The Flock (2007) User Reviews

Much better than its rating.

[JWJanneck · 7/10 · 31 December 2007]

It does not seem that this movie managed to please a lot of people. First off, not many seem to have seen it in the first place (I just bumped into it by accident), and then judging by the reviews and the rating, of those that did many did not enjoy it very much.

Well, I did. I usually tolerate Gere for his looks and his charm, and even though I did not consider him a great actor, I know he can do crazy pretty well (I liked his Mr Jones). But this performance is all different. He is not pretty in this one, and he is not charming. His character is completely different from anything I had seen from him up to that point---old, ugly, broken, determined. And Gere, in what to me is so far his best performance ever, pulls it off beautifully. I guess it is a sign of how well an actor does his job if you cannot imagine anyone else doing it instead---think Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, or Washington as Alonzo in Training Day. That is how good Gere was here.

The rest of the cast were fine by me, too. I guess I would not have cast Danes in this role, mostly because I think she is too good-looking for it. But she actually does an excellent job, holding her own with a Gere in top form, which is no small feat. Strickland easily delivers the best supporting act, in a part that requires a considerable range from her. I actually think she owns the key scene with Gere and Danes, and that is quite an achievement.

So what about the rest of the movie, apart from some excellent acting? The story is perhaps not hugely surprising, some 8mm-ish aspects to it, but adding the "veteran breaks in rookie" storyline to the who-dunnit, and also (like Silence of the Lambs) adding a sense of urgency through trying to save the girl and the impending retirement of Gere's character. All that is a backdrop to the development of the two main characters, as they help each other settle into their respective new stations in life. That's a lot to accomplish in a 100 minutes, but it is done well, and we end up caring for the characters and what happens to them.

Direction and photography were adequate. I could have done without the modern music-video camera movements and cutting, but then I am an old curmudgeon, and it really wasn't all that bad, in fact I think it did help with the atmosphere of the movie, which as you might have guessed, by and large isn't a happy one.

Worth seeing.

Better than they say. Hell, better than "8 MM" too.

[Fmartiterron · 6/10 · 9 November 2007]

I have just seen this movie. It just opened today (November 9th 2007) in Spain. Let me say that I understand the bad word of mouth the movie is having, it deals with a difficult subject (sexual abusers) and its tone is as dark as say "9 MM", if not darker.

But all things considered it's a pretty good film. The investigation angle makes for a very tense thriller, but where the film really shines is in the depiction of Richard Gere's characters, as well as the villain's, which I won't reveal.

Gere is really all stops go here, it's easily his most intense role since "Internal Affairs". Even if you are not Gere fans, you're gonna love him in this.

On the minus side, I didn't like the way the film is edited. It's full of flashes, freeze frames and all those "arty" stuff they cram into your TV series and direct-to-DVD movies. I understand they wanted to give the movie a hard edge, but it's often too distracting. The film is already dark and gritty enough as it is, and this bells and whistles don't add a damn thing.

And then there's Claire Danes. look, she's an OK actress, but she was like a fish out of water here. They give her character some interesting background, but she's constantly out off key. She looks like a raving lunatic when she tries to act quirky or vulnerable, and not very convincing when the script calls for her character to toughen up a little.

So, it's an interesting movie if you can go beyond the surface of its visual trickery, but not as good as it could be. I would say it earns a 6'5 - 7 in my scale.

Interesting ideas, poor execution.

[Panterken · 5/10 · 14 December 2007]

The films starts of good: the premise is intriguing and there are some scenes that get you dragged into the movie. As the movie progresses, the script starts making less and less sense and the last twenty minutes felt incredibly rushed and out of tone.

The direction wasn't good at all. What bothered me for instance was the camera-work. Too many different styles are mixed and it all ends up looking incredibly sloppy instead of the intended 'modern/flashy' effect. The music should have been better too. There were numerous examples of scenes that should have been silent that had music playing in the background and vice versa. Also, the music played was not of the highest quality.

The film is somewhat engaging, it deals with a sensitive subject and tries to deal with it in an honest yet confronting matter. At least, in the beginning. In the 2nd part of the movie there's little left of the objectivity in the script. I won't name any concrete examples because I don't want to spoil it for anyone but I'm sure you'll know what I'm talking about if you ever see it.

The acting was all right in my opinion. Not top notch but not horrible either. Gere is average like always and Danes doesn't really leave big impression either. The supporting cast should've been better, the example of Miss Avril Lavigne immediately comes to mind. She manages to ruin the only scene she has.

Many people will compare this movie to 8mm, because of the similar harsh theme but they have little in common. 8mm is a lot more powerful,darker and shows more guts(not literally). It's easily the better film. There are some shocking scenes in 'The Flock', one of which resembles a scene in 8mm a lot but this time they lacked the nerve to go all the way.

To summarize, is this movie bad? No, but it won't blow you away. The ideas are interesting but after a while the script feels uninspired and formulaic. The acting is mediocre and the score is bad. It's not really worth seeing but it'll briefly entertain you.

5.4/10

Avoid the abyss

[ODDBear · 7/10 · 19 February 2008]

The Flock is unjustly maligned as a lesser "Se7en" ripoff. There's really no reason to compare the two, except maybe for the similar scenery in the final showdown.

