Fix Alert (2005) User Reviews

A great example of how to make a bad movie from a good idea.

[LouieBurton · 3/10 · 12 October 2005]

This is a movie which, although significantly different from the other Romanian films, cannot overcome the image of an awkward copy. First of all, it is defined as a "psychological thriller with inverted chronology". Which can be translated into long scenes shot with fixed cameras, containing nameless characters who speak to invisible interlocutors. As expected, the viewer has to complete the story puzzle on his own. Such scenes however, who make up the majority of the movie, are utterly boring: the monologues are too long and redundant and the photography, although dotted with interesting camera angles, is tiring the eye which constantly sees only head shots of the characters. The same "puzzle recipe" has been exploited in numerous other movies, most notably in "Memento". If until now we've only seen the "Fix", the "Alert" comes at the end. Just when you've made all connexions, realized all relationships and who is blackmailing who, the entire plot is served on a plate through the eyes of a child, introduced towards the end without any justification. This is even more bizarre since the previous scenes had been filmed with cameras placed in a microwave oven, a hole in a wall or a stereo, thus having no connection with the child's perspective. Furthermore, the "puzzle recipe" on which the entire movie was based so far, is completely annihilated. Even more, some characters from the "Fix" part no longer appear in the "Alert" part, rendering the story illogical. The actors have been directed to play as interiorised as possible, but their reasonable performance is undermined by the script. According to the director, this movie is intended mainly for the American market. Personally, I don't know how the very critical American audience will receive it, but the Romanian spectator easily recognizes American verbal clichés which sound far-fetched when translated into Romanian. There are also scenes where nothing happens and scenes completely irrelevant to the story. Verdict: not worth seeing unless you're a film student researching for a paper on bad movies.