First of all, several have said this was a dark comedy/political satire. Sorry I just don't see any humor at all in this movie. None whatsoever. I came across it when it was recently broadcast on TV. My first thought was, that it was a low budget made for TV movie from the 70's. Mainly because it had the same level of directing and editing as The Six Million Dollar Man.
My second thought was, how did all these big name stars get roped into a such a low budget movie with such a bad script and poor directing. The President's war room set is a bunch of desks that look like they were purchased at Staples during a 10% off sale, with chrome phones from Spencer's Gifts. But even with a better set, the editing is so disoriented and choppy it would still be unwatchable
Secondly, there's many claiming this movie was somehow prophetic. As if the writers somehow saw into the future. Well these reviewers are either too young to know or don't remember what was common knowledge the year this film was made. The best selling book, "The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence" was published in 1974, eight years before this film. Terrorist had been threatening to strike American and Israel since the late 60's. Hence the plot.
So it's not like the writers magically divined what would happen in the future, they were going off things that were already common knowledge at the time. The operations of the CIA, the terrorist's threats, the back room operations of the Executive Branch aren't something that suddenly happened on 9/11. It was something everyone knew about years before this film was made.
Overall, it's like watching a low-budget made for TV movie from the 70's. An overly long episode of "It takes A Thief" or "I Spy". There is no humor, dark or light, nor any satire. The directing, sets, editing and story line are so bad, that no amount of big name actors could pull it out of the toilet.
My second thought was, how did all these big name stars get roped into a such a low budget movie with such a bad script and poor directing. The President's war room set is a bunch of desks that look like they were purchased at Staples during a 10% off sale, with chrome phones from Spencer's Gifts. But even with a better set, the editing is so disoriented and choppy it would still be unwatchable
Secondly, there's many claiming this movie was somehow prophetic. As if the writers somehow saw into the future. Well these reviewers are either too young to know or don't remember what was common knowledge the year this film was made. The best selling book, "The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence" was published in 1974, eight years before this film. Terrorist had been threatening to strike American and Israel since the late 60's. Hence the plot.
So it's not like the writers magically divined what would happen in the future, they were going off things that were already common knowledge at the time. The operations of the CIA, the terrorist's threats, the back room operations of the Executive Branch aren't something that suddenly happened on 9/11. It was something everyone knew about years before this film was made.
Overall, it's like watching a low-budget made for TV movie from the 70's. An overly long episode of "It takes A Thief" or "I Spy". There is no humor, dark or light, nor any satire. The directing, sets, editing and story line are so bad, that no amount of big name actors could pull it out of the toilet.