Hostile Intent (1997) User Reviews (7)

Back in the day, who actually rented this?

[tarbosh22000 · 3/10 · 4 March 2013]

"60,000,000 people have computers in their home. By the year 2000, the number will be one billion. We shop, bank, complete tax returns, communicate with family - all by computer. OUR LIVES ARE IN COMPUTERS." So says the ominous on-screen crawl when you begin watching Hostile Intent. On the bright side, at least we have until the year 2000 until the world goes to hell. So when a team of computer nerds/paintball nerds decide to go off in the wilderness to celebrate the completion of their newest program - and people start getting shot and actually dying - this paint-soaked excursion just got real. Mike Cleary (Lowe) is the head of the research team who have come up with a Lifelock-like computer program that can protect your personal files and documents. Naturally, this leads to an all-out massacre where innocent geeks are getting machine-gunned and machete'd to death. Cleary teams up with unfriendly forest-dweller Bear (Savage) - who predates the rise of Bear Grylls by many years - to defend themselves against the murderous goons of Kendall (Rubinek). Sure, these "hackers" think they're smart, but can they decipher the intent of the baddies...their HOSTILE intent? (Don't bother to) find out today! In the time-honored pantheon of "Paintball Gone Wrong" movies, Hostile Intent has to rank somewhere towards the bottom of the list. The Zero Boys (1986) is better. The final third of Class of 1999 II: The Substitute (1994) is better. Master Blaster (1987) is MUCH better. Yet, though it came out a full decade after Master Blaster, the makers of this movie still felt they had something more to say about the matter. 'Intent is filled with idiotic clichés, cringe-inducing dialogue they probably all thought was witty, and has a cheap, downmarket look. Plus we hate when a film is shot in Canada but they pretend it's somewhere else. Why say Chicago? Just set the movie in Canada and we can all rest easy. Much like Skinheads (1989), the movie starts off in an urban environment and then needlessly becomes a wilderness slog. Just stay in the urban environs of "Chicago". It would have been cool and different to see a PGW movie in a gritty city. But instead it's just trees in the background as Rob Lowe looks at a screen...

Rob Lowe must really have been hitting the skids to make this piece of crud. He seems miscast as a computer nerd, though because it was the 90's he wears a flannel shirt when he goes to the "Dotcom Cafe" which evidently is (or was) a real place. His character, Mike Cleary, takes life - and paintball - REALLY seriously. Before people even start getting killed, he treats it like a life-and-death military operation. Try as he may, Lowe can't save this movie. Though he has help from Savage and Rubinek, great actors both, ANY actor would be at a loss when faced with the overwhelming dumbness of Hostile Intent. When the item that's causing all the bloodshed is something called a "Clipper Chip" (which we believe may be a kind of boat), it may be time to pack it in.

A lot of the so-called action isn't really explained, so the viewer starts to lose patience quickly. Members of Cleary's team such as classic mustachioed fat guy Soames (Del Grande) and token woman Gina (Shinas) - who was in Ripper Man (1995) - don't serve to make things any clearer. But on the bright side, there are a lot of 90's computers and references, so anyone with a fondness for 90's nostalgia, especially as it relates to outdated technology, will have a field day here. But back in the day, who actually rented this? Hostile Intent is the type of movie you rented at your local video store when your first 25 choices were rented out. Also, the very last credit at the end of the movie is a dedication to someone named "Pastebucket McWoo". It's a shame the only funny, interesting, mysterious and intriguing thing about the whole movie was left for dead last, one second before the movie totally ends. Pastebucket McWoo, we