Deterrence (2000)

Dreadfully Boring

disgusting, overrated, pointless

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

As for a movie, technically, it was great.Well written script, that started very innocently and quickly snowballed into a nightmare. It is strange that the entire movie was shot on one stage... the diner... but yet at the same time sent you around the world.Acting was good and believable with even a bit of humor sprinkled in.The thought that ordinary every-day citizens could sit over the President's shoulder in the middle of a crises is interesting. Which ones of us have never said.... "If I were there, I would have told the President this or that"? So the movie was was technically well done.After watching it today I have a sick feeling in my stomach. Although well done, it was very irresponsible. The U.S. drops a nuclear bomb on a city, destroying it and it's citizens. Though some discomfort with the decision is shown by the President, ultimately he is made out to be some sort of hero. Don't get me wrong... I feel that some sort of retaliation would be in order... but the use of nuclear weapons as a preemptive strike is something that can never be done by a peaceful civilization. And to make a movie about it... that in many ways glorifies it... is irresponsible.I think it interesting that this movie was made almost 10 years ago. Where since a President (George W. Bush) was faced with a similar crises, (9-11) and chose to deal with it, without nuclear weapons. To sum it up... an interesting movie, that was well done, but was horrifically irresponsible, and should have never been made. I will copy and paste this over to the forums, as I am sure some will want to reply.

Usually when watching a film, you have a sense of what it's TRYING to achieve.So cue stock footage and sound clips of previous presidents, set scene in diner cut of from contact with world. Expect mounting claustrophobia, pressure to make decisions without full knowledge of situations, interplay between personalities in a pressure cooker environment.Here decisions are made at a drop of a hat, interplay is reduced to "I must register my disagreement, Sir" and pressure is at a near climax when the waitress interrupts to refill the coffee.This film starts sounding like a dove, flaps like a hawk but then wanders off like a turkey!

Okay. I saw this listed on the Scream network last night (Thursday Thriller) and the plot sounded pretty good, so I checked it out. The cast was great. I thought maybe this was a play originally, because the whole movie takes place in the diner. The plot is basically that the V.P. has been acting president for several months after the death of the president. He is on the campaign trail, and he has won an important primary. A debilitating snowstorm lands him in a little isolated country greasy spoon diner, where several otherlocals and customers are stranded. All hell breaks loose when the TV announces that Saddam Hussain's son Uday has invaded Kuwait. This one has actually held up fairly well as a post 9/11 alternate history. Shawn Astin plays a local redneck. There is a couple in the diner waiting out the storm by squabbling and playing chess; the president offers an opinion on the board setup. I suspect that most world leaders are pretty good at chess or they don't last long in office.The cast of characters was pretty representative of the American sentiments. The part I disbelieve the most is the fact that a nuclear bomb blasting away a whole city of innocents could be taken so lightly by a president. In real life, I doubt if he would get away with his decision in these times... since we are now all too painfully aware of how united the Arabs can be; the movie would have an epilogue entitled 'Retaliation'.Ask me now if I mind that Uday is not around to follow in his father's footsteps... not likely.

I saw this movie based on one fact only...I had never heard of it and the theatre didn't even have a one sheet for it (one never knows what gems can be found in the unknown) immediately after seeing it I rounded up some friends a took them to see it. This was a very smart screenplay. It could well have been a hint of things to come in the middle east had the events of Sept.11, 2001 not sped up our concentrated involvement in that area. It still, however, shows some dilemmas caused by that areas prejudices between groups. In the film Iraq re-invades Kuwait as a novice "unelected" president tries to handle the situation from a remote location in the Colorado Mountains during a blizzard. Iraq points some chemical weapons at their neighbors- or are they nukes bought from the French who got them from us?? Now the talk gets tough except our president is Jewish and the Iraqis won't parlay with a Jew- while some on his staff insists he not say anything on an unsecured phone line.Of course I'm no film student so my view of the real world is tainted with realism such as intelligent people working in mundane jobs or that people with IQs of 105 can be enlightened about some limited fields such as societal woes or the horror of nuclear fallout. I admit there is a kind of "who done it" ending that wraps everything up in a brief monologue by Kevin Pollack with which I was not entirely comfortable. However, it does put a slant on ones thinking in so far as our on again off again real life political relationship with the French is concerned. I loved this movie!! I enjoyed this drama as much as the unfolding tension surrounding The Contender(another Rob Lurie film) and though I am hardly a Rob Lurie fan (I thought The Castle sucked beyond dry) I have kept his name in my memory since my first viewing of Deterrence waiting for any other gem he may write...or direct. To me- it was that good!!