MovieChat Forums > Cypher (2002) Discussion > what the hell sort of crappy screenplay ...

what the hell sort of crappy screenplay is this?


horribly cliched dialogue, stiff as a board 'acting' from lisa liu, absurd sets.

i got this movie for free and still felt ripped off.


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Well, well well, here he is again. [see 'ignore the critics','why such a low rating', guessed the ending' and 'what the hell sort of crappy' threads]

Come on tell us why you have such a hate on for this movie?
or is it PERSONAL?

heh


Steve Page



“Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all others.”

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I agree, the dialogue literally made me cringe its so bad, there were countless examples but my favourite line has got to be "You've dialed a special number, it cant be traced or monitored"

hahaha, its priceless - luckily you're using the magic phone number which baddies cant intercept. its some of the laziest writing ive ever come across.

And yes, stiff as a board acting from all concerned. Northam's approach for the first half of the film was to stand around with his mouth open... I also like the guy at the end that says "Jesus, he's Rooks" its only 3 words but its delivered painfully badly.

The special effects were also shocking, if you dont have the budget to do it properly then dont do it at all.

And obviously the plot was also very poor and predictable. I guessed he was Rooks before it was revealed, as i gather from reading these boards that many people did...

The only thing i can say in its defence is that there are worse films out there, this wasnt unwatchable, just poor.

4/10

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[deleted]

"I agree, the dialogue literally made me cringe its so bad, there were countless examples but my favourite line has got to be "You've dialed a special number, it cant be traced or monitored"

hahaha, its priceless - luckily you're using the magic phone number which baddies cant intercept. its some of the laziest writing ive ever come across. "

It certainly seems like lazy writing.

But technically, I am sure it would be possible to have such a number. For example, it could bypass the usual phone company tech after a certain point, and use and utilize some kind of very complex proprietary stuff that directs trace or monitoring attempts at a dead-end, or encrypts the signal so that only ..

.. agh, maybe you're right. If they at least used a proprietary phone system instead of the normal phone company network, it would be more plausible.

There are 'special numbers' (or at least used to be), that were for maintenance purposes, and of course the militaries and heads of militaries are always given special considerations by phone corporations (I guess it's more important to preserve the lives of and serve the systematic murderers than innocent, regular people).

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