circle of Marcos' bizarre world. Erika's character kick-boxes her way into an alliance with Simon. The Librarians and Erika will become a powerful strike force against evil in a film that has been delivered directly from the editing room to your cable TV converter box.

As stated by others, this is a ludicrously horrible movie (NOT A FILM!). It is not bad in a funny way, just painful to try to endure. Don't waste your time.Erika Eleniak is pretty hot, but there is one scene where she is in a bathtub, and you can see the wrap covering her breasts under the bubbles. Also, she's getting fat.The fight scenes are so bad as to be unwatchable, if you know or care anything about martial arts, or even decent choreography, and the editing/effects are abysmal.There is no payoff, it goes nowhere, and sucks getting there.