The Eavesdropper (2004)

Director:

Andrew Bakalar

Writer:

Andrew Bakalar (writer)

Release Date:

2004 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

What you hear can kill you.

Plot:

The secretary Liza Raines becomes deaf after a shooting in a robbery, is evicted and later she is found...

Plot Keywords:

Patient | Experiment | Psychotic | CIA | Pill

Cast

Lucy Jenner	...	Liza Raines (Patient 14)
Costas Mandylor	...	Aiden Porter
John J. York	...	Grant Kane
John de Lancie	...	Dr. Gene Kramer
George Takei	...	Dr. Hsieh
Tucker Smallwood	...	General Humes
Ben Donovan	...	Jason
John McCann	...	Secretary of Defense
Billy Rieck	...	Serial Killer (Ronald)
Rafael H. Robledo	...	Agent Perez (as Rafael Robledo)
Deborah Dir	...	Emily, Patient 13
Iona Morris	...	General Humes' Aide
Gilbert Glenn Brown	...	Leon / Night Nurse
Sam Scarber	...	Detective Watkins
Jessie Sanders	...	Damian

Also Known As:

Patient 14 (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, some sexuality and language.

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

USA:R | Argentina:16 | Singapore:NC-16

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Gemstar Pictures

Goofs:

Plot holes: When the police shoot the boy in the school and are right next to Liza, she doesn't react to the loud nearby gunfire even though she has "super" hearing. Ironically, it was a gun fired near to her ears that first damaged her hearing, thus causing her to try the experimental drug that gave her "super" hearing.

Good premise but a weak movie

Patient 14 tells the story of an experimental medical procedure that is supposed to restore full hearing in people with hearing loss. The system works but unfortunately, causes most people to go psychotic. The heroine, Liza Raines (Lucy Jenner), is one of the few who does not go psychotic.

However, as a side effect of the procedure, she's able to hear the thoughts of people around her. The government attempts to use her to take down killers and terrorists but she decides to get out after feeling unsatisfied with the work.

This beginning plot was quite intriguing but I was soon let down by the implementation.

One of the biggest problems with this movie is the overblown government conspiracy angle. We see a lot of talk from government officials that ultimately adds little value to the story or the basic premise. The movie reaches for too much in the government conspiracy angle and ends up falling flat in it's ability to delivery any depth to that aspect of the plot.

Another big problem is that this movie moves extremely slowly. There are large amounts of discussions in the movie many of which simply have little meaning or content. The conversations are overdrawn and lack any depth. They fail to give any insight into the characters or the plot overall and up just slowing the movie down immensely.

The government conspiracy angle also ends up ruining the ending of this movie due to the movie's attempt to add a surprise cliffhanger to this story. The 'cliffhanger' is simply unsatisfying and ends up making the movie worse.

The general plot had much potential than this movie delivers and this movie ended up being a huge disappointment.