Call me cynical, but learning that this title is to be sold exclusively at Asda, fuelled my already strong concerns that this would be a forgettable film. Alas, that is exactly what it is; '
Echelon Conspiracy' curiously with no preceding the is a misguided mishmash of Bond, Bourne, Bauer and Chuck, which is as dull as it is derivative. Max Peterson (
Shane West looks of Luke Perry, mannerisms of Matthew) is a well-travelled computer whiz-kid who receives a mysterious package containing a mobile phone that tells him to travel to a Casino in Prague, make a specific bet and guarantees him he will win. With nothing to lose, Max makes the trip, places the bet and comes up trumps. But not satisfied with hundreds of thousands of dollars in winnings, he spins again, at another game all under the instruction of the text messages the phone is receiving and again wins, this time millions. Admittedly this is not the worst premise in the world; it is a solid hook that has you wondering who, why and how? Enter Casino manager and former FBI agent
Ed Burns to investigate these very questions that we are asking ourselves, but before he can get a word out, welcome FBI agent and former partner of Ed Burns, Mr
Ving Rhames - yes they used to be best buddies, yes they now have a fractious relationship and yes it is very contrived and clichéd. Rhames apprehends Max and asks the questions Burns wants answered; when Max cant provide answers, Rhames ropes him into working for FBI to discover who is behind the phone. Meanwhile, off in America in some high tech facility,
Martin Sheen calling in yet another variation of his President Bartlet is presiding over the Echelon system global signalling, something, think Skynet from Terminator and trying to work out why it is sending messages to random people.
Back in Prague the action elevates when Max tries to defy the messages he is getting and they turn nasty you will be shot if you do not comply etc. Added to this he starts seeing the mysterious Kamila (
Tamara Feldman) and has to deal with Ving Rhames and Ed Burns watching them on a TV screen is hard enough. Eventually it comes to pass that Echelon has started thinking for itself see where I was going with the whole Skynet thing the Russians have gotten involved and Max has to go to Russia, find a cab driver he met in Prague who has access to hi-tech computer gadgets, and using his computer wizardry, Max must communicate with Echelon and convince it to not destroy the world. 'Echelon Conspiracy' is an ambitious movie, taking place in four countries (US, Thailand, Russia and The Czech Republic) with the stakes as high as they come. But the film as a whole lacks conviction in every vital area: story, character, acting, action and originality. It all feels so horribly trite, and so heavily influenced by all of the post-Bourne generation movies. Too much time is spent watching people talk on mobile phones I know its a contemporary thrill, I know how vital mobile communication is for intelligence agents and people in general, but its boring viewing! or working on a computer. The action scenes are fine enough; there is a scene in an apartment involving Kamila and an assassin trying to kill Max that appears authentic, looks dangerous and has you genuinely concerned for the lives of the characters. The problem is, it feels too familiar to Bourne and Bond, but not nearly as good. Shane West is not a leading man, and seems horribly out of his depth for most of the film. Perhaps this is because his character is never properly defined. Hes a computer wiz, thrown into a game of international espionage, yet he is not as likable as say a Chuck from the TV show, nor are we given sufficient information about him and his past to form a bond with him. Ed Burns and Ving Rhames go through the motions, trying not very hard to convince us they used to be good partners, while Martin Sheen goes out of his way to not try something new and achieves this admirably. Well done, Martin. Rather than waste 100 minutes of your time watching 'Echelon Conspiracy' plus countless others debating the correct pronunciation of Echelon re-view the latest Bonds or the Bournes or check out a season of 24 of Chuck. They are all infinitely better than this train wreck of a thriller, that could have only benefited from including a train wreck somewhere in there instead of more mobile phone conversations and staring at computer screens.
Echelon Conspiracy is available on DVD now, exclusively from Asda.