Now that that's out of the way I'll go into why The Flock is very interesting in some respects. Mostly it's a drama piece rather than a full blown thriller about a very vigilant social worker who monitors sexual offenders. At the very beginning you can clearly see his work has got the better of him. Evident in two scenes where first he's interviewing an offender and slaps him around and second when a woman tries to pick him up and all he can think of are his standard questions from his questionnaire.

Gere is very good as Errol Babbage, the aforementioned social worker. His way of performing his job is not unlike that of a police officer, he carries a gun and is constantly checking newspapers and supplies law officials with information if some of his "flock" may be responsible for a sexual crime. He's also a person who's lost all happiness of living and his only relief seems to come from exacting his own vigilante justice on his flock. Twice you see him smile, once when he's apologizing for treating his partner rudely and the other after he's beaten up a member of his flock.

As a suspense flick, The Flock isn't as successful. Somewhat confusing and with some irritating plot holes but it does have a number of striking set pieces.

Overall The Flock is a solid drama about a man performing a dehumanizing job and in the end he has to work hard to keep from being swallowed by the abyss he's surrounded himself in. The world we live in is a pretty sick place and the further one can distance himself from the worst the happier that person is. The Flock gets that point across nicely.

Suspenseful, dark movie about released sex offenders

[MLDinTN · 7/10 · 15 March 2009]

Gere and Danes star as 2 workers for the department of public safety who keep track of released sex offenders. Gere, who plays Babbage, refers to them as his flock. Gere is an over obsessed vigilante whom is on his way out. He is training, new comer Allison, to take over his job. Gere sees his flock as very sick, disturbed puppies. He asks them questions that are not on the list, and tries to act like the police and solve crimes. He keeps getting warned for this behavior, hence the reason he is being replaced. During his final few days on the job, a young girl goes missing, and Babbage is sure it is one of his flock whom has gone astray. Him and Allison narrow a list down and discover some of the offenders have gone AWOL. So, he decides that he needs to track the missing girl down rather than help the police. That part is a little far fetched.

There is some sick, twisted stuff shown in this film. Like when Babbage and Allison go to this building where a bunch of sick people do disturbing things to each other. Also, there are the people who kidnapped the girl. At the end of the film, we see what sick freaks they are. However, I wouldn't call this movie excessive because not really much is shown on film.

FINAL VERDICT: If you like thrillers and films about serial killers and cops chasing killers, then you will like this.

I saw the longer European cut & hated it.

[poolandrews · 2/10 · 21 June 2010]

The Flock starts as Department of Public Safety official Erroll Babbage (Richard Gere) has just eighteen days left until he retires, Erroll's job is to keep track of paroled sex offenders & rapists who he calls his 'flock'. Erroll is introduced to Allison Lowry (Claire Danes) his replacement, it's up to Errol to show Allison in eighteen days what has taken him eighteen years to learn. While scanning the local newspapers Erroll spots that a seventeen year old girl named Harriet Wells (Kristina Sisco) has been abducted, for somewhat random reasons Erroll suspects that one of his 'flock' may be responsible for the abduction & uses his last eighteen days to try & save the life of Harriet before she ends up just another victim...

Produced & directed by Wai-kenung Lau under the pseudonym Andrew Lau this crappy serial killer thriller had a turbulent production, after filming Lau was fired by the studio & producers who then made their own cut of the film which was released across Europe & was the one I saw & thus will be basing my comments on. Then Niels Mueller was brought in to direct some uncredited re-shoots & an entirely different cut of the film was put together, the European cut is about ten minutes longer & the two are edited differently with scenes appearing in different order & both version lose & gain footage over the other. Anyway, while I can't really comment on the US version I pretty much hated the European cut, the whole film is an absolute mess from start to finish. The plot is awful, I guess the makers were going for an edgy serial killer thriller like Se7en (1995) or The Silence of the Lambs (1991) with a race against time to track down a killer & save a life or two. The character's are awful, I think we are meant to empathise with Erroll but he comes across as a lifeless shell while Allison just doesn't have the grit needed for such a tough job. The investigation aspect of The Flock is strictly routine, the script feels like a cheap throwaway TV cop drama with no real twists or surprises & little to no dramatic impact as there's lots of talking, self pitying & turmoil but the script forgets to deliver anything gripping or engaging & I really did hate The Flock as a film. The European cut runs over 100 minutes which is far to long for such a crap film, we never see the the victim Harriet before the end so we never feel sorry for her & strangely we only ever see her parents once very briefly so the parental loss angle is also wasted. There are so many problems with The Flock it's just not funny, why did that guy set is Dog on Erroll? Why not just kill the guy? Would pointing a loaded gun at your partners head & threatening to kill her really make her trust you & risk her life & career for you? How did that black guy at the end know where Harriet was? A frustrating nothing sort of ending that is neither here nor there just rounds things off badly & left me totally unsatisfied. If you like great cop serial killer crime films then give The Flock a miss.

The most startling part of The Flock is the text that begins the film, it says that there are over half a million registered sex offenders in the US & for every thousand offenders there is only one caseworker that monitors them which is sort of scary when you think about it. The violence & gore are minimal, a few people are beaten up, there are some photos of severed limbs & a couple of mouldy dead bodies but nothing else. Another big difference between the two different versions is that the European one has that really awful machine gun editing, fades, white-outs & strange editing while the US one is far more straight forward apparently & tones down the annoying attempts at style. The whole film has a somewhat desaturated look & the there's not much colour here.

