Customer Reviews

Absolon

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

ABSOLON doesn't rely on flashy special effects nor big budget car chases. Unfortunately, it achieves only mild cult status as a B film. Christopher Lambert, trying hard to hide that French accent, is a noble hero, and Kelly Brook is a fetching love interest. Lou Diamond Phillips is an inept hitman, government agent; and Ron Perlman is the shadowy pharmaceutical magnate. Seems like the world in 2010 has been basically wiped out by a virus that came from man's destruction of the rain forests. Now all survivors must take a drug called Absolon daily in order to fight off the virus. When a doctor discovers a possible cure for the virus, he is killed and the hunt is on for Lambert, who has gotten involved.
The script is tangled and doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but it entertains; just don't expect a great movie. Just a passable one.

No film tackles the ambiguities and tribulations of the human condition like Absolon. Through an examination of all of the great works of Christopher Lambert, this film rivals all others in its depth and meaning. More trancendent than Fortress, more epic than the Highlander series, this film captures one man's struggle for survival and quest for truth like no other. The film's greatest contribution to cinema is the settung: a distopian future; a previously unexplored and daring topic for both the genre and Christopher Lambert himself. In short, this film moves the spirit to ethereal hights of ecstacy; truly, not since Michelangelo has man created such art to stir the soul.

Hey, remember 2007?

Back then, we depopulated the rainforests, which spread the Neurological Degeneration Syndrome (NDS) virus, which infected everyone on the planet, wiping out half the population. Fortunately we all had this drug called Absolon to keep us alive. Unfortunately, a company called UPC owns it and the only way we pay for anything is in time - hours of our lives are removed or added depending on the cost.

What...you don't remember that? Me neither. But then, you have to wonder what the producer of Absolon was thinking when he decided to create a futuristic movie set three years after its release in 2004.

Fortunately, there's Detective Norman Scott (Christopher Lambert, mumbling and shuffling through his role) and his hot red-haired partner Ruth Bryant (Roberta Angelica) to get to the bottom of a murder mystery that saved us all: the one man who discovered a cure for NDS was murdered. The twisty path that Scott takes to get to the bottom of the murder leads him to Doctor Claire Whittaker (curvy Kelly Brook). Of course, UPC has a vested interest in keeping the truth buried. UPC head Murchison (Ron Pearlman, who never gets up from his desk through the entire movie) sends his chief goon Walters (Lou Diamond Phillips, chewing cyberpunk scenery) to eliminate them.

But wait, there's more! See, Scott has just three days to live because he was actually part of an experiment to cure NDS. He's just one-half of the cure - the other half is in someone else...but who?

Nobody cares. Judging from the clothing choices, it's clear that Absolon wasn't really meant to be set in 2007, but in a dystopian cyberpunk future. Things start out promising with a virtual reality crime scene and then the film runs out of money. We get lame action scenes, stumbling plot points, disjointed conspiracies-within-conspiracies, more of Lambert's mumbling, and nobody attractive gets naked.

Absolon had promise. The dystopian vision is interesting, the hunt for a cure that nobody wants is cynically cyberpunkish, and the leads attractive enough to hold our attention. But the script is awful, the fight scenes are boring, and the plot twists are clichéd. The actors don't have much to work with and don't even seem to be trying. Pearlman gives his least kinetic performance ever, so much so that at first I thought he was supposed to be playing a wheelchair-bound character. Lambert is terrible - bleary-eyed, disheveled and completely unbelievable as a love interest for the gorgeous Brooks. Only Phillips comes off as interesting and that's because he's a stereotypical bad guy with lots to do.

Who knew our recent past could be so boring?

Christopher Lambert has found his niche and it is nowhere near the one that many of us expected to find him in after the double whammy of GREYSTOKE and HIGHLANDER. Lambert has found himself relegated to playing small time straight to video action star. He does a fine job in most, but the potential he showed at one time is a spark that has died and in its place is someone walking through far too many similar roles as if he were there for a paycheck and little more. Sure, he turns in a credible performance, but he could always seem to do better.

