Absolute Deception (2013)

The film has all the feel, graphics, CG effects, and dialouge as a made for TV film. Dennis Archer (Ty Hungerford) is supposed to deliver information to James, an FBI agent (Cuba Gooding Jr.) but dies before it happens, although they haven't found the body. Mild manner accountant Archer had faked his death before in NY when he was married to investigative reporter Rebecca Scott (Emmanuelle Vaugier). Rebecca did an article on an Australian billionaire who is now under criminal investigation. It just so happens her ex-dead husband worked for him before he died a second time.Rebecca goes to Australia to investigate her husband's death and ends up tagging along with Cuba Goodling jr. after his initial protest.The script is improbable to say the least, especially the main relationship. NY driver's licenses do not require fingerprints either. The film was far too predictable to make it enjoyable. The highlight of the picture is the occasional predictable banter that goes on between Goodling and Vaugier. Save your money and wait for Lifetime to show it.Parental Guide: no f-bombs or sex. Some distorted frosted shower scene rear nudity...and I think she was wearing a bikini on top of that. Some violence, but really doesn't rate an "R" in my opinion.

Review: This is a terrible "made for TV" type movie with bad acting and a boring storyline. I lost interest earlier on in the movie because it was obvious what was going on. The director tried to add some wit to this thriller, which really didn't work, and the lady who played the leading role wasn't really that convincing as an investigator. I wasn't expecting that much from the film, so I wasn't overly disappointed, but the director could have at least tried to make a watchable film. The whole thing seemed cheap without that much thought so I would leave this one off of your rental list. Terrible!Round-Up: This must have been a simple pay day for Cuba Gooding Jr. I can't see him reading the script, thinking that it was that amazing, and you can tell by his acting that he didn't put his all into it so I will just out this down to another bad choice. The lady who plays the lead (Emmanuele Vaugier), who has starred in movies like Saw II and 40 Days & 40 Nights, wasn't that amazing in this film. She just became annoying after a while which made the movie more difficult to watch. I recommend this movie to people who like there cheap thrillers about a woman trying to find out what happened to her dead husband. 1/10

Aussie director Brian Trenchard-Smith's reputation for squeezing every penny while delivering action mixed with a somewhat warped sense of humour is on scant display in his latest project, Absolute Deception. Queensland's sun-drenched Gold Coast is the perfect backdrop for a high- stakes game of cat and mouse, and the film makes for a mostly tolerable experience, but lacks any point of difference amidst the stunted landscape of action-thrillers.Cuba Gooding Jr. plays a no-nonsense FBI agent who witnesses the murder of Miles, a man about to placed in witness protection. In giving the bad news to the victim's wife (the stunning Emmanuelle Vaugier), we learn that Miles faked his death two years prior, setting up a web of lies that seem to tie in with Miles' shady second wife and Murdoch-esque media mogul Mr. Osterberg.Gooding and Vaugier display solid chemistry as the reluctant tag team, and their snappy interplay forms the highlight of the film. Unfortunately, outside of these fleeting moments of creativity, there is little else to stimulate the senses script-wise. Even more surprisingly, it is actually Vaugier, as the nosy and fearless reporter Rebecca Scott, who drives most of the plot. Meanwhile, Gooding feels more like a bit player despite his top billing, leaving much to be desired considering he is infinitely the more interesting character.Although highly revered by a man who built an empire on cinematic thrills in Quentin Tarantino, Trenchard-Smith fails to impose his will on the film's direction. This isn't without giving it a decent shake-up in the process, but every time Absolute Deception looks primed for a step into the big leagues it grounds out in a blaze of unfettered predictability; a matinée shell of something that could've been a ton of fun. *There's nothing I love more than a bit of feedback, good or bad. So drop me a line on [email protected] and let me know what you thought of my review. If you're looking for a writer for your movie website or other publication, I'd also love to hear from you.*

In this film, set mostly in Gold Coast, Australia, the plot contrivances became way too much for my tastes. The scenery in this resort area of Australia is eye-catching and the filmmakers made sure there were a number of voluptuous looking women on screen, but the script seemed cobbled together from elements that we've all seen before.Cuba Gooding Jr., who has been doing a number of these Grade B films recently, stars as FBI Agent John Nelson who is trying to bring down a billionaire Australian Ponzi schemer named Ronald Osterberg (Chris Betts). However, his chief informant Dennis Archer is killed just before he's to meet with Agent Nelson.Emmanuelle Vaugier co-stars as Rebecca Scott, an intrepid investigative reporter for Spyglass magazine, in New York City. She thought her husband Miles Scott ((Ty Hungerford) was killed in an auto accident two years before. However, Agent Nelson has flown to NYC to inform her her husband not only faked his death but fled to Australia. In that country he went under the name Dennis Archer, re-married and began working for Osterberg. Agent Nelson, of course, also told Rebecca that he saw her husband get shot and killed.Rebecca is shocked by this news, but being an investigative reporter, she travels to Australia, against the advice of Agent Nelson, to try and uncover the whole story. There's a lot of conflicts that will occur between Rebecca, Agent Nelson, and the Australian federal Police Inspector Hendricks (Evert McQueen). There's also more murder and mayhem to follow.I thought the repartee between Rebecca and Agent Nelson only partially worked, as perhaps a good part of it was even ad-libbed. Additionally, the hinting of a possible relationship between the two seemed far fetched to me.The supposed "big surprise" at the end I didn't think was that much of a surprise and could have been reasonably figured out early on in the movie. All in all, the plot coincidences and contrivances were too much.4 stars out of 10