Drama: A Hollywood producer and a government worker's lives intertwine as a secret crime surveillance program involves both of them.
PLOT:
Mike Max (BILL PULLMAN) is a big-time Hollywood producer who's so busy that he has little time for the woman in his life, Paige Stockard (ANDIE MACDOWELL). Ray Bering (GABRIEL BYRNE) is a former NASA worker who now mans a top-secret surveillance system that watches over the streets of Los Angeles and will be violently used to stop street crimes. After Ray sends Mike a top secret file detailing what he's involved with, two men try to kill Mike, but end up being killed themselves. Mike then goes on the run, fearful for his life and he thinks that the police will accuse him of killing the two men. Meanwhile Ray tries to find footage of the murders, but his access is denied and a shadowy government agent, Brice Phelps (DANIEL BENZALI), then gets suspicious of him. As Mike tries to find out what's going on with the assistance of Cat (TRACI LIND), a stuntwoman turned actress, things get more dangerous for him and for Ray.
WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?
Unless they're fans of someone in the cast, it's very doubtful.
WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R
For language.
CAST AS ROLE MODELS:
BILL PULLMAN plays a work-obsessed producer who neglects the woman in his life, and then fakes his own disappearance while trying to figure out what's going on.
GABRIEL BYRNE plays a government worker who doesn't know what he's really involved with, but when not dealing with that, he does care for his ailing father.
While this movie's premise most likely sounded exciting and full or promise as a script idea, its translation to the big screen (and soon the small) is a boring, convoluted mess. Although it tries its hardest to be intriguing and suspenseful, German director Wim Wenders ("Wings of Desire") lets the proverbial cat out of the bag way too early, consequently giving the audience too much superior position over the characters. That occasionally works for horror movies where we often know what's hiding around the next corner, but here it will only infuriate or bore you to tears. Since we know exactly what's going on so early into the story, there's no point in remaining interested unless you enjoy watching characters slowly figure what's been obvious to us for some time. Similarly there are many slow-moving scenes where Byrne's character visits his ailing father. While we're led to believe that something's going to come of these meetings, nothing ever does and what's there (mainly shots of them eating) is the stuff sleeping pill manufacturers wish they could bottle. To top it off, the movie tries to turn film noir on us and includes some of the most horrendously absurd voice over narration ever heard on film. Delivered by Pullman with enough melodrama to make William Shatner envious, the bits of dialogue include classic lines such as, "I didn't know where I was...but I knew I was alive," and "Sometimes your friends are your enemies. Sometimes your enemies are your friends. Sometimes they're the same. Who can you trust?" Certainly not the scriptwriter or director for making a decent film, although such lines do provide moments of (unintentional) humor when they're not showing how ludicrous the whole movie is. And that's a shame because it has a decent cast and, as said above, an intriguing premise, both of which are completely squandered away. Pullman chews up the scenery when not squinting his way through the film as if it were a Western, and MacDowell is completely out of her element and nearly appears drugged (Yes, I know, she's "acting," but I still think someone drugged her to make her appear in the film. Why else would she have signed on to this? But then again, why do any actors end up in such bad films?). The only good thing about "The End of Violence" is the end, but that unfortunately occurs about an hour and a half too late into the film. We give this mess just a 1 out of 10.
OUR WORD TO PARENTS:
Few, if any, children will want to see this film unless they're big fans of someone in the cast. Nearly forty "f" and "s" words are heard, some sexual encounters are implied, and several people are shot dead. Beyond that there's some drinking, smoking and some shadowy government operations headed by an ominous government agent. Otherwise, the rest of the material isn't too bad, but you should read through it in case you were thinking about seeing this film.
Mike, being the busy executive he is (or because he doesn't care), doesn't pay enough attention to Paige and her needs, and thus she decides to leave him.
Whoever is behind the covert government surveillance has both.
Some guys in a bar make lewd gestures directed toward Cat.
Paige hears Mike being attacked on the phone, and later we see him bound and gagged with duct tape. Two men prepare to shoot him and come close to doing that several times, but argue about who should do it. Later, the men are dead and Mike is missing.
Phelps indirectly threatens a cleaning woman with harm, but nothing comes of it.
24 "f" words (8 used sexually and 1 used with "mother"), 12 "s" words, 2 slang terms for male genitals (the "d" and "p" words), 3 hells, 2 asses, 1 damn, and 3 uses of "Jesus" and 1 use each of "Christ," "Oh my God," and "My God" as exclamations.
Mike, being the busy executive he is, doesn't pay enough attention to Paige and her needs, and thus she decides to leave him.
A cleaning woman's little girl talks about her dad being up there (Heaven) as she looks through a telescope and states that she wishes she could see him.
Paige hears Mike being attacked on the phone, and later we see him bound and gagged with duct tape. Two men prepare to shoot him, and come close several times, but argue about who should do it. Later, the men are dead (we see their bodies covered by sheets) and the cops state that their heads have been blown off.
Cat knocks things from a counter after learning that they have canceled the film she's working on.
Ray is accidentally hit by Cat's car.
A man punches Mike, and Cat then hits a guy on the head with a beer bottle. Later, both seem a bit tussled after this fight.
Paige aims a gun at Mike and then fires it in his direction, shattering a window.
![[Screen It]](/images/underground_header.jpg)
