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26 out of 34 people found the following comment useful :-
I actually liked it, 1 October 2008
7/10
Author: gelooo69 from Australia

This wasn't the best movie, but it sure was a good little action/crime flick to watch. It had enough plot turns to keep you seated and definitely didn't seem as near B grade as other projects "Gooding" has done lately.

I actually think this is one of his best since shadow boxer or boat trip. I really hope this film gets him back into doing good films as he has let me down with his past few.

So overall plot, hes a border patrol policeman that uncovers some dead bodies. And on his search to uncover the killer he brings back some past "friends" who cause more trouble then good. It actually relates pretty close to a history of violence but moves along a lot faster.

MY friends have a bad attention Span and this didn't make them walk away so my opinion is watch the movie if you want an easy going crime drama.

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11 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Attention: Patience required for viewing!!, 8 October 2008
6/10
Author: ralphruff from DeRidder, Louisiana

Well, just finished watching Linewatch, and i gotta say that it wound up being fairly enjoyable. The movie starts out very slow, not much action or dialogue, which is why i turned if off twice before finally convincing myself to give it a chance. I'm glad i did because it was more interesting than it began. It's not one of Cuba's best films in the least, but it definitely wasn't his worst. Pretty good plot that developed further into the movie. Once you get past the first 15 minutes of boredom, it is definitely watchable. Most people will probably not get past the first part, as I have done on a number of movies, but it was worth it in this particular movie. This will definitely not win any awards, but it is entertaining and interesting on the surface.

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30 out of 54 people found the following comment useful :-
boring dullness, 23 August 2008
5/10
Author: nirothegreat from Israel

sorry about that guys, you have done a good job acting and supporting the dull plot and the non-creative directing. the story opens with some "flesh" which kept me watching for the next 40 minutes. after that, very disappointed, i withdrew the movie, just hoping that the cast-members got their well balanced fee for their efforts. i'm sure that working in a dull/boring environment calls for more effort than when being involved in an interesting enthusiastic project, no matter which kind of work is required. this movie doesn't entitle more than 1/10 but as the actors are not to be blamed i give it a 5/10 and declare again; this one is not worth any effort from your side.

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7 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Grasping for a chance, 3 February 2009
7/10
Author: jpschapira from Argentina

It's a shame that some movies never get to the theaters. Lately, Cuba Gooding Jr. has been doing a lot of those movies, and though I haven't seen them all, I rent one from time to time: I think the man's a great actor. In Kevin Bray's "Linewatch", he gives a stand-out performance as Mike Dixon, a police officer who works for the border patrol and is suddenly haunted by the past. The actor is so subtle here, so committed to the role that we can't help desiring something better for him.

Movies like this one are not sold properly for the audience. "On the border between the US and Mexico, the law is what you make it", reads the tagline of "Linewatch". It's logical that you would expect a bad film with something like that on its cover. Sadly, sometimes the truth is different, like in this case. The border is just scenery in this movie, a nice place to shoot and develop some plot lines of David W. Wardfield's screenplay.

The script is about absolutely everything else, and though it doesn't develop its characters fully, it leaves a good taste in your mouth, and you feel you've watched something worthy of your time. The key however is in the casting, because when you have a slow film like this one with just a few action scenes, you need good actors to spend the rest of the time with. Sharon Leal is warm and caring as Dixon's wife and the girl who plays their daughter is especially good. The gangsters that come to bother Dixon and bring the past back with them all achieve good performances. Each of them is allowed to stand out from time to time, but they are at their best, natural and relaxed, when doing small talk as they guard Dixon's family.

Two of them are probably the most important in terms of the story though: Kimo (Omari Hardwick) and Little Boy (Evan Ross). I haven't told you the hold story yet, partly because I want you to go and rent this picture (the only way to see it), and partly because the movie doesn't tell it either…I'll leave that for you to discover, saying only that it's a well developed plot for the genre that even leaves room for some small surprises.

Kevin Bray does everything right and never poses for something that his movie isn't. He knows how to create true tension and achieves it in two crucial moments that don't include fast-paced action, helped by Jeff Mcllwain's exciting score (which, by the way, also works perfectly in the action sequences).

The action is not the main attraction in "Linewatch" as it would be in, for example, "Taken". However, the fact that the leader of a gang bang doesn't completely look and act like we would assume a gangster would and some phrases that could be suppressed make this look like a B-movie. But then, "Taken" was also a B-movie (in the best sense and with the best production); and a good one. Maybe "Linewatch" is even better; a bit more humane…Realer.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Pretty average fair., 14 January 2009
5/10
Author: Jan Strydom from South Africa

Cuba Gooding Jr plays Micheal Dixon, a former gangster turned well respected border patrol officer, whose life becomes complicated when people from his past decide to pay him a visit.

The box cover suggest more of an action film, but its actually more of a character story, it unfolds very well and the direction by Kevin Bray(WALKING TALL) is pretty good, but overall the film is pretty average fair, the problems I basically have with this film is the would be gang Gooding Jr's character use to hang with, they never really seemed like a gang, they were never really intimidating, they were actually more annoying and at times it also seemed like they never really had major chemistry, despite the fact that the characters apparently knew each other a long time, otherwise the acting was above par, but when I look at Cuba Gooding Jr, I can say that he is not beyond picking better material, and I would like see him in something better than what he has done lately.

Overall, its pretty average fair and Cuba Gooding Jr as well as the rest of the cast and the director, can certainly do better.

