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Surveillance

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Surveillance (2009)

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Reviews Counted:69

Fresh:38

Rotten:31

Average Rating:5.2/10

Consensus: This dark psycho-thriller from Jennifer Lynch, is violent, sharp and baffling, but not to everyone's taste.

Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

US Box Office: $0

Synopsis: 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... 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 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… --© Magnolia Pictures [More]

Starring: Julia Ormond, Bill Pullman, Pell James, Ryan Simpkins

Starring: Julia Ormond, Bill Pullman, Pell James, Ryan Simpkins, Michael Ironside, French Stewart

Director: Jennifer Lynch

Director: Jennifer Lynch
Screenwriter: Kent Harper, Jennifer Lynch
Producer: Kent Harper, Marco Mehlitz, David Michaels
Composer: Todd Bryanton
Studio: Magnolia Pictures

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Reviews for Surveillance

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
10/22/09
Film Threat

It is staggering to think that a film could be so horrifically nihilistic and so painfully boring at the same time, but Lynch has done it.

Full Review Source: DVD Review | comment Comment
09/30/09
Felix Gonzalez Jr.
Felix Gonzalez Jr.
DVD Review

[S]low-boil sinister, delivering the kind of simmering menace that few films can bother to take the time for these days...

Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
08/18/09
MaryAnn Johanson
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher

The pacing is so slow, you just want to yell out at the screen, "get on with it."

Full Review Source: CNNRadio | comment Comment
08/18/09
Paul Chambers
Paul Chambers
CNNRadio

Jennifer is no David Lynch and her film, while inventive and quirky and at time quite devious, misses the organic alchemy of his films.

Full Review Source: Seanax.com | comment Comment
08/17/09
Sean Axmaker
Sean Axmaker
Seanax.com

Some will be unable to appreciate the movie's savagery on any level. Others will find it affecting and uncompromising, the kind of movie that plunges you into a nightmare and ratchets up the intensity until you're grateful for a moment's respite.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Examiner | comment Comment
08/08/09
Rossiter Drake
Rossiter Drake
San Francisco Examiner

A festival of carnage that's sometimes funny and sometimes waaay over the line.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
07/24/09
Liz Braun
Liz Braun
Jam! Movies

Pullman's striking performance here is undermined by Lynch's overreliance on those same grisly shock tactics, as well as a script that fails to capitalize on a promising premise and then swiftly collapses upon the revelation of a not-so-shocking twist.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
07/24/09
Jason Anderson
Jason Anderson
Toronto Star

The film's a failure.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
07/24/09
James Adams
James Adams
Globe and Mail

In this long-time-coming sophomore film, Lynch exercises powers of her own. She gets repellant, seductive, sympathetic performances from her actors. Ormond and Pullman are frightfully good at teasing intimacy.

Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
07/17/09
Lisa Kennedy
Lisa Kennedy
Denver Post

Surveillance is a respectable murder mystery until its contrived 'big reveal' causes it to deflate faster than an inner tube that was just sat on by a morbidly obese person.

Full Review Source: Watertown Daily Times | comment Comment
07/10/09
Adam Tobias
Adam Tobias
Watertown Daily Times

There are a couple of admittedly arresting images on display here and there--not enough to make this film worth watching but enough to make you hope that it doesn't take Lynch another 16 years to make another one.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
07/09/09
Peter Sobczynski
Peter Sobczynski
eFilmCritic.com

Surveillance suggests 'Jennifer Lynchian' should be used for films that aspire to David’s moody, idiosyncratic genius and fall woefully short.

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
07/03/09
Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin
AV Club

A wholly engaging partial misfire, if that makes sense -- a spare yet stylish marginal recommendation that connects due to its provocative premise and ruminations on violence, and the considerations that spawns.

Full Review Source: Shared Darkness | comment Comment
07/03/09
Brent Simon
Brent Simon
Shared Darkness

Its mad killers may wear masks. But the real and cheap disguise here is the film's own -- an exploitation shocker trying to pass itself off as art.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment 1 Comment
07/03/09
Stephen Whitty
Stephen Whitty
Newark Star-Ledger

Surveillance is a crafty crime film with an involving setup and a ridiculous payoff, but there's enough here to make it worth a viewing at least on DVD or cable.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
07/03/09
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

The most enjoyable way to watch Surveillance -- 'enjoyable' in the relative sense -- is to take its awfulness for granted and pay attention to everything Bill Pullman does.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
07/03/09
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle

A grubby, disturbing serial-killer mystery, a kind of blood-simple Rashomon.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
07/03/09
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly

Falls somewhere in between the somewhat tongue-in-cheek tone of Wild at Heart and the more au courant trend toward savage, nihilistic deranged-killer movies.

Full Review Source: Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus | comment Comment
07/01/09
Bryant Frazer
Bryant Frazer
Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus

Has solid acting, but offers very little in terms of suspense, intelligence and intrigue. It completely falls apart into an inane, contrived and perverse mess that leaves you with a bad aftertaste.

Full Review Source: NYC Movie Guru | comment Comment
06/28/09
Avi Offer
Avi Offer
NYC Movie Guru
 
 
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