The IMDb says that The Flock had a budget of about $35,000,000 which amazes me, where did all the money go? Next to nothing happens. Filmed in New Mexico. I can't believe the cast in this, Richard Gere looks lost, Claie Danes is miscast & is just an observer 90% of the time while pop star Avril Lavign hasn't been in a film since this was says it all.

The Flock is a terrible serial killer thriller with no twists or surprises & the level of investigation is as basic as they come, a really unsatisfying, annoyingly made mess of a film. I am not sure if the US version is any better but it sure can't be any worse, can it?

Good acting but a very mediocre story that uses gore to its disadvantage.

[TxMike · 23 April 2010]

I saw this on a premium channel with Marie as we were pet-sitting in Brooklyn.

Richard Gere is Erroll Babbage, a soon to retire city employee. He has a replacement to train, Claire Danes as Allison Lowry. I like both Gere and Danes, so it was entertaining to see them. However I found the actual story depicted to be very marginal, and hardly worth the time to watch it.

The central story involves a serial killer, and part of his or her crime scene signature are the body parts, all cut up. There is a scene where lots of body parts are discovered, and I found it poor movie-making.

There is a missing young lady and they fear she may become the next fatality. So the story involves looking for clues and finding her while she is still alive.

A note of interest, singer Avril Lavigne has a small role as Beatrice Bell.

Nothing to "Flock" to see

[SteveReed007 · 6/10 · 2 July 2010]

I finally caught "The Flock" on HBO. A taping at 4:20 am while I was asleep, true, but it's better watched at that hour, methinks. It was apparently only released to theaters in Japan and Turkey, from all reports, but North Americans really didn't miss much.

It's professionally produced, pairs Claire Danes memorably with Richard Gere, and makes their interplay (standard retiring-burnout-and-protégé) entirely believable in most ways.

The gore and corpses aren't beyond those in many modern horror movies, though the camera often lingers more than it should. The fetishes (and worse) of Gere's monitored ex-cons shouldn't shock anyone who's ever been in a triple-X shop.

Danes's acting is superb, especially in pursuing an abductor's trail (standard police-procedural, though by non-cops) with Gere's brooding and effective Errol. What blew a hole in this, though, is that she was miscast in the first place.

Even though one of Gere's well-worn "flock" is female, nearly all are intimidating men, and the role her character Allison is training to take up calls for more heft. Both physically and professionally.

I didn't believe for one minute that Allison chose such a grueling job out of anything more than economic need, certainly not from any more personal calling. No hints are made as to her motivation, nor is anything mentioned of her personal life, beyond nosy behavior and a clumsy allusion by compulsive background-checker Errol.

It's a miscasting on a par with what was done with Danes in "The Mod Squad," but unlike that idiocy of a plot-mangled remake, this gives Danes a quite strong setup — and much gore and many sad fetishes — to play against. If you accept that someone of her perception and refinement would ever take that job in the first place, that is.

Turn to it on cable, but I wouldn't take the effort to even go to the video store or put it in a Netflix queue. It's worth one viewing.

(Most of this review originally appeared on the IMDb board for Claire Danes, followed by considerable discussion.)

One of the worst movies of all time

[jackneworth · 1/10 · 14 October 2009]

I watched the movie "The Flock" because of the casting of Gere and Danes and because the story synopsis sounded interesting. This was one of the WORST movies I've seen in a long while (and I've seen some turkeys.) I've never posted online before but this movie was so awful I had to do so. I suppose the problems begin begin with the script which was so amateurish it's unbelievable. The story makes zero sense and the dialogue is so trite it's nauseating. Poor Gere, he deserves so much better. As for the Gere/Danes on screen matchup, because of the horrible writing, one doesn't believe either character for a single minute. I'll bet Gere wishes he could buy back the negative, were such a thing possible. It's a shame to see talent wasted so badly, not to mention I wish I could get my 2 hours back. (I know what you're thinking. How do I really feel?)

Disturbing movie about (missing) justice

[timaenot · 7/10 · 21 January 2013]

I did not expect much of this movie but I am glad to have watched it, since it combines good acting with some issues which are crucial and problematic in terms of "state founded on the rule of law".

Richard Gere is very good in this one; as somebody said before, he manages to be neither good-looking nor charming in order to depict a convincing character. His character is confronted with the issue of the society failing to punish sexual offenders and murderers for any reasons - and, as a result, starts executing self-justice on them. It is a very important and disturbing moral question whether one is supposed to follow the official rules and respect the human rights of criminals or to follow his own sense of justice and of moral values which are neglected by police and the courts. The movie does not provide a definite answer to this question; instead, it simply shows how the matters of justice can ruin a human's existence, but it also shows that the rights of victims are often neglected in order to preserve the rights of offenders and that there is not always a chance of "recreating" criminals to decent people - and lets the spectator contemplate on these issues. Since the movie is loosely based on such cases of serial murders as Frederick & Rosemary West or Paul Bernardno & Karla Homolka, is has a very realistic component about it.

