Ignition

2002 "He thought he was protecting her life. Instead he was saving the world."
Ignition
5| 1h39m| en| More Info
Released: 22 April 2003 Released
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Synopsis

A web of intrigue and conspiracy lies beneath the euphoria as the U.S. is about to put a man on the moon for the first time in over thirty years

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MBunge This C-level action movie is overly ambitious, overly complicated and almost interesting. There are moments when it seems to be going beyond well worn clichés, but then you realize that's due to bad casting and poor writing. Ignition is fast paced, has a decent amount of action and throws in just enough gratuitous nudity and profanity to get an R rating. It's better than most low-budget flicks of this type, but features a lead actress who is not at all what the typical fan of this genre wants to look at.Conor Gallagher (Bill Pullman) is a U.S. Marshal with a checkered past. He was addicted to pills, involved in a deadly shootout that left 3 other Marshals dead, lost his marriage and hasn't seen his daughter in a year and a half. Despite all that, as well as being the sort of maniac who shoots his washing machine when it acts up, he's assigned to guard federal judge Faith Mattis (Lena Olin) after an attempt on her life. What Conor and Faith quickly get caught up in is a military scandal with a renegade witness and U.S. Army death squads running all over the place. After Conor is framed for beating up a crack whore, he and the judge go on the run to get to the bottom of a mystery that improbably turns into an attempted coup and what technically has to be the biggest "running away while something explodes behind you" scene in movie history.There's no other way to put this except to be blunt. The biggest problem with Ignition is that Lena Olin looks way too old to be playing this part in this sort of film. She can still be sexy, just not as the lead female in an action flick. Yes, it wouldn't have made any sense to cast some hot 28 year old as a federal judge. That doesn't really matter in a story that's already asking you to believe the President of the United States travels in a motorcade consisting of two motorcycle cops and a few stretch limos; that has a group of military officers discuss treason like white guys at a country club making jokes about Jews; and has not one, not two, but three "running away while something explodes behind you" scenes. Casting Olin here is like making Helen Mirren the love interest in a Steven Seagal movie.Olin's inappropriateness for this material actually makes you think they're trying to do something different. It causes Faith's quarrelsome relationship with Conor to look like something more than the tired, old act where the two leads drive each other crazy until they fall in love. Then they do fall in love and you realize it was just the same tired, old stuff.Ignition also appears to be going a different way when it lets Conor have an entirely reasonable reaction to the discovery of the secret military plot. He doesn't want to do anything about it. He wants to let somebody else handle it because he's more concerned about his own personal situation. But then he abandons that surprisingly non-heroic stance for no apparent reason and starts doing the same stuff as every other action movie hero.This movie also has too many characters and too much plot that just kills time until Ignition is long enough to qualify as a legitimate feature film. It's nice for a while to watch an action flick that's a bit more involved, but when you end up with two separate reluctant witnesses to the military plot and a main villain, the main villain's chief henchman, the chief henchman's sub-henchman and a bunch of cannon fodder, in addition to ex-spouses for both lead characters, it goes a step too far. It's all a bunch of manufactured nonsense to compensate for not having enough real story to last for 90 minutes.This movie is well acted and well directed enough to be entertaining, if you can get past the fact that the main sex object of this melodrama looks like she's a member of AARP.
SALUDES Ignition is not the best movie I've ever seen. On the other hand, it's not the worst movie I've ever seen either. The film's plot is at least plausible; particularly in today's atmosphere of terrorism and the military's ever growing power to `contain' it. One can imagine a rouge military officer or two taking matters into their own hands so as to `do their duty'.As for the acting in the film, again, not the best, but not the worst. Bill Pullman plays `Conner Gallagher' the rough around the edges body guard, and Lena Olin plays `Faith Mattis' the federal judge Gallagher is assigned to protect. Both Pullman and Olin turn in descent performances. As for the rest of the cast, well, the acting goes steadily down hill form there. As with any B-movie like Ignition, checking your sense of reality at the door helps one enjoy the movie. However with some B-flicks, no amount of imagination can make the movie watchable. Ignition is certainly at least one cut above that kind of movie. And, in fact, it might even be a bit better than that. Over all, if you don't have anything better to do, watch it. You might like it.
tedg Spoilers herein.This little disaster probably resulted from 9-11. I get the impression that the project was halted halfway through and was just shoved out in this form.No great loss. But it does have two interesting elements. The first is Lena Olin. I think she is one of the most interesting woman in film. Some talent, deep training, cinematic poise. I appreciate actors who understand levels. She does, but doesn't quite have the chops to pull them off, so you can see in her eyes the intent. It is an exotic seduction.The second is this director who seems to be on the "artistic" edge of TeeVee production. He does a lot of adventurous things with the camera for no apparent reason, but then sometimes it clicks. For instance, the opening sequence is pretty thrilling in a Karwai manner: all black and white except for red architectural elements. No angle natural, no perspective right angled, no movement of humans in any way related to the position of the camera. Again, the same thing when one witness is caught and killed by the mean old Army guys.I get the impression that this could have been worth watching for these two elements of style if the project had been funded enough for someone to wrestle this director's impulses into shape.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 4: Has some interesting elements.
swordfish-1 Truly said when I rent this movie I expected a true disaster. I don't even know why I rented it. But I must say I was quite impressed with it. It had a bit of humor and it was also a good thrill. There are a lot of better movies but this one is also worth of watching. Rent it cause it's pretty damn good.