Avenger (2006)

The film is based on the novel by Frederick Forsyth, who coincidentally also penned "The Kill List, "The Day of The Jackal" and "The Odessa File", all which became films. His craftmanship is nothing short of cat/mouse routine. The film turned out to be rather well done. A TNT made for TV movie with Sam Elliot ( Roadhouse, The Mask) at the helm as a former Vietnam Special Forces cleaner. There is great character drive in this film and Timothy Hutton plays a CIA operative sent to stop his character. The plot is very good as Elliot's character is out to right a few wrongs. Strong delivery, great pace of the film and well worth a look at. I give this 6 out of 10

In sum: Read the book, skip the film --it will only make you angry.Warning: Spoilers may follow. The cast: Awful. Sam Elliot, Thimothy Hutton, Paul Deveraux are all great actors and I usually enjoy them. In this picture they are grossly miscast; Dexter is a guy in his fifties, Elliot is over sixty and looks seventy if a day. McBride is a crucial element of the book and is completely perverted both in appearance, importance and plot in the film.The plot: Why do some people feel compelled to make a lousy hamburger out of a fine sirloin? The book has great subplots; the daughter seduction assassination and subsequent vengeance is elementary for understanding Dexter. It's glossed over in a gross way. Even the actress that plays the daughter is completely out of context. The Vietnamese woman is completely unexplained in the film. Ditto the computer whiz kid. The subplot involving the kid assassinated in Bosnia is, in the book, superb. In the film is almost beyond comprehension unless you have previously read the book.Frankly, again, these kind of crappy films should warn the viewer before starting: "WARNING, persons having read the book this film is based upon will be seriously outraged. View at your own risk".

The idea of a retired Vietnam veteran becoming an avenger for reward, provided the targets are bad enough is often successful.However there is often a problem in winding the story up.In this case though the plot starts well with villainy in Bosnia deserving punishment and leads to the Avenger making some interesting voyages and the encounter of colourful underworld characters the plot kind of vanishes with the involvement of stereo type crooked Congressmen and CIA or FBI agents. In the end the Avenger finds his man but then conclusion leaves so many loose ends to th rest of the story that the viewer is bound to feel let down.A disappointing film not really worth watching.

I read the book twice. It is very well written as are most of Frederick Forsyth's books. When I heard the movie was out, I made a special effort to watch it. What a disappointment. This made-for-TV movie deviates in many details from the book. Of course it is not unusual for a screen play to deviate from the book it is based upon. However, in my opinion, there was no need to have this screenplay deviate from Forsyth's book. The location and description of the "home" of the bad guy is gutted in the movie. The scenes where the bad guy is brought to task are a sad parody of the book. The "secret" that is revealed at the end of the book was omitted in the movie, which means the whole use of the "secret" becomes a disconnect. And, as much as I like Sam Elliot as an actor, in this case the part of Cal Dexter was seriously miscast. I will not bother to watch this movie again. My recommendation: read the book and skip this movie.