Armed Response (2017) Reviews

• The worst writing and screenplay = a waste of low budget funds

  TheTopDawgCritic2017-08-05

  What was WWE Studios, KISS' Gene Simons and Wesley Snipes thinking producing this mess? Did they read the same screenplay I just watched and say "let's do this"? OK I get it, Wesley Snipes must've pushed this film because he was to star in it (although not the main character), but what was everyone else smoking? This is the first (and hopefully last) attempt at writing from Matt Savelloni. This film was total nonsense, with more plot holes, missing plots and confusing dialogue than each of the 93 minutes of run time. And of that 93 minutes, I'd say at least 15 mins where the same series of empty corridor shots with dumb bright beams coming from the windowed walls - totally pointless. Someone got bored tying the screenplay and copy- pasted "freeze camera at empty corridor #6 for 1 minute". And the dialogue - worst I've seen in a long time. The only decent aspects of this film were Matthew Irving's cinematography, and (being very generous here) actor-turned-director John Stockwell's directing - although if he ever does the multiple fast zoom-in zoom-outs (during the war conflict scene) again, he should just stick to acting. Oh ya, the acting... terrible. This was Anne Heche's worst acting, as if she dreaded being in any scene. And as for Wesley Snipes, he looked so bored in every scene, even the only fight scene he was in was boring. Had more effort been put into the concept (hired a professional writer to give the screenplay a huge face-lift - for starters), and had the director cracked the whip a little more, there certainly was room for potential. Instead, I had to watch a film with trained military walking around solo (not in pairs to watch each others '6') with the same gun and flashlight held up, constantly startled, pointing the flashlight around and entire room over and over, and saying "who's there!?". Or someone laying dead with half their skull missing and his buddy crouched over top of him calling his name (as if asking "are you OK?!") expecting him to answer. Seriously, OK an amateur wrote this garbage, but who wasted their money to fund and yet approved this garbage? It's only a generous 2/10 from me only for the decent cinematography and a few good acted and intense scenes here and there.

• Your guess is as good as mine, when it comes to the plot.

  Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki2017-08-22

  This is the third time recently, I have been the only one in the cinema, and the second time in about a month for a movie which doesn't have a Boxofficemojo page, and with a zero percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. A recently abandoned prison is ... haunted? Alive, ... via artificial intelligence? ... and kills a group of people working there, knowing that a specific military group would be sent to investigate, and it would be the same people who are responsible for a killing in Afghanistan, and this haunted/ alive prison kills them one by one, after having " judged them " , while each person individually plots to double cross and kill each other ... ? I don't know, this makes absolutely no sense, and​ it genuinely left me feeling disoriented afterward. I'm not joking, I sincerely felt like I was in a fog, and couldn't immediately think clearly after this one, basically speechless as to what I had just witnessed. Director/ former actor John Stockwell has his moments, but this isn't one of them, but at least he, and cinematographer Matthew Irving, try to make this good looking, but novice screenwriter Matt Savelloni's incoherent screenplay sinks this from minute one. ( Why was the opening scene, of the kid dying, even here? It has no effect on the plot in any way. It seemed like it was going to be yet another film where the lead actor has to rise up, against all odds, and redeem themselves, but happily, that's​ not the case here. Faint praise that. ) Any Wesley Snipes' fans who may watch this just because he is in it, and featured prominently on the poster, will be sorely disappointed, as he:s just standing in the background during most scenes. There is no real main character here, most characters have about equal screen time, and a lot of it is just them looking in empty rooms, and shouting, " Clear! " for most of the early scenes. The most baffling moment comes when the building comes to life, and grabs a guy by both arms, and simultaneously rips both arms out of their sockets

• Wesley Snipes must be desperate to have lent himself to this.

  oldvinyl2017-08-06

  I wish I could have given this movie a zero because it doesn't deserve even one star. It is impossible to spoil the plot, actually, because there isn't one to speak of. The reason I ticked that box is because I am going to tell you how it ends, which is such a stupid ridiculous ending that I wanted to hurl. A bunch of armed characters - it wasn't obvious what 'agency' - arrive at a penal facility of a rather weird kind that has been compromised. Lots of time is spent checking empty rooms and shouting 'clear' before finally one dead body is found. A maniac is found locked inside a sensory withdrawal tank. The team members get bumped off one by one by some mysterious invisible enemy. Why they blaze away at "it" with apparently useless weapons (half of them only have pistols) is just one of the thousands of plot holes. Anyway, they all get killed in the end. And here it comes - what is the "enemy"? It is the building itself!! How a "building" can mangle them up is not apparent. Guy walking down a corridor suddenly starts blazing away and then argh! kabump! He's dead! Perhaps concrete walls can suddenly become space aliens? Do not waste part of your life watching this drivel. All I can conclude is that Wesley Snipes must be on his uppers and desperate for cash to have accepted a starring role in this tripe. I am certainly going to look VERY closely at the reviews of any more Wesley Snipes movies in future.

• An actual honest review

  mbeau882017-08-13

  I'm sick of directors and producers writing their own fake reviews of their own movies. This was n't a "gem of a movie," this was a disgrace to the film industry. This title should be called "joke of the toy guns and horrible fighting," that's all that needs to be said.

• The latest Snipes is like watching the latest Seagal...

  homecoming82017-10-14

  Wesley Snipes. The man of Passenger 57, Demolition Man, U.S. Marshals, The Blade Trilogy.. But also films like Murder At 1600, The Art Of War and Game Of Death are among his best but we've also had to endure a lot of trash (see almost everything else in his filmography for that). His latest success was his performance in the flawed Expendables 3. With "Armed Response" he really hit a new low. That also goes for Anne Heche (why is she in this movie ?). I read the bad reviews but watched it anyway because I was prepared it was not just an action movie, but an action/horror movie. Well, it wasn't either. No scares, no action, no fighting, no thrills, no tension. Just one single location and one 'special forces' team trying to figure out what's going on for the entire running time of 90 minutes. You'll get bored out of your mind because nothing happens. Dialogue and script are laughable. The first sign is the moment when a soldier reports back to squad leader Snipes that he found one of the missing men who's dead. Snipes'response is simply "okay". He doesn't even ask if and how he's killed. Seems trivial because no one knows what's going on and what they're fighting at that time.. More people show up dead and then they're (rather easily) trapped. It really isn't worth your time sticking around waiting for the revelation because it's just stupid.