Phonearl
Good start, but then it gets ruined
Supelice
Dreadfully Boring
Siflutter
It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.
Theo Robertson
On paper FEDERAL PROTECTON just seems a workman like revenge thriller where someone turns stool pigeon and the mob have to hunt him down to keep his mouth shut and perhaps if the plot had been structured like this it might have worked slightly better . The problem is the story gets sidelined with a major subplot featuring someone wanting to make a lot of money by knowing where the stoolie is Perhaps screenwriter Craig Smith can be excused slightly since my gut instinct is that director Anthony Hickox is more to blame for the film's failings . Hickox father Douglas was a director who could his turn his hand to different types of genre in films as diverse as THEATRE OF BLOOD and ZULU DAWN . Anthony is better known for his early horror films and seems slightly out of his depth as to how he should approach the material here . The film has the look of a lightweight 1980s film which seems at odds with the Taratinoesque dialogue though sometimes it delves in to erotic comedy thriller That said Hickox has done well to cast Dina Meyer as Bootsie Cavander . She smoulders as a femme fatale who recognises a scheme to make money . Unfortunately the film seems to be pulling in different directions because the screenplay doesn't seem to have Bootsie as the main character but Ms Meyer is undoubtedly the best aspect of the film in much the same way as Linda Fiorentino is the best thing about THE LAST SEDUCTION . Perhaps the director should have insisted on a rewrite after the casting had been done ?
ghostman16
Jesus Christ this film was boring an hour and a half seemed like 5 hours and a half.Armand Assante plays Frank Carbone a chop shop worker working for the mob. but when the mob wants Frank dead Frank is put into federal protection. the thing that got me annoyed with federal protection was that it was completely boring.Armand Assante is first billed yet you hardly really see him in the film Dina Meyer steals most of the film as an annoying smart ass character. i admit the fist 15 minutes of the film where quite good but after that i struggled to keep watching it. luckily this was on television so i didn't waste any money buying it.but word of advise if anyone is thinking of buying this film don't you'll want your time and money back. 2 out of 10.
blueboyns
This movie is utter cliché, but also an example how one actor can make it worth watching. Dina Meyer is completely carrying this movie. Even though she doesn't have leading role her scenes are only advantage of this film. Talented actress and stunning beauty. (man, did she look good in that latex dominatrix costume :) )Sure Assante was cool as always but his scenes were kind of boring. But when story gave attention to Dina this movie was actually interesting.Movie is complete no brainier, predictable as it can get, but has some charm and is fun watch if you don't expect too much, and especially if you're Dina Meyer fan!
jimhass
I agree with the above comments. The films made up in the Great White North are an accounting trick, caused by a) the dirt-cheap Canadian dollar, and the availabilty of subsidies -- though this may have changed recently, I'm not sure. For this, what happens is that a producer based in NY or Los Angeles takes a project written with some US locale in mind and either shoots Montreal as "New York" or "Paris". It is neither, though it is a beautiful city in its own right. This way of structuring the Deal puts story, local color, regional accents, all of that way down at the bottom of consideration, when it should be near the top. (That's why a movie -- Woody Allen's Manhattan is just an example -- can evoke a time and place better than any other art form, and why all these transplanted cheapies look like they're shot in Vinyl Palookaville.) Americans and Canadians both deserve a better cinema.
