Surveillance (2009)
Tomatometer
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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... [More]
Starring: Julia Ormond, Bill Pullman, Pell James, Ryan Simpkins
Director: Jennifer Lynch
Reviews for Surveillance
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
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 2/5 |
Click to read the article Full Review |
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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 |
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[S]low-boil sinister, delivering the kind of simmering menace that few films can bother to take the time for these days... Full Review |
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C- |
The pacing is so slow, you just want to yell out at the screen, "get on with it." Full Review |
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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 |
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3/4 |
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 |
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2.5/5 |
A festival of carnage that's sometimes funny and sometimes waaay over the line. Full Review |
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2/4 |
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 |
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1/4 |
The film's a failure. Full Review |
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3/4 |
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 |
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2.5/5 |
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 |
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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 |
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C- |
Surveillance suggests 'Jennifer Lynchian' should be used for films that aspire to David’s moody, idiosyncratic genius and fall woefully short. Full Review |
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C+ |
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 |
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1.5/4 |
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 |
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2.5/4 |
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 |
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1/4 |
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 |
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B+ |
A grubby, disturbing serial-killer mystery, a kind of blood-simple Rashomon. Full Review |
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C+ |
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 |
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4.5/10 |
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 |
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