Line of Duty (2013) User Reviews

"How well can you really know people, anyway?"

[doug_park2001 · 5/10 · 13 January 2014]

LINE of DUTY's plot is pretty standard fare, nothing terribly original. While there are one or two surprises, this film doesn't have the layers and complications it could easily have had. A lot of the nostalgia and sentiment regarding these four guys' life-long relationships with one another is contrived and badly acted, going too far in places, not far enough in others. The maudlin repetition of "One day does not define a man" kind of kills the point. To top it all off, the very generic title doesn't help much to distinguish this film. Still, the combination of shoot-'em-up cop vs. drug lord thriller and heartfelt soul drama is interesting and helps LINE of DUTY stand out a bit. The common dilemma regarding who're the good guys, who're the bad guys, is also very well-shown. Finally, the way it takes place in San Antonio instead of the usual LA or NYC is a nice touch.

Better acting by the main players would have helped this. Still, the four boys who play the central characters in their younger years did a fantastic job, as did some of the supporting cast, most notably Will Estes as "the Dealer."

Anyway, anyone who generally likes cop thrillers will probably find this worth watching and may even really love it.

Worth seeing - strikes a little deeper than many cop movies

[zhovreboff · 6/10 · 18 December 2013]

This movie actually tries and to a good extent achieve some level of depth. It does not come together as well as I would have hoped. Probably needed more time, editing, and thought in delivering the depth of the relationship between the characters. It definitely misses in some places. There are gaps which are not covered well. But inversely, I think it definitely hits home runs in other places. It seems like many of the scenes are meaningful and correlate well to the human condition. Overall was pleasantly surprised, since I anticipated less! I would recommend watching the movie. Not just a blood bath with a bunch of senseless violence.

Watch Once

[jplvvhisnixjbsxcxk · 4/10 · 15 July 2020]

This movie was OK, it's a watch it once and never again. I will say though this movie is truly about friendship. No matter how long you have know a person weather it's a life long friend, a person you have known for a couple of years or a person you just meet. How well do you really know a person, ask yourself that question. This movie answers that.

Tower of unoriginal clichés topped with a, well nothing.

[padron702 · 2/10 · 1 January 2014]

Let me first say that I am a Spanish American and as such, I was looking forward to enjoying a movie with a Latin cast and writer. Not that I was expecting, "Goodfellas" or "Pulp Fiction" mind you but what I remember of the two-thirds of the movie that I did manage to watch was that it was poorly written, at times laughingly so. I think the actors tried to work with what they had and it was just not natural. You begin to feel like you are watching a 1970's made for TV movie about Latin Americans made in the UK. It just didn't have much authenticity going for it. The characters are one cliché after another. The 2/3 of the plot I did watch was unoriginal and lumbering. I am not a snob when it comes to movies I watch and have nothing against B movies as long as they have some redeeming qualities. Even really bad movies can be enjoyable if they are so over the top bad that they make you laugh but this one, sadly, had nothing going for it. Please don't waste your time as I did. I was fortunate enough to have been able to reclaim 1/3 of this films run time back. But seeing as how I just spent five minutes writing this short review I guess they got me for another five minutes. Drat!

Bad, Bad Film. Stay Away

[GeorgeMcIII · 1/10 · 1 December 2014]

What can I say about Line of Duty? I always like to begin with something positive, but this is the first film I've ever reviewed where I could find nothing good to say.

This film ran and looked like what my kid brother and I used to shoot for fun when we were kids.

Seriously, this film just never comes together. There were some decent actors; for example Walter Perez gave it all he could to try to find depth in an otherwise two-dimensional, clichéd drug lord character, Jason. The problem was he was fishing in shallow water. And, whoever heard of a drug lord named Jason?

My question is, how did this film even get made? Weren't there checks and balances along the way that screamed, "CAUTION, CAUTION, STAY AWAY"? The script is the main problem, the directing and acting follows close behind, but I blame the people who paid for this film to even be produced. Did they know ANYTHING at all about film making before they jumped into the business? I guess there will always be foolish people with more money than sense who want to be in the movie-making business.

