Hostile Intent (1997)
Brilliant renegade hacker Mike Cleary and his crack team have finally debugged Guardian, his software program designed to block government cyber snooping. It's going to make them all rich. Now it's time to celebrate with a game of paintball, played in rugged wilderness far from the digital devices of their everyday lives. Not even an ominous encounter with a militia-style survivalist can dampen the weekend warriors' spirits. But someone is playing for keeps. Instead of getting hit with paintballs, soon they're getting splattered for real. As the body count climbs, Cleary discovers he's at the center of a worldwide web of deceit, aimed at gaining control of the program at any cost. Stalked with high-tech weapons, betrayed by trusted friends, only his programming savvy and a bizarre strategic alliance forged on the battlefield can keep him alive. If he fails and Guardian falls into the wrong hands, the game is over for everyone in the nation.
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When the Canadian B movie company Le Monde Entertainment folded its tents, I didn't exactly shed a tear, because their efforts were uniformly bad, "Hostile Intent" being just one such example. Oh, I admit that it's not completely bad. It is fairly well shot, and by setting almost all the movie in the wilderness, the filmmakers were able to mask the low budget... for the most part. There are some tacky bits here and there. But that's not one of the real problems with the movie. One of them is that the protagonists rub you the wrong way, particularly the one played by a very miscast Rob Lowe. They are not made to be very sympathetic. The second problem is that under the direction of Jonathan Heap, the movie really lacks sufficient tension and excitement. There's an almost casual feeling at times. Maybe it because the whole "most dangerous game" formula has been done to death, but whatever the reason, the movie ends up being predictable and dull. The title tells you how you will feel towards the filmmakers after watching the movie.
I find it hard to understand why this movie has received such a low overall rating. Granted that it's a little hard to follow in places, but whenever that's so it soon becomes clear. The underlying premise of a Federal government that seeks to keep detailed watch on its citizens whenever they use the internet was still sci-fi when this movie was released in 1997, but probably is sober reality now. The acting is fair-to-good, the characters' gradual realization that they are being mercilessly hunted is suspenseful and well done, the action sequences, which make up much of the film, are superb. I obtained this in an inexpensive 4-DVD pack called Thugs and Guns Collector's Set. Look for it!
From a women's point of view : this WAS a fascist kind of movie alright, but trying to be fair, putting the nerds on a paint ball-setting with real weapons is at least a little bit funny, there isn't too much blood involved and the horror is only mild. I never liked men's films, with all that blood spilling and the kids in the last row shouting and hooting in joy when violence and hatred is shown on the screen. There are film shown for younger audiences which indulge in this and (alas) get academy nominations... This one is definitely not in that league, SPOILER : it is watchable till the scenes (1.09 -1.24 min),where the girl is shot (strange for a main stream film and definitely not funny, guys !)and the bad guy gets shot by some kind of antitank defense weapon (jesus....). The last scene is funny again. Sorry to see Lowe in such a dumb film.
Unrealistic weapons, physics, computers, electronics.If you are shot in the leg can you run? Clips are unlimmited.. don't think anyone reloaded once.I almost didn't make it through the end of this movie. IT was SO sad. Rob Lowe is a much better actor than this... he was wasted on this film... He needs to do more comedy in my opinion.