Skewered American arrogance kinda like whats going on right now...
Tamara Feldman had the best fight scene I've ever seen for a female character. This film is a true under dog that wins out compared to Eagle Eye. Dark Castle films are usually distributed through the big studios, I wonnder why After Dark films this time.
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Yeah, well agreed with what you say.People have criticised the title, Echelon is a great word in context to describe a potential top strata intelligence and conspiracy speaks for itself. I like how it mirrors The Matrix in a way with the Fed Ex parcel. Unlike the Matrix it keep a gritty realism throughout with the car chases and the fight scenes, the dialogue was entertainingly funny. I enjoyed it more than Eagle Eye, Eagle Eye benefitted from snappy editing but I'd say the editing in this had a character all of it's own, the chase with the Kremlin backgdrop was unreal, how did they get the permission for that! If Echelon could be made more human in all the good ways maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing after all...well that's the thought I was left with. Same cast bigger budget perhaps a sequel if you agree post positive and give the movie a chance on it's own merit folks.
shareAll these kind of films attempt to skewer American arrogance, this was just as bad as Eagle Eye, if not worse.
I agree with you that Tamara Feldman was great, but almost every other character was horrible in some way, Ed Burns just read his lines without even trying to act, Shane West's acting was no better and his character was a moron, Ving Rhames was ok but just doing what he's done a hundred times before. Feldman was easily the pick of the bunch, if only this film had been about her...
The story made very little sense and it was full of ridiculous plot points, sure, so was Eagle Eye, but here it was done with less production values to ogle and so much less self-awareness.
IMHO it is better done than Eagle Eye. At least you dont see the ridiculous computer/mainfraim as in Eagle Eye. A moving "eye"??? LOL
In some other comment i read someone said that they run out of budget and thats why the OS on the screens were so poor. Guess what, OS are like this, not like the 3D crap shown in most movies.
Amen to all of that dude. Couldn't they have figured it out that it's not all about GUI (Graphical User Interface). There's always the commandline. I guess they wanted to know and read what's in it. It's not like it's gonna matter. lol. I guess most people just wanted eye-candy pure CG fest films which in these times is kinda overrated and most films are dependent on CGI.
shareThe fact that this movie references real computer lingo like BIOSes and firmware pretty much made my day.
shareThere were so many plot holes I was cracking up but it's still a really good movie..heck it's a great one! Action packed, cool premise, AWSOME backround music. I see alot of dark dramas and indie stuff..watching something like this was like a breath of fresh air! I did think there were some unitentionally funny moments.
shareAll these kind of films attempt to skewer American arrogance
I got to say I liked this Film a lot, Much MUCH better than Eagle Eye, I hated that film.
sharei dont think it's better than Eagle Eye but it's not really 'clearly' worse than Eagle Eye either.
-Eagle Eye = 7/10 (closer to a 6 than a 8 though)
-Echelon Conspiracy = 6/10 (closer to a 7 than a 5 though)
either way though it's close for me but i think ill give slight edge to Eagle Eye.
p.s. i only seen each film once though.
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My Vote History ... http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=11026826
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Well here's further reason why I liked Echelon better.
The Echelon computer evolved in its understanding of its creator (man) and his true belief system whereas the Eagle Eye computer was a Nazi! Plus EC was a global matter with the Russians overseeing our arrogance.
I also liked the twist in EC of Ving Rhames at the beginning being an "in the know" gov't agent then later outsted left defending national security as a traitor. Ed Burns character former "farm hand" pursuing the connections for a private business man's concern. Great character detail!
Was just different than the cliched Hollywood-ized Eagle Eye (although EE is still a great movie with GREAT visuals). For me though, EC just succeeded with an underdog edge of an extremely similar plot.
Thanks for replying mslovak79!
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I was about to give up on the movie until I got to the 2nd act.
I like the misdirection (very Mission Impossible) that the woman character pulled out in the hallway scene... also the fact that she can kick ass was awesome and a pleasant surprise, I think that made the whole movie worth watching for me. The sniper scene reminded me of Time and Tide (but not nearly as masterful). Yuri as a secret agent (another Mission Impossible misdirection like twist) was neat little finisher (though i didn't get the last cell text scene at all).
Overall i felt the direction was lacking, seemed very by the numbers which was probably on purpose but i just didn't dig it. The acting was fine but the casting left me scratching my head, rhames and burns are both character actors to me, where rhames fits his stereotypical secret agent that he broke the mold with during Mission Impossible ("I guess i'm the flavor of the week"), burns just didn't fit as an ex-agent. There was a scene where the main character pretty much states that LOL! Burns can do a con-man very well but not a secret agent... The woman was great eventhough she had such a small role it was memorable. The main character was extremely annoying especially in the 1st act, he become tolerable in 2nd and third acts. I love the role reversal where he's the useless, helpless one while the woman was duking it out!
Anyway, where I don't even remember anything about eagle eye there were scenes in here I will remember... however this is one of those all to familiar cases where the whole is not greater than the sum of it's parts...
The plot and execution of this film were both laughable. On the other hand, most of the acting was embarassing> Ed Burns in particular just "phoned in" his performance,
Tamara Feldman was the only reason to see this mess and she delivered, turning in the best performance in the film. Too bad almost no one will see it. Now appearing on the WB TV show "Gossip Girl," she seems just one good role away from stardown and I hope she finds it.
I actually saw Eagle Eye first and yet I completely agree with you. I felt this movie was A LOT better (though, I can't say why--simply because I'm not sure why) and definitely preferred it over Eagle Eye.
shareIt looks like 2001 mashed up with Eagle Eye, with a dash of The Ring thrown in. Also, it has the iPhone rumor mill going. What a bunch of hooey.
shareI can't imagine how anybody could think this was better than Eagle Eye. I'm not saying it was a great movie, but Eagle Eye is head and shoulders above this mess. Better acting, better action, better direction, and was far better written. In Eagle Eye it was easy to see why they would listen to the orders they were getting, they were being threatened. Then along comes this, they get texts that lead them to make money, but they don't bat an eyelash when it tells them to take down a defense department network. Please find the person responsible for putting Shane West in this and throw them from a very tall building.
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