I think the best I can say about this film is that with a $2.5 million budget and only about a $77,707 take, it restores my faith in the movie-going public.

crap

[chilyc · 1/10 · 1 January 2014]

this has to be the worst movie I have ever seen the storyline isn't bad if it actually would pick up my 13 year old girl to write a better story than this this seems like one of those low budget movies that cost 5000 make the whole thing and I'm probably giving up too much money it's not worth the dollar to even rent it save your money and buy a coke you'll be better off they made this joke of a movie and hope that you would pay good money to see it so they can get rich and you could feel like you got screwed again what happened to all the good movies low budget movies are okay but why do they have to be crap too we need better movies than this they must think we're just it its will watch anything they throw out stand up don't rent this piece of crap and show them now we demand better movies

They try really hard to make a good movie, it's just not all there.

[face-819-933726 · 7/10 · 15 December 2013]

It's not Blood in Bold out, or any other great movie, but it is a good one. There is a great cast here stuck delivering terrible lines in a badly written, and just barely executed buddy/action thriller. Things that fall apart easily don't make anymore sense than the things that actually seem to fool the bad guys. Everything just comes together too easily, and the "One day does not define your life." theme got really tiring really fast. I guess though for the actors, and a majority of the action, I did Enjoy this movie, and you will too. The story is allowed to meander a bit too much though so be prepared for that lovely bonus.

Who Read This Script And Said "We Should Film This?"

[alfredo-lorente-691-782882 · 1/10 · 4 May 2023]

A good script can carry a lot of weight. A bad script, not so much. A script that insults your intelligence and makes the characters behave like they had just been lobotomized will doom any project.

This atrocity . . . I really have no words to describe it.

The fact someone read this script and decided to green light the film makes me think this was nothing more than a vanity project or a way to launder money. The actors had nothing to work with and because of that probably won't ever work again. That's a pity because they did what they could and they were OK. Still, if you handed Jack Nicholson or Julianne Moore your supermarket's weekly coupon circular, the end result may have been more enjoyable. I hope they get new agents-although the people who got them those roles either had vendettas against them or were negligent and inept and simply cannot be called "agents" in good faith.

If there was a good thing about this . . . Attempt at making a movie? . . . it is that it was short. Not short enough, as I found myself fast forwarding through parts of it, but since two-hour-plus-long movies that could have lost thirty or forty minutes and be better for it are becoming commonplace, an hour and forty minutes is a blessing.

They (and I don't want to know who they are lest I wake up with a horse's head next to me) had high hopes for the this monstrosity, as it is evident if you sit through part of the credits. May God have mercy on everyone's soul-except for whoever got this made. That person can burn in hell.

ONE DAY DOES NOT DEFINE A MAN

[nogodnomasters · 6/10 · 15 May 2019]

As young teens four boys rob a restaurant and kill the owner. Jason (Walter Perez) was the trigger man. Derek (Joseph Julian Soria) was his side kick. The other two boys in the group, Roberto (Jeremy Ray Valdez) and Julian (Will Rothhaar) were not enthused by the murder. As adults Roberto and Julian join the FBI while Jason and Derek work for organized crime and become drug smugglers. Our newly made FBI agents immediately get a field assignment: infiltrate their old gang...and the San Antonio police may also be working with them.

About 45 minutes into the film you get the first unexpected event. Old frictions between the group surface. The film held my interest but I wasn't riveted to the screen. In many ways it was just another me too film without the "Die Hard" larger than life good guy.

Might work as a rental if you like crime dramas with mild action.

Parental Guide: F-bomb, sex, nudity (Fernanda Romero, Michelle Leyva, Hannah Valadez)

Just wrong

[dennisr48 · 1/10 · 19 December 2022]

Bad story line, should have shown more of how they got disconnected as friends.

Not a lawyer, but I pretty sure killing a fbi agent is a federal charge not state. There would have been enough evidence to arrest him, if Bobby was a agent he wouldn't have just left, he would have arrested him or shot him back. Why wouldn't the fbi scrub the brothers background also?

To many unrealistic things.

How did the cops get to the bar so fast when he was barely walking out, they through him in the car drove away without talking to anyone.

Just bad writing and bad acting from the actor playing Bobby.

Just a bad movie.

I liked it.

[dlhoffman-42837 · 8/10 · 20 February 2021]

I thought this was a good movie. No it wasn't awesome but it kept my interest. Not sure why there are so my negative reviews. It had lots of action and some surprises. I would recommend watching it.

Absolute Tosh

[simondrew-00458 · 1/10 · 28 July 2020]

You just can't keep this going before you reach for the remote and then turn it off.