SYNOPSIS:
Executive Producer Steven Spielberg delivers the ultimate race-against-time thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat! Shia LaBeouf (Transformers) and Michelle Monaghan (Mission: Impossible 3) star as strangers ripped from their ordinary lives when they are ‘activated’ as part of a high-tech assassination plot. Through blistering chases and shocking twists they try to escape –but where do you go when the enemy is everywhere?
MOVIE REVIEW:
After watching this Steven Spielberg produced (at least this was what stuck in our minds while watching the promotional trailer) movie, we can’t help but think to ourselves: What have stars Shia Labeouf and Michelle Monaghan done to deserve all these exhausting running around in the 117 minute picture? We all know LaBeouf as the dude who did lots of running away from evil Decepticons in Michael Bay’s Transformers (2007). We all know Monaghan as the babe who did lots of running away from bad guys in J.J. Abrams’ Mission: Impossible III (2006). And in this D.J. Caruso (now we mention the director who has directed LaBeouf in Disturbia) directed movie, these two has lots of running to do again.
The good looking pair plays two strangers who are oddly brought together by a mysterious phone call. The woman on the other side of the phone has a mysterious voice and tells them what to do if they want to survive. Not wanting to risk their lives and family, the duo follows every order and goes through a series of dangerous scenarios that, well, can only happen in movies – big budgeted ones at that.
You can expect frantic car chases, loud explosions and yes, adrenaline foot chases in this movie. And with these, you can also expect a plot that is so pompous and to put it in a very direct manner, ridiculous, that you’ll be wondering the credibility of the writers by the time the end credits roll. We have seen plenty of movies dealing with government conspiracies before, and this one doesn’t stand out from the rest in any way, probably except that the stars look younger.
LaBeouf and Monaghan are somewhat convincing as the duo on the run because they genuinely look tired in this intense thriller. The supporting cast which includes the reliable Billy Bob Thornton (Mr. Woodcock, School for Scoundrels), Rosario Dawson (Death Proof, Clerks II) and Michael Chiklis (Fantastic Four, TV’s The Shield) all deliver capable performances as miscellaneous agents, but we do recognize the fact that all these action sequences and star power are used to distract viewers from the outlandishly unbelievable thriller.
We give credit where it’s due, because the movie does score when it comes to executing the blistering chase sequences. Get ready to hold your breath in the unforgettable car chase scene, from the minute it begins. And we are only tens of minutes into the movie. Get ready to be deafened (turn up those speaker volumes if you are intending to show off your home entertainment system) during the explosion scenes. And these are so plentiful; we lost count after a while.
So here you have a movie that’s exciting to the senses while it lasts, otherwise it’s just another forgettable thriller that you’d dismiss upon seeing another one.
SPECIAL
FEATURES:
This Code 3 DVD contains a four minutes of three Deleted Scenes, which seem rather half hearted to be included in the section at all; as well as a making of clip entitled Road Trip which shows us how the exhausted the crew behind the camera must have felt following LaBeouf and Monaghan around. See how cars get crashed and how things get blown up. Too bad it’s only three minutes long.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The disc’s visual transfer does justice to the exciting action sequences, and can be watched in its English or Thai 5.1 Dolby Digital audio soundtrack.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING:
Review by John Li |
