Review of The Flock (2007) by Abenir O — 28 Mar 2009

You may not have heard of this movie, but you've seen it all before. There's really nothing new here. Richard Gere, miscast, plays an bureaucrat with the New Mexico department of public safety who is obsessed with sex offenders.

His job consists of harassing registered sex offenders and slapping them around and beating them. Yes, most of them probably do deserve it, but you wonder why none of them turn him in. He is being forced to retire because he's basically an asshole.

His replacement is a played by Claire Danes, who can't even be an extra without cocking it up. She's supposed to be the voice of reason and if any actress but Danes had the role, it might have been something.

Instead, this movie, which seems to focus on the stress of people in these positions turns into another run of the mill thriller in which there is a race against time to save some teenage (white) girl from some crazy maniacs.

If you know anything about thrillers, you probably already know that any characters introduced in the first act that we never see in the second act, will probably be the villains in the third act. I, for one, would like to see some time of modern day thriller where people aren't rooting around in old warehouses and houses which look like set pieces from Tool and NIN music videos from the 1990's.

I mean the Silence of the Lambs was nearly 20 years ago, for God's sake. I would like to see a thriller where there is sunlight and pastel colors. People might actually find the villains within the first 20 minutes if someone would turn on a fricking light.

And what's the whole point with the Avril Lavigne cameo? She pops up in one scene, has like one line, and that's it. I will admit, I do think French Stewart does a good job as a pederast. There has always been something a little creepy about him.