I did not particularly like Claire Danes in this one, but I never do. She is a mediocre actress without charm or even a pretty face, so her character is not convincing in this movie. But this is a problem of miscasting and not of bad directing or script.

the flock of absurdity

[gallaxee · 1/10 · 8 January 2008]

The Flock is not really a movie. It's a wannabe movie, with wannabe actors. Not including Richard Gere, he gave an excellent performance, but when only one of the actors truly gives himself to his character, and the rest of the cast is just acting... the result is pathetic, just like this movie. You see, the idea of acting is to hide the fact that you're acting. What the hell was Claire Dains doing in this one?! She's the most inappropriate actress for this character. In 99.9% of the movie she looked extremely out of place, out of everything!! The only thing she was doing was asking stupid questions, like " do you really think so?? " , and making silly faces. I was embarrassed by her acting, seriously, and I used to like her... She's the romantic movie type, I don't know who picked her among all the actresses out there.... LOL, and seeing Avril Lavigne?! this really made me laugh.. Anyway.. If you want to get the feeling of throwing up, this movie will do the job for you!!! I wish I could vote -5..

What the Flock?

[goryverbinski · 8/10 · 30 September 2013]

The Flock was nothing too original, but a movie doesn't have to be original in order for it to be good. For its few, if any, forgivable flaws as a by-the-books detective/Seven thriller, the Flock as a whole is still a taut, brooding, gritty, intense and fun little popcorn flick. Like I said, the material isn't exactly fresh but it is still far from stale and Richard Gere, who act as though he were a man possessed, elevates the script and the film that much higher in terms of overall quality. This is not bargain basement entertainment, nor did it deserve to go straight-to-video in the US, especially given the talent involved both in front of and behind the camera. The list includes: Richard Gere (in his prime), Claire Danes, Andrew Lau (director of Infernal Affairs), and of course, the Weinstein Company (who need no introduction seeing as they are Hollywood.)Despite the lack of hype, the Flock deserves recognition for its solidity, or at least a watch. trust me, its a hell of a lot more thoughtful and entertaining than 99% of the garbage that continues to get released on a daily basis.

Better than a lot of direct-to-DVD stuff

[MBunge · 6/10 · 20 September 2010]

The Flock is another one of those films you see sitting on the shelf at your local video store and you are perplexed because it has big stars in it, but you've never heard of it before. I call these Alzheimers Films because they make you wonder why you don't remember hearing anything about them. Unlike most of its brethren, The Flock is fairly good, even if it swerves a bit too much out of realism and into melodrama. The film starts out strongly enough, though, that you're willing to forgive the plot holes that crop up in its second half.

Erroll Babbage (Richard Gere) works for the New Mexico Department of Public Safety. His job is to keep track of a list of registered sex offenders, which he refers to as his "flock", and Erroll is almost as obsessive about that as the rapists and child molesters are about their deviant desires. Erroll is constantly circling stories of abduction and sexual violence in the newspaper and checking to see if one of his "flock" is responsible. He harasses his assigned offenders and isn't above beating the crap out of them if he feels they're getting out of line.

Largely because of his frightening intensity and nearly maniacal focus, Erroll is being forcible retired. With a month left of the job, he's assigned to train a new sex offender supervisor named Alison Lowry (Claire Danes). She seems almost comically unprepared for the job compared to the unrelenting Erroll and is hesitant to accept what Erroll has to teach her about sex offenders, who they are and what they're capable of. But when a young woman disappears and Erroll finds a taunting clue that one of his "flock" might be responsible, these two complete opposites must rely on each other as they plunge into the darkness of exploitation, violation and murder to save the missing girl and as much of their own humanity as they can.

The best thing about this film is the character of Erroll Babbage, both the magnetic performance of Richard Gere and the way the character is used to examine the corrosive nature of violent sexual predation. Erroll isn't a cop. He's a civil servant who's been called upon to act as an ever vigilant sentinel against people who can only achieve satisfaction through the misuse, abuse and even butchery of others. Erroll takes that responsibility so seriously it nearly destroys him as a functional human being, yet even more disturbing than that is the idea other people with this job don't take it as seriously. How many end up suffering at the hands of a sex offender because of the 9-to-5, "it's just a job" attitude of people like Alison Lowry? The Flock suggests that not only can sex offenders not be safely reintegrated into society, but that the act of corralling and controlling them is too corrupting to those who try to do it.

The rest of the movie isn't quite a strong as its main character, however. The second half gets much more theatrical, becoming a depraved version of the standard "race to find the missing girl" story. There are also some moments when it gets really hard to believe and/or accept that Erroll and Alison don't call in the real cops to handle the situation and there's one scene where the story needs to get from point A to point B and the writers apparently didn't know how to do it, so they just wrote something really stupid to get the job done. And while Claire Danes does a nice job, her role is woefully undeveloped.

It's not perfect, but The Flock is good enough to make you wonder why it never got a chance to play in theaters. It's certainly better than a lot of the crap that does.

What the Flock?

[fwomp · 3/10 · 17 June 2008]

Although THE FLOCK has some pretty good acting by veteran Richard Gere, and some okay shots that might harken some back to THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS days, the movie stretches credibility to the breaking point and destroys itself against a plot that really leads nowhere.

