Plot Synopsis: This 2008 movie is about the attempted assassination of the U.S. President Henry Ashton (William Hurt) in the country of Spain during a time period of about twenty-five minutes, give or take a few minutes. The movie shows the same approximate twenty-five minute period from the perspective of eight different people, with each adding a key clue to the entire scheme of things and building the suspense with each passing perspective.

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense violence, disturbing images and brief strong language

Characters: The following is a list of the actors of the eight perspectives presented during the layout of the movie: Veteran POTUS Secret Service Agent: Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid), POTUS Secret Service Agent: Kent Taylor (Matthew Fox), American tourist on vacation: Howard Lewis (Forest Whitaker), Former special forces soldier blackmailed into helping the terrorist: Javier (Edgar Ramirez), Lead terrorist: Sam/Suarez (Saïd Taghmaoui), Global Network News/GNN Producer: Rex Brooks (Sigourney Weaver), U.S. President: Henry Ashton (William Hurt), and Spanish Undercover Police Man: Enrique (Eduardo Noriega).

For those of you who love a good action thriller, then I highly recommend this movie. I can say, the first bit of the movie is a little bit confusing, but once you get into it, you’ll realize what is happening…and get mesmerized by the action. I would give this movie 3 stars simply due to the knotted up intro which quickly unravels itself later on.

Over the last few days I’ve been watching a ton of movies, among them are three movies, with very similar themes.

First up, The Boondock Saints. The movie tells the story of two multilingual brothers who when faced by extraordinary circumstances come out on top. Locked in a cell they gain enlightenment and set out to cleanse this world of evil, there is a funny man to help them on their way.  They rattle the mafia, who aim to get back at them. I felt the movie could have been made a lot better, especially the parts where they defy mathematical odds to come out on top. It almost feels comical for a movie for so much shooting and killing in it.

The next in line was The Departed. I was anticipating a memorable movie. The start did not disappoint, Jack Nicholson giving a stellar performance, I have to say I haven’t seen DiCaprio act so well since What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, but it kind of fell flat mid way. There was hardly any plot and the twist was so predictable. Every one shoots each other in the end, but one hardly got into the characters’ shoes.

Finally, I saw Shooter, All I knew about Shooter was, It was an presidential espionage. Two best buddies in the line of fire, one loses the other, a la “Top Gun”, just when I thought it could not get any worse, It actually got better and better. The FBI agent deciphers the setup and the sniper gains upper ground. The movie was enjoyable for the most part. The climax turned out a bit too cheesy for me.

Maybe I’m becoming more and more selective or maybe movies are becoming too predictable to be enjoyable?

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Here is today’s ( Wednesday 5-14-08 ) free rental code courtesy of Redbox.com! It is only good until 11:59pm tonight so get out to the store and rent a free movie before then!

Reminder: Any movie rented tonight needs to be back tomorrow by 9pm or you will be charged $1.05 per night until it is returned (there is a cap).

ENJOY!