Greenmail (2002) (V)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Director:

Jonathan Heap

Writers:

Raul Inglis (written by)
Jim Makichuk (written by)

Release Date:

17 December 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama

Plot:

Cast

Stephen Baldwin	...	Scott Anderson
Tom Skerritt	...	Tom Bradshaw
Kelly Rowan	...	Ashley Pryor
D.B. Sweeney	...	Jeremy O'Brien
Suki Kaiser	...	Allison Jeffries
Alan C. Peterson	...	Martin Case
Marcos A. Ferraez	...	Simpson (as Marcos Ferraez)
Nels Lennarson	...	Drummond
Jody Racicot	...	Agent Juarez
John Bachelder	...	Michael
Sarah Richardson	...	Rebecca Clarke
Andrew Airlie	...	Alan Clarke
Kevin McNulty	...	Albert Torsfeld
Brenda Crichlow	...	Seattle Cop (as Brenda M. Crichlow)
Peter LaCroix	...	McAdam (as Peter Lacroix)

MPAA:

Rated R for language and violence.

Runtime:

Spain:92 min | Argentina:93 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English

Certification:

UK:15 | Spain:18 (video premiere) | USA:R | Argentina:16 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

DEJ Productions

Goofs:

Factual errors: While attempting to disarm the bomb on the tram, the ATF agent says to measure the current through a transistor. A multimeter is used, and the measurement was stated to be "40 ohms". Current can be measured by a simple multimeter only by connecting it in series with the circuit to be measured, which was not done. Furthermore, current is measured in amps. Ohms is a measure of resistance, a reading which cannot be made on an energized circuit.

Standard Thriller with Environmental Gloss

As a card-carrying member of a half-dozen or more environmental groups, I was attracted to `Greenmail's' advertised plot about the mismatched union of an activist and an ATF agent to stop an environmentalist gone over the edge into a spree of fatal bombings.

Alas, the environmental angle is nothing more than an excuse for a very standard genre thriller where the villain blows up a lot of people. Even the potentially interesting Seattle setting (actually, the ever-popular Vancouver, save for a few establishing shots) is not utilized to any particular advantage.

The competent cast does what it can with a basically uninteresting script and surprisingly languid direction. What suspense there is consists of far too many scenes of people hesitantly snipping wires on bombs which either blow up or do not with fair predictability.

Too bad. There was the opportunity for some genuine ideological conflict between the two main protagonists and a more thoughtful motivation for the cardboard villain. The one very minor plot twist is reduced to a simple throwaway line because we really don't know much about why the characters do what they do to their friends or to others.