The film is about Erroll Babbage (Gere) who works for the department of safety and is preparing to retire. His office thrusts upon him his replacement, Allison Lowry (Claire Danes, STARDUST), who quickly discovers that Babbage is obsessed with his job. And that job ain't very fun. He monitors hundreds of sexual offenders who are on parole in his jurisdiction. Allison goes with Erroll on many calls to check up on his "flock" of offenders and learns that he is in desperate need of retirement. But Erroll is good at his job even if his methods aren't. He taunts sexual predators and even has physical conflicts with them. Erroll justifies his actions by bringing up these deviants' pasts. It is this "good justification" that challenges the audience on some level, letting us see how brutal Erroll is and yet how out-of-touch he's become (by being too close to his job).

When a teenage girl goes missing in Erroll's "area", he immediate leaps to the conclusion that she was abducted by one of his flock. But how could he know? Is Erroll that good at his job? Allison challenges him and Erroll pushes back. Their battles become as fierce as Erroll's need to find this missing girl.

Although the set-up for the story was okay, it didn't have any umpf! I will give credit to Richard Gere, however, who plays the Erroll character very well. Battling retirement. Worried about everyone who's near his flock. Disgusted with those he's responsible for overseeing. Disgusted with himself for having to do some of things he does. Quite a change in character portrayal for Gere. But beyond him there's not much else. Some of the sets are okay (dark and dangerous) but there are so many other problems as to be laughable.

I'll be the first to admit that suspending disbelief is a requirement whenever watching films. But that suspension has limits. The biggest push against those limits is the destruction of EXTREMELY vital crime scenes. Someone as meticulous as Erroll would KNOW that moving a body would be a huge no-no. Or trampling through a crime scene. Or moving evidence. It went beyond and hurt the film to no end.

The other damaging part of this film is that we never get into Clair Danes' character, Allison. She's almost dropped by the wayside at the end of the film and we're never privy to what her intension might be: Will she stay or leave? Will she end up like Erroll if she does stay? This isn't a horrible film as it does touch on some uncomfortable moral ground, but the story as a whole needed to be tightened up.

A Nutshell Review: The Flock

[DICK STEEL · 7/10 · 18 January 2008]

Hong Kong directors crossing over to Hollywood to make movies is nothing new, with the temporary exodus of the likes of Tsui Hark, John Woo, Ringo Lam in the 90s. From their collective output, only a few movies (or may I say just one?) made an impact at the box office. The Andrew Lau and Alan Mak partnership has been a tour de force in recent HK cinematic history, especially with their now famous Infernal Affairs trilogy which was remade into Martin Scorsese's The Departed, so it's no surprise when Hollywood comes knocking on the door.

But without fellow collaborator Mak, who usually has script/story duties, how did Lau fare with writers Hans Bauer and Craig Mitchell? It's like the X-Files without the X, in the way the story is crafted, the characters and the parallels drawn with the Chris Carter series. Richard Gere and Claire Danes pair up ala David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, only that they don't belong to any federal investigative agency who bear arms, but are employees of Protective Services, who's chief role is to ensure that sexual predators who belong to their jurisdiction, are kept safe from society when they are released from having served time. Hence they are the shepherds tending to their flock, only that their flock suffer from sick sexual perversion with the propensity for violence.

The parallels in characterization are so blatantly obvious, that it's just a cosmetic touch up on the outside. Like Fox Mulder, Gere's Erroll Babbage is a strange, lonely man, consumed by his obsession in his quest to doggedly harass his flock to tote the line. Pained by a failed attempt to rescue a missing child, just like how Mulder pines for his missing sister, Babbage is shunned by colleagues and given the marching orders disguised as a retirement plan. He has deep disgust for the people he's monitoring, sick of their crimes and what they stand for, that he has no qualms in using unorthodox methods, short of flying off the handle while dishing out illegal, preemptive punishment. At the same time, he too has strong urges that he has to fight against, in order not to cross the line into becoming like those he loathes. As part of routine, he also scans newspapers and tabloids for clues and leads toward his objective, that of seeking closure, salvation for himself, and possessing a strong belief that the truth is still out there, and he wants to believe.

Danes' Allison Lowry on the other hand, is the ingénue brought in to replace Babbage. But in the meantime while learning the ropes on the job for the next 18 days, she is required to spy on him, and to report his shenanigans, pretty much like what Dana Scully was tasked to do with Fox Mulder. As the disbeliever of pre-emptiveness and holding onto the notion that those discharged back to society have been cured of their temptations, she slowly starts to see what Babbage sees, and understands that it takes a whole lot more than being just a desk and administrative job if she truly wants to help people.

And it is this discovery of the world of fetishes and deviant sexual practices, that we open all our eyes to, much like how 8mm starring Nicolas Cage brought snuff films into the spotlight. It's a decent investigative drama with the usual red herrings, and my, are they really good ones as it made you wonder quite often if your guesses are correct, and you soon find yourself firing from the hip as you get proved incorrect at alarming frequency, though I don't credit this to a tight narrative, but more from the sprawling number of characters (watch out for Avril Lavigne's cameo) and sub plots. The scene in the darkened ware/shophouse was akin to Se7en's David Mills and William Somerset when they raided John Doe's apartment and find plenty of bizarreness inside, though here, given the subject nature, it wasn't lingered upon much.

