{"id":5805,"date":"2013-06-30T00:08:58","date_gmt":"2013-06-30T07:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=5805"},"modified":"2013-07-01T10:44:18","modified_gmt":"2013-07-01T17:44:18","slug":"review-absolutedeception-dvd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2013\/06\/review-absolutedeception-dvd\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Absolute Deception DVD"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2013\/06\/review-absolutedeception-dvd\/#more-5805\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" style=\"border: 1px solid black;\" title=\"Absolute Deception DVD Review\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.moviemansguide.com\/images\/main\/2013\/absolutedeception-sm.jpg\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><b><i>Absolute Deception<\/i><\/b> is your typical run-of-the-mill, unrealistic and uber-predictable thriller that it really has nothing to offer. I suspect it was made for some quick tax credits laying aside any substance or mere logic in regards to the screenplay. Cuba Gooding Jr. continues his downward slide which is a shame as even with his overrated signature performance, he\u2019s still a decent actor, though probably more suitable in a supporting role and certainly not in the action hero part.<strong><em><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"*\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.moviemansguide.com\/images\/main\/bar_blue.gif\" width=\"650\" height=\"3\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/B00C4BDG7W\/moviemsguidet-20\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 2px solid blue;\" title=\"Buy Absolute Deception on Blu-ray from Amazon.com\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.moviemansguide.com\/images\/reviews\/2013\/absolutedeception-dvd.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"422\" \/><\/a><strong><br \/> Absolute Deception (2013)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><br \/> REVIEW NAVIGATION<\/strong><\/span><strong><a href=\"#movie\"><br \/> The Movie<\/a> | <a href=\"#features\">Special Features<\/a> | <a href=\"#video\">Video Quality<\/a> | <a href=\"#audio\">Audio Quality<\/a> | <a href=\"#overall\">Overall<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Genre(s): <\/b>Action, Suspense\/Thriller<br \/>Sony | R \u2013 92 min. \u2013 $22.99 | June 11, 2013<\/p>\n<p><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">MOVIE INFO:<br \/><\/span>Directed by: <\/b>Brian Trenchard-Smith<br \/><b>Writer(s): <\/b>Jeffrey Schenck &amp; Peter Sullivan (story), Kraig Wenman (screenplay)<br \/><b>Cast: <\/b>Cuba Gooding Jr., Emmanuelle Vaugier<\/p>\n<p><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">DISC INFO:<br \/><\/span>Features: <\/b>UltraViolet Digital Copy<br \/><b>Number of Discs: <\/b>1<\/p>\n<p><b>Audio: <\/b>English (Dolby Digital 5.1)<br \/><b>Video: <\/b>Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78<br \/><b>Subtitles: <\/b>English SDH<br \/><b>Region(s): <\/b>1<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"movie\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"*\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.moviemansguide.com\/images\/main\/bar_blue.gif\" width=\"650\" height=\"3\" \/><br \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"Absolute Deception\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/i.imgur.com\/C2Mc4jf.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" \/><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>THE MOVIE<\/strong><strong> \u2013 1.75\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s been official for a while, but Cuba Gooding Jr. has joined the ranks of Steven Segal, Jean-Claude Van Damm and Wesley Snipes: Direct-to-Video hell and oh, it\u2019s quite warm there&#8230; scorching warm.<\/p>\n<p><b><i><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" alt=\"Absolute Deception\" src=\"http:\/\/i.imgur.com\/PfOePia.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" \/>Absolute Deception<\/i><\/b> centers on FBI Agent Nelson (CUBA GOODING JR.) who, working in Australia, has lost a key witness that was to turn over state\u2019s evidence on an embezzlement scheme run by all around corporate asshole Osterberg (CHRIS BETTS). His body was likely dumped in the ocean and only left behind a pinky finger which, when running the print, pointed back to another name and driver\u2019s license in New York City. Traveling to the Big Apple, Nelson meets Rebecca (EMMANUELLE VAUGIER) who is shocked to learn that this witness was her husband&#8230; who had supposedly perished in an automobile accident the body scorched beyond recognition; no doubt the body came from another crap DTV film.<\/p>\n<p>Nelson goes back to Australia not learning any new information, but being a pesky investigative journalist, Rebecca follows to do her own investigation and find out who her husband really was and attempts to unravel why he was murdered. Of course, Nelson knows she\u2019s there and despite many suggestions to leave, she remains on the case to the point where Nelson allows her to tag along. Helping her case is that somebody wants her dead attempting to kill her on more than one occasion.<\/p>\n<p>Separately and together, the investigation leads to the man\u2019s involvement with stealing millions from Osterberg, the murder of another person involved with the conspiracy and some standard car chase scenes.<\/p>\n<p>First things first, this is a generic movie all around. The acting is, at best, pedestrian with both Cuba Gooding Jr. <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" alt=\"Absolute Deception\" src=\"http:\/\/i.imgur.com\/xUEBt0j.