As far as movies about "Big Brother" watching over us, you can do worse than Echelon Conspiracy. It is basically a poor man's Eagle Eye, without that film's star power, bloated budget, or overall sleekness. But it tries to make up for those deficiencies with an added cheese factor and a couple of really fun performances. Just don't look too deep into this thing, for cracks lie within.
Shane West plays Max Peterson, an American engineer working in Bangkok. Out of the clear blue sky, he receives a mysterious package with a slick looking cell phone inside. The phone promptly begins giving him get rich quick tips that immediately pay off, such as "Play slot #13" which instantly hits the jackspot. This draws the suspicion of casino security chief, John Reed(Ed Burns), who's boss(Jonathan Pryce) demands he figure out a way to stop it. Meanwhile, the FBI has just caught wind of the cellphone's capability, and begins it's pursuit of Max. Max soon finds himself in the midst of a global conspiracy centered around the world spanning intelligence gathering network known as ECHELON.
Echelon at times seems confused in what it's main purpose is. Does it want to be a full on action film in the vein of Eagle Eye? Or is it trying to impart some words of wisdom in regards to our own government spying programs? It tries to have it both ways sometimes, and succeeds completely in neither because of it. The main focus for a good part of the film is Max being pulled in multiple different directions by a ever growing group of agencies trying to secure the cell phone. And then there's also the question of who exactly is sending these texts to him in the first place. But then there are scenes with Martin Sheen as Raymond Burke, head of the FBI and a huge proponent of the Echelon program. He clearly represents the old guard, the Bush era croney who believes that civil rights need to be trampled in order to maintain any sense of national security. In fact, he has a picture of ol' Bushie hanging over his desk. Actually, the entire film feels like it should've come out a couple of years ago when this was a really hot topic. Coming out now, in this new day and age, it feels sorta dated.
The problem with this film not really deciding on what it wants to be, is that when it slows down enough to start trying to impart words of wisdom, it comes across about as subtle as a swift kick to the nads. The rest of the film's dialogue is delightfully cheesy, so all this armchair philosophy stuff just does not work. Also, it left the writers in somewhat of a bind at the conclusion, which is completely ripped off from Wargames, I might add. It seemed as if they didn't want to get too technical in figuring out a solution to their mess, so what they came up with was something way too simplistic. I won't give it away, but suffice it to say it comes down to man vs. keyboard. Not exactly thrilling stuff.
Surprisingly, I wasn't immediately turned off by Shane West's performance, as is normally the case. I've always found that West has trouble playing cool, always coming off as more of a jerk even when unintended. He walks a pretty fine line here between playing the handsome dude with a slightly geeky side to him, which makes sense considering his occupation. I wish I could say the same thing for Ed Burns, who has about as much charisma as an ironing board. It's been nearly six years since the one time he impressed me, back when he was the cool as ice lead in Confidence, and now I think he's just hangin' on to his career for dear life. He's easily out acted by Ving Rhames of all people, playing his typical tough guy role, with acerbic chip on the shoulder wit. Even though he was good, I still felt he was a bit too serious for a movie of this type. They should've taken their cues from the dialogue for Jonathan Pryce, who plays casino owner Mueller, who's dialogue reminds me of something KLAW from Inspector Gadget might say. He's the type of badguy who makes none too subtle analogies to his henchman about how expendable they are as a way of instilling confidence or something. Pryce hams it up, and even though it's some awful writing I couldn't help but enjoy it.
Basically you're going to get what you want out of Echelon Conspiracy. If you're looking for an intelligent thriller with loads of insight, you're going to be a little disappointed. But if you're looking for a decent, reasonably well acted action-flick then this will be worth a rental in a few weeks.
5/10