Apparently, The Flock somehow decided that Enrique Chediak's cinematography was good enough, despite its very strange style of having no style, utilizing almost every trick in the book to try and recreate feelings of watching another Se7en, only that this was deeply steeped in tinges of brown, rather than the doom and gloom of black. It does take a little while to get used to this, and I put this effect as one which actually distracts from what is happening in the story. Not a really good move though, with somewhat frequent repetition of scenes involving flashbacks.

But The Flock still makes decent entertainment, though X-philes out there would probably find it hard not to picture their favourite actors in the lead roles, given so much similarities in character. Gere and Danes do put forth some chemistry as the old fogey (heh) and his protégé, and while it's not exactly great, Andrew Lau did manage to pull off something enjoyable.

Quite disturbing yet not as good as it could have been

[vincent_moi · 6/10 · 17 February 2008]

First of all i have seen 8 mm and i am normally quite resistant to some 'heavy' images. But this movie did disturb me.

Most of the viewers complain the movie had a very bad pace, to few twist turns. I both agreed and disagreed here, yes when watching the movie you know who's 'dunnit' way to early but I loved the pace. In my eyes they really made time to make you loath the bad guys and feel repulsed by the idea what they did to those poor girls.

Richard gere was holding back like always, but I often find he's perfect for these roles. Maybe he did not put of a good performance, but he was just made for these roles. Claire Danes didn't impress me in this movie, quite a shame cause i normally really love claire danes ;). You kind of get the idea they used her for eye candy above everything else.

The first 80 minutes of the movie were quite decent in my eyes but the last 20 minutes were a bit of a disappointment. They seemed to be a bit over the top.

All in all a decent movie. 6 out of 10

Skip this one

[Rodrigo_Amaro · 3/10 · 25 July 2010]

This is one of those movies that must be included on the list of "potential movies that you have a total dislike just by watching the first five minutes". And I watched the whole thing! The plot could have be interesting but it was almost a rip-off of "The Pledge" where you have a disturbed police officer fighting his own demons to fulfill a promise of catching a rapist of a child. But many things in "The Flock" were over used, over played, laughable and pathetic just to name a few adjectives.

Richard Gere is a federal agent in constant vigilance of paroled sex offenders and he's on the trail of a missing girl probably kidnapped by a known suspect of his list. He's been forced to get a retirement because of his bad behavior and in his last case he must train a female young officer to take his place (played by Claire Danes). To make things hard to his partner he's a difficult guy to be with, he doesn't know how to sustain a conversation, and he's always taking care of the case, barely talks about his private life (if he has one except that he beats all the sex offenders he knows).

Why this movie didn't worked well? There was nothing thrilling about it, nothing shocking or even interesting to see. There's a statement in the beginning of the film quoting the numbers of cases in U.S. about how many women are sexually assaulted in matters of minutes and it seems to me (at that point) that the movie would follow a strong denounce on that, a warning sign to representants of governments about what's happening or a complain about the lack of efficient police services or something similar. It turns out to be a road to nowhere with awkward situations such as when Gere's character loses his mind to the point of beating up a guy in a restaurant just because he was kissing passionately his own girlfriend. That happened after Claire Danes told him about many clues of the case they were working. Most laughable moment ever in the film.

Gere is quite alright in the film, but Claire Danes once again added nothing to her filmography and to the part she was playing. Weird and crying faces were just to silly to show all her skills of playing a good agent with a traumatic past (Clarice Starling's syndrome appears here again). Worst than her performance was the editing and the photography. Remember when I said about the first bad minutes of this film? It's all because of the crazy editing with some annoying stylistic thriller rhythm; and the terrible cinematography with some pitiful effects trying to create an atmosphere of disturbing things, too many unnecessary cuts and voice overs, everything out of order.

Everything here is repetitive, boring and you're gonna fall asleep towards the ending. I don't recommend! 3/10

Unpleasant and Bigoted Story and Characters

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 18 January 2008]

The paranoid registrant administrator of the Department of Public Safety Erroll Babbage (Richard Gere) is forced to an early retirement due to his abusive behavior against the sex offenders that he should monitor, and shall spend his last eighteen days training his replacement Allison Lowry (Claire Danes). When the seventeen years old Harriet Wells (Kristina Sisco) is considered missing in his area of work, Errol is convinced that her disappearance is related to one of his parole sex offenders. However, his superiors do not believe on his investigations and he convinces Allison to follow him in the sick underworld of pornography and perversions trying to find the missing girl.

"The Flock" is a movie with unpleasant and bigoted story and characters with a good and dark cinematography but terrible edition and camera work. The ambiguous character of Richard Gere has a despicable behavior in spite of solving the case, and it is impossible to feel any empathy for him. In the beginning, there are statistics about the theme "sex offenders", and I do not know whether they are realistic or generated by a North American obsession that considers a sexual offense or harassment certain attitudes accepted by other societies. This film seems to be intended to spread a sort of concern and prejudice against those that have been condemned but paid their debt with the society, since they have been released on probation by the justice. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Justiça a Qualquer Preço" ("Justice at any Price")

Thank you for Another Stereotype, America

[elise33 · 1/10 · 1 March 2011]

Despite that this should be by now ordinary to me, I continually become amazed when the mainstream American movie industry panders with amazingly clinging loyalty to the the American public their tendency to fanaticize and obsess over the obscene. To translate...