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" \/>(Oscar winner, mind you) and Emmanuelle Vaugier both sleepwalking through their performances and a cast of supporting actors who more or less are fillers rather than worthy foils, not that the fight chorography was any good. Now 14 years removed from <i>Jerry Maguire<\/i>, Gooding Jr. makes his living working on one general direct-to-video movie after another and while not all of them are duds, the screenplays are understandable substandard and his characters forgettable and all too common. That being said, and perhaps the ONLY saving grace (albeit a minor one), both Gooding Jr. and Vaugier possess at least an iota of charisma, though even the best actors can\u2019t overcome stilted and laughable dialogue.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Absolute Deception<\/i><\/b> was directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith whose made a career in the B-movie market from <i>Leprechaun 4 &amp; 5<\/i> and <i>In Her Line of Fire<\/i>. I can sympathize with the lack of a budget but nothing about this film was very thrilling. I also should mention getting a story by credit are Jeffrey Schenck &amp; Peter Sullivan and if you don\u2019t know their names&#8230; I wouldn\u2019t be shocked. Both have worked almost entirely on TV movies including the 2010 dull thriller, <i>Abandoned<\/i> which I also had the (dis)pleasure of watching and reviewing.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" alt=\"Absolute Deception\" src=\"http:\/\/i.imgur.com\/GkrzC8U.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" \/>In the end, <b><i>Absolute Deception<\/i><\/b> is yet another all-too-predictable action-er with a bad screenplay, complete with stilted\/cringe-worthy dialogue, generic direction, laughable visual effects (on par on what was on \u201cSmallville\u201d) and performances which bordered on lazy. It\u2019s not a terrible movie but it is barely watchable. Oh, and a minor point, but the opening credits looked like they done on MS Paint Pro&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"features\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"*\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.moviemansguide.com\/images\/main\/bar_blue.gif\" width=\"650\" height=\"3\" \/><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Outside of a download code for <b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">UltraViolet Digital Copy<\/span><\/b> and some <b>previews <\/b>(<i>Breakout<\/i>, <i>Dead Man Down<\/i>, <i>The Call<\/i>, <i>Evil Dead<\/i>), there were no features included.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"*\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.moviemansguide.com\/images\/main\/bar_blue.gif\" width=\"650\" height=\"3\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"video\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"Absolute Deception\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/i.imgur.com\/3qkRUvo.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" \/><br \/> <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>VIDEO \u2013 3.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong><em><\/em><\/strong><strong><em><\/em><\/strong>Released onto home video by Sony, <b><i>Absolute Deception<\/i><\/b> is presented with a 1.78 anamorphic widescreen transfer and is relatively pristine but thanks to the amateurish quality, it\u2019s not exactly the best looking. Still, it\u2019s a suitable picture for the type of movie it is.<br \/> <a name=\"audio\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"*\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.moviemansguide.com\/images\/main\/bar_blue.gif\" width=\"650\" height=\"3\" \/><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>AUDIO \u2013 3.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Dolby Digital 5.1 isn\u2019t spectacular yet serviceable enough with clear dialogue coming from the center speaker and good use of the front and rear channels when there is action or simple ambient noise (chirping birds, side chatter, etc.).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"*\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.moviemansguide.com\/images\/main\/bar_blue.gif\" width=\"650\" height=\"3\" \/><br \/> <a name=\"overall\"><\/a><br \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"Absolute Deception\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/i.imgur.com\/4mxuqqp.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" \/><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>OVERALL \u2013 1.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><b><i>Absolute Deception<\/i><\/b> is your typical run-of-the-mill, unrealistic and uber-predictable thriller that it really has nothing to offer. I suspect it was made for some quick tax credits laying aside any substance or mere logic in regards to the screenplay. Cuba Gooding Jr. continues his downward slide which is a shame as even with his overrated signature performance, he\u2019s still a decent actor, though probably more suitable in a supporting role and certainly not in the action hero part.<\/p>\n<p><i>\u00a0<br \/><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Brian Oliver, The Movieman<br \/><\/i><b>Published: <\/b>06\/30\/2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Absolute Deception is your typical run-of-the-mill, unrealistic and uber-predictable thriller that it really has nothing to offer. I suspect it was made for some quick tax credits laying aside any substance or mere logic in regards to the screenplay. Cuba Gooding Jr. continues his downward slide which is a shame as even with his overrated &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2013\/06\/review-absolutedeception-dvd\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Review: Absolute Deception DVD&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[842,2157],"class_list":["post-5805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dvd-reviews","tag-cuba-gooding-jr","tag-emmanuelle-vaugier"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5805"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5819,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5805\/revisions\/5819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}