The movie starts after a virus has wiped out nearly all of humanity. The supplies left on Earth will keep those who have survived going for at least 100 years. There is still electricity and cars around, but the virus still affects people. Only a cure known as Absolon keeps people from falling victim to the disease.

As the movie opens, a scientist sitting behind his desk hides a disc when a masked intruder enters and kills him as he sits. This turns out to be a hologram that Detective Norman Scott (Lambert) is watching. The case is his and he has already begun looking for clues when a government agent (Lou Diamond Phillips) gives him an all access pass and the instructions to keep him informed.

Lambert finds the disc, passes it along to his team and then heads out to interview the scientist's assistant. Bits and pieces are garnered from this conversation but it isn't until the second time they speak that Lambert discovers that the pair were working on a cure for the disease that would not require people to take Absolon on a daily basis. And after revealing this information, the assistant's head is blown off and Lambert kills two agents dead.

The government organization behind the killings is now aware that Lambert has been made aware of the possible cure, something they do not want. If a cure is found then the money and control brought about by a dependency would collapse. Framed, Lambert is on the run with these agents in tow.

As he is about to be killed, a car pulls up driven by a scientists who worked at the same lab. They pair make their escape and she informs him that they found the cure but it works in two parts. And Lambert is carrying the first part in his own bloodstream, administered by a glass of tea he was offered.

The rest of the film has the pair avoiding the agents who keep popping up with the help of a satellite and a bugged chip. Along the way in search of the second part (without which Lambert will die) they encounter several people and have more than one near mishap with Phillips and crew.

Will Lambert find the cure? And who is the real killer? Not to mention who are the mysterious members of society that keep helping this duo?

The movie starts off slow but develops gradually until it makes a satisfying action thriller that holds your interest. Is it Oscar material? No way. But it does make for an interesting viewing. For Lambert fans and people who enjoy a little action with their sci fi, you should enjoy this one on a rainy night.

Absolon is one of those movies that's easy to trick viewers into thinking it's going to be one of those "edge of your seat" type exciting films based on the description, but after the first 30 minutes, you know *exactly* where it's heading and let out a major groan.

The storyline- 5 billion people die from a deadly virus. Sounds appealing, doesn't it? Guess what? You will soon discover that the storyline is absolulely *nothing* like you're hoping for.

Instead, the movie revolves around an extremely generic and simple storyline involving cheesy fighting scenes, run of the mill gun shooting segments where professional shooters just so happen to have extremely bad aim because they're trying to kill a man in desperate search for answers concerning the virus, and a storyline that easily could have been written by a bunch of high school kids just searching for a way to spend an hour or so during detention.

I was not expecting this. I was expecting the kind of excitement found in other films such as -just to name one example- something along the lines of War of the Worlds or Apocalypse. You know, *cool* and compelling storytelling, not ordinary guns and fighting scenes with TERRIBLE acting to boot. I almost forgot how awful the lines delivered by the main characters were. You watched movies like this back in the 80's, I bet. That is, if you were unfortunately old enough to remember those days.

Don't even waste your time.

Like any movie on the sci fi channel this movie is slow. Lambert is his usual professional self playing his part well but this movie gets its 3 stars for the looks of model Kelly Brook.

A deadly virus kills 5 billion people in the year 2010, and everyone depends on a drug called Absolon to survive.

The production design leaves a lot to the imagination. I don't care how low their budget was...they could have made it look better. It looks like they spent half their budget on a special effects shotin the beginning and a 3-D biohazard symbol in the opening credits. They would have been better off spending their money on better sets.

The dialogue is full of wimpy clichés, and all of the acting is dry. Sadly, though, the dialogue is slightly less boring than the action scenes.

This is the worst movie Christopher Lambert has been in since Highlander 2: The Quickening.

I guess if you want to watch a stupid movie just to laugh at, you could go with this one.