When discussing the grotesque and the macabre, abuse, torture and destruction of human life, we become most fascinated when such things are done in a bizarre fashion. Of course, it only profits to connect the dots of this fascination to the fetishists. I can't specify enough not only how incorrect, but how harmful this is.

I understand how disgusting the American public must find the idea of S/M, BDSM, and Fetishism. That being said, it is blissfully unaware of the simple difference between people who consensually engage in such acts and those individuals that enjoy abusing victims without any permission to do so. It sounds so simple, yet is so essential - at every moment in the movie the berated and obsessed yet righteous agent "uncovers" how his hapless clients like to abuse and sometimes kill women. The fetishists are intermingled with men who mutilate, rape, and kill women. This is beyond cheap - this is discrimination.

There is a large difference between a woman who wants to be bound and whipped and a man who is doing this to her, and a man who likes to do this to women who don't want it. Sadism is a term misused - there is a DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ODD SEXUAL ACTS AND ABUSIVE CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR. This movie is an insult to the first amendment rights of every American citizen. That being said, this movie breeds ignorance of this. People who engage in S/M are not child molesters and rapists. Sometimes molesters and rapists may like some of the S/M pornographic material. However, there are many individuals who engage in S/M, and they have no prior abuse records, no troubled childhoods, and have no intention to harm anyone who doesn't specifically request and agree to it. Yes, masochists find sadists, indeed, need sadists, as the other half of their happy perverse existence. Neither breaks the law.

Particularly annoying was when the agent had a consensual couple in public this time, leaving it very difficult for him to go on his violent paranoid rant, so he chose to annoy and harass them instead, who basically told him to go and sit on it. So, basically, according to this movie, any abnormal sexual behavior will be persecuted by the state. What I'd like to know is, what is the point of this people's jobs? And what are they saying about our rights?

Seen it all before, but Geer and Danes make an interesting combination

[harry_tk_yung · 30 November 2007]

When watching this rather familiar-looking crime thriller, don't be sidetracked by the sensational sexual serial killing and gory stuff (from same gory school as "I know who killed me" (2007), if you've seen that one). There are two main themes, familiar again, but watchable. First, there is the world-weary law enforcing officer (think Willis) in his last fling, persevering in a case even when already relieved of duty and authority. And then there is also the mentor-protégée yarn best exemplified by the Washington/Jolie duo in "The bone collector" (1999). If the Richard Gere and Claire Danes combination has not pulled this one off with flying colour, at least they have not bungled it up.

True, Gere is not exactly the best choice for a hard-nosed cop but as his character explains in the movie, this is not a regular cop. He is Agent Erroll Babbage in the "Department of Public Safety" whose job is to go around, not unlike a parole officer, checking up on his "flock" of "registered" sex offenders. The seriousness with which he takes his job verges on obsession. From careful study of application letters, he hand-picked a successor who starts about 3 weeks before his retirement as an understudy as he tries to teach her everything he learned in his career. A little far-fetched, but let's not debate the point.

Claire Dane is said successor Alison Laurie. As it happens, a perverted sex killer is on the loose and a 17-year-old girl is missing. A couple of characters on Babbage's "flock" list become suspects. The story evolves around the pair working on the case, under plots and twists that are run-of-the-mill and mostly predictable. The rest is bells and whistles.

As said, Gere is not the best choice for the role but he did put in a respectable effort, trying to give some depth to the inner devil of this hero. It's good to see Danes in a tough action role as it has been a few years since "Terminator 3" although I would ultimately prefer her more feminine roles as in "Evening" and "Star dust", her other two movies this year.

A missing teenager and S&M...attention grabber.

[michaelRokeefe · 6/10 · 9 July 2008]

Dark, brooding and heavy. When you think you've seen it all...you haven't. Pretty intense movie until the "over-the-top" finale. Richard Gere turns in a strong performance. Hans Bauer and Craig Mitchell write a very intense story of a diligent Department of Safety employee Erroll Babbage(Gere), who is being edged out of his job. He has spent his entire career tracking sex offenders, and his unorthodox operating procedure is almost as rough and brutal as the criminals he monitors. While Babbage is training his replacement Allison Lowry(Claire Danes),he is convinced that a missing girl is linked to one of his "flock", those deviants he monitors. Erroll and his naive female partner will make an unofficial investigation into the S&M underground in search of the missing local teen. High-octane, sensational and disturbing. Danes is not called upon to show her acting chops, but sure looks fine. Also in the cast: KaDee Stickland, Russell Sams, Ray Wise and singer Avril Lavigne.

Unwatchable Crap

[kimbpaul · 1/10 · 13 September 2023]

Claire Danes and her floppy annoying hair was my first aggravation. Gere's choppy dialog. Constant jump cuts and light flashes and weird over saturated colors. I spent the first 20 minutes trying to figure out what Gere's character was supposed to be, a cop? FBI? Parole officer? Still don't know. Which means, I don't know what Danes was supposed to be either. So the 2 of them are bouncing around, from office to car to diner to office to crime scene to wherever...Danes acting like a vapid cheerleader and Gere acting like he's guilty of something and angry about it. By the time I got to where they're standing on opposite sides of a railway crossing with a train passing between them, my eyes hurt. I quit. I have no idea what this movie was about other than that a girl was kidnapped & Gere is haunted by a previous kidnapping. And I don't care. This mess isn't fit to watch.