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6 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Cuba Vehicle Crisis, 25 August 2008
3/10
Author: David Tuck from United Kingdom

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

There's something about Stage 6 Productions, responsible for this under powered non-thrilling thriller, that baffles me. It appears to be an formerly successful actors graveyard. Remember after Jerry MacGuire , Cuba's future looked great, then he made Snow Dogs !?! He's made more bad choices than John Travolta, and thus he arrives in a Stage 6 produced vehicle ,following the likes of Val Kilmer and Stephen Dorf, into a sad straight to DVD waste of time.

I can only guess that Stage 6 are great at getting DVD distribution deals. I can see it now, get a name; albeit one that's fallen on hard times, get the deal money up front; these films really can't cost more than $3/4 million[ FYI: none of that goes on the script].

And keep shooting footage until you get 90 minutes of a story that 'CSI' would reject. Not just CSI, but CSI Miami.

The story is so , ho hum, on screen I can't imagine what it looks like on paper.

The opening ,lightly baited, hook of the movie shows a group of Mexicans killed in a truck .This solved by a subsidiary character, off screen , who then hands the information over to Cuba while pinned under a crashed quad bike bleeding to death. Most people would ask for help first, honestly blood everywhere, he never mentions it.

The key to a good cheap move is a great idea and clever writing [ Reservoir Dogs, Juno, Sideway] not tired star and a script downloaded from the internet.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Somewhat familiar storyline given mostly lacklustre treatment, 21 October 2009
Author: Wizard-8 from Victoria, BC

For some reason recently, I have become interested in Cuba Gooding Jr.'s present career, seeing how he has become box office poison and is now mostly stuck in doing straight-to-video movies. I was wondering if he had learned his lesson after doing those awful theatrical movies and was now picking better scripts (like Jean Claude Van Damme). After seeing several of his recent movies - including this one - I've concluded that either he hasn't learned his lesson or simply doesn't care.

In fairness, there are a few good things about LINEWATCH. Though this had a low budget ($5 million), it at least looks decent. The cinematography is above average, and the production team chose existing locations that they didn't have to change yet look believable. Also, Gooding fits in this role better than a lot of his other movie roles (theatrical or otherwise.)

But the rest of the movie is pretty much a bust, thanks to its screenplay and its direction. The screenplay clearly needed some more rewrites - its flaws start at the beginning, with the movie seemingly starting at chapter two instead of the beginning. Things do clear up eventually, but then the movie slows down almost to a halt - it takes more than 30 minutes into the movie before the conflict starts for the protagonist. The movie then continues its very slow crawl right up to the climatic scene - there's only about enough story in this movie for a short film, not a feature-length movie.

Curiously, though, despite this slow pace, there are several instances where it seems that footage is missing, and it resulted that I was confused several times for several seconds each time as to what exactly happened. Though even if this seemingly missing footage was restored, it might not have helped the movie - it would have made the movie longer and possibly even more of an ordeal to sit through.

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Ray Charles could walk quicker......, 17 May 2009
6/10
Author: coreyno1 from United Kingdom

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Michael Dixon is a seasoned agent working line-watch on the US/Mexico Border. Well respected by his peers at US Border Patrol, and well loved by his family (wife Angela and 5 year old daughter Emily), Michael's world is suddenly threatened by secrets from his past.

Michael was not always the respectable family man he now has become - he was a vicious Los Angeles gang member who turned his back on the gang and his own brutal ways.

But no one can quit the gang, so when a chance encounter leads the gang to Michael in New Mexico, Michael is forced to find a way to protect his family, even if it means helping the psychotic gang leader Drake smuggle a truckload of drugs across the border...

what should be a taut, tense thriller about secret pasts, is really nothing more than an aggressive road trip across the desert.

it starts off promising enough, and it is a particularly humid, well shot movie, but it soon becomes a chore to watch, as you realise that this 'gang' have no chemistry whatsoever, and all deserve a good slap (apart from the one who knows a lot of trivia).

Again, Cuba puts in an okay performance, and shows that he should stick to these sort of films, rather than the lame comedies he makes, but he is still a million miles away from Tre Styles.

it's not very tense, and the final 'set piece' is a little lethargic, but it does have it's moments.

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3 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Decent plot that never realizes it's true potential., 7 February 2009
5/10
Author: jimlynde from United States

As a resident of a border state with Mexico, I was intrigued with the potential storyline that this film could portray. Unfortunately, it started out by meeting my expectations, but flat-lined about 15 minutes in. Aside from Cuba Gooding Jr.,and the actors who played both his wife and daughter, the performances of everyone else reeked with an odor that indicated that this was a low budget independent film. Instead of chasing "coyotes," the well known and despised human smugglers who incite so much tension and hatred along our borders, this film chased a story line about a bunch of big city gansta's who had the maturity level of 8 year olds. It's worth the $3 rental just to see Cuba Gooding Jr. Don't expect too much though. You just might be disappointed.

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2 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Experience both sides of the law., 20 December 2008
4/10
Author: Michael O'Keefe from Muskogee OK

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

The star quality of Cuba Gooding, Jr. is not really enough to carry this crime drama to the finish line. Director Kevin Bay tries his best I'm sure, because there is some redeemable action in LINEWATCH. The former Academy Award winner plays Mike Dixon, a Border Patrol Officer in New Mexico who seriously needs a promotion or transfer. The well loved family man suddenly has his world threatened by secrets from his past...he was once a member of a savage Los Angeles gang that has tracked him down to force him into a drug smuggling trip across the border. The law is what you make it. Who draws the line? Who dares to step over it? Cast also features: Sharon Leal, Omari Hardwick, Dean Morris and Evan Ross.

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