The Super Network

Director: Morgan O’Neill
Starring: John Cusack, Dallas Roberts, Jennifer Carpenter, Cindy Sampson, Mae Whitman

The Film:
The Factory is a film that was shot several years ago and has been on the shelf since. Thanks to Eagle Entertainment the film is finally going to get seen, at least here in Australia. I must give kudos to Eagle for grabbing this film and finally letting it see the light of day. The Factory isn’t the greatest film ever made, but it is a decent one and feels odd that it sat on the shelf for so long. When so many other efforts get seen that are below the quality of this, it honest boggles the mind.

Now The Factory hasn’t broken any new ground, it is a serial killer entry with some twists that feel like they came out of Law & Order: SVU. We have Detective Mike Fletcher (John Cusack) and his partner Kelsey Walker (Jennifer Carpenter) on the hunt for a serial killer. Fletcher has been after this one for a while, and then things get even more intense when his own daughter Abby (Mae Whitman) gets taken. But as we find out, our killer (Dallas Roberts – not a spoiler its revealed right away) has other plans at hand.

I have to give this one credit for giving us a decent character with Dallas Roberts. He was the stand out, he’s a great actor and I thought he brought a lot to the table. The film is called The Factory for a reason, and it has to do with what his plans are. It was a little more refreshing to see a different kind of motive but as I said it feels more for a television show twist than anything else. The other characters aren’t written as well, aside from Abby who feels very much like the rebellious 17 year old. Fletcher isn’t as fleshed out as he should have been and sadly I just didn’t give a second thought to Kelsey. The big twist at the end just seemed silly and I didn’t full buy it.

John Cusack isn’t at his best here, but he doesn’t go off the deep end like he did with The Raven. Sure his character is distraught about his daughter’s abduction, but it was unbalanced. He just kept having those bouts of crazy and it got a little tiresome, there wasn’t more shown about what he was going through. It is a shame though because this film has potential to give us a bit more. Jennifer Carpenter was okay, she’s been better and she has been worse. I felt her acting has really picked up in the last two years and I think this was filmed before that. As I said Dallas Roberts is fantastic and Mae Whitman was pretty good also.

I thought Morgan O’Neill did a solid job as director; the stuff with our killer was the better stuff, because that character was good. I felt there was talent there, Morgan also co-wrote the script with Paul Leyden, which was solid as well. The Factory is a good Sunday afternoon thriller, worth a rental at least in my opinion.

The Australian DVD:
The DVD I reviewed was a screener, so I am unable to comment on Picture/Audio quality.

Rating:

DVD details here.

Thanks to Bill, care of Eagle Entertainment for the copy.