Richard Gere may have lost his Hollywood clout but his intensity as an actor makes The Flock breathtaking

[Robert_duder · 8/10 · 3 July 2008]

I really like Richard Gere...I always have and it seems as of late that his status as a Hollywood star and money maker has slipped but it would appear to me that the reason is that he is taking very mature, intense roles and has been very successful at it just not financially because I have seen him in some truly great gems as of late including The Hoax, The Hunting Party (both must see films! See my reviews) and now this The Flock which apparently was meant to be a big release considering it's substantial 35 million + budget. It seems that some of the other IMDb reviews are very, very harsh because I thought the film dealt with a potentially very serious social issue in a very direct, violent and disturbing way and Gere just brings it all home. It's an action thriller drama that kept my glued to the Television with it's story. I think part of the problem that people seem to have with it is that it Hollywood-izes a very serious issue but I don't think it does it with disrespect but rather tries to take a different spin to make people aware that this exists. In fact it's much the same way that The Hunting Party dealt with war. Hong Kong director Wai-keung Lau did a decent job holding it together but I think the cast is what made it watchable.

Richard Gere as you may have guessed from my previous comments is brilliant as a social worker of sorts Erroll Babbage who has kind of created his own style and laws when it comes to keeping track of his "Flock" who are registered violent sex offenders. He holds no punches in tracking these people, following them and making absolutely sure they don't re-offend and if they do he'll be the one to identify and stop them any way he can. Gere is so intense and looks drained from this job and he's become violent and angry at watching these monsters loose on the street. He is just fantastic. Claire Danes is also terrific as Babbage's new partner and his replacement who he has to train to do his job. Danes' character is far more typical social worker and is a little taken aback by Babbage's style and methods but slowly realizes what he is trying to accomplish and go up against. The two of them are brilliant together and have terrific chemistry with such vastly different characters. KaDee Strickland plays a disturbed registered offender who appears to be torn from the headlines as she plays a character very reminiscent of Karla Homolka (Paul Bernardo's wife who is now out) for those of you who follow Canadian serial killers. Her character goes a little over the top but she is convincing and horrifying all at once. Russell Sams has a small role as Strickland's new boyfriend and he would have been better probably given a bigger role. Ray Wise, who is a terrific character actor (check him out in Dead End as well as the amazing turn as Satan himself in the WB show Reaper) and he gets a small but good role as the head of the Public Safety department and Babbage's boss.

The movie isn't perfect despite the terrific performances of it's lead cast. It takes liberties by really trying to make the film more entertainment than educational but it's just a different angle not unlike the Nicholas Cage dud 8MM. The Flock takes you into the underbelly of the sex trade, kidnapping, human trafficking and more and is just really something to watch. Perhaps it wasn't directed or written as well as it could have been but I am telling you that Danes and Gere together make this movie completely watchable and a really great thriller. It's disturbing but also something that isn't very complex and yet Gere's character in many ways is intensely complex with many layers and also opens social stigma and makes you contemplate about vigilantism in many ways when you see the people Gere deals with. I encourage you all to ignore poor reviews and see it for yourself because it's worth checking out!! 8.5/10

Entertaining!

[deloudelouvain · 7/10 · 15 February 2015]

I thought this movie deserved way more stars then it has been given. I can see why people want to compare it with Se7en or Silence of the lambs because of the sex offenders and sadistic tendencies of the criminals. Well it's the same kind of story but I would not compare it with the other masterpieces that are way better then this one. This movie has just its own story and I enjoyed it from the beginning till the end. Richard Gere gave a solid performance as the sex offender hunter. It's just a nice entertaining movie and honestly I don't get why people would be disappointed to watch this movie. There are way worse movies then this one.

Super dark exploitation of phobic theme in the US

[peter0105 · 1/10 · 9 March 2008]

I just saw this film yesterday.

My girlfriend wanted to see it only because of Richard Gere.

I feel I wasted my time and money and told my girlfriend it's the last time we go to see a film just because a certain actor/actress is in it. I hope she learned the lesson because I had trouble keeping her in her seat. As of me, since I paid already, I wanted to see the end at least, just in the hope something good would turn up, but I didn't hold my breath, and luckily so cause I would have been a victim of the film just the same.

This is not a black and white film, it's a black and black one. The main character (Richard Gere) is almost as bad as his registrants, and all sex offenders are portrayed as unredeemable hard core criminals and the bad ones among them were really very very bad. Speak of a cliché and the exploitation of a typical US phobia.

Richard Gere's acting was good as usual but the blond girl that's supposed to replace him was wishy washy at best. Totally unconvincing for the job.

The film tries to exploit a popular theme and gives it a cheap, dramatic, and sensational turn that just is unreal. They just use sex offenders as an excuse to indulge in cheap violent acts of murders, vigilante beating, rape and torture - something that almost seems gratuitous. They even have a wolf attacking people in the film - how low can you get.

I gather the film won't come out in the USA and will go straight to DVD. That's were it should have stayed in other countries too, but because it's Hollywood and Richard Gere they just had to show it. Believe me, without Gere, the film is not even worth a B-series movie.