The Flock (2007)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Wai-keung Lau

Writers:

Hans Bauer (writer)
Craig Mitchell (writer)

Release Date:

4 August 2007 (Japan)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Your fear is their desire

Plot:

This film is about a hyper-vigilant employee of the department of public safety who, while training his young female replacement, has to track down a missing girl who he is convinced is connected to a paroled sex offender he is investigating.

Plot Keywords:

Sex Offender | Investigation | Retirement | Pornography | Flashlight

Cast

Richard Gere	...	Erroll Babbage
Claire Danes	...	Allison Lowry
KaDee Strickland	...	Viola Frye
Ray Wise	...	Bobby Stiles
Russell Sams	...	Edmund Grooms
Avril Lavigne	...	Beatrice Bell
Kristina Sisco	...	Harriet Wells
Dwayne L. Barnes	...	Vincent Dennison (as Dwayne Barnes)
Matt Schulze	...	Glenn Custis
Debrianna Mansini	...	Harriet's Mother
Ed Ackerman	...	Louis Kessler
French Stewart	...	Haynes Ownby
Paul Scallan	...	Missing Girl's Father
Susan Conklin	...	Missing Girl's Mother
Carmen Serano	...	Woman in Gorilla Suit

MPAA:

Rated R for perverse content involving aberrant sexuality and strong violence, and for language.

Runtime:

105 min | Canada:97 min | USA:96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:R | Netherlands:16 | Singapore:M18 | UK:18 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:16 | Argentina:16 | Germany:18 | Portugal:M/18 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Australia:MA | Taiwan:R-12 | Finland:K-15 | Peru:18 | South Korea:18 | New Zealand:R18 | Italy:VM18 | Mexico:C | Japan:R-15

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Company:

Bauer Martinez Studios

Goofs:

Factual errors: One of the participants in Erroll Babbage's Sex Offender Group is a woman. She is seen during the scene in the community hall when everyone is sitting in a circle and Babbage is demanding if anyone knows anything about the whereabouts of the missing girl. Male and female sex offenders are always kept segregated in Community Sex Offender Treatment programs.

Quotes:

Allison Lowry, Erroll Babbage: Tell me about your double life. What do you think about? I think about a girl who's dead because I didn't look in a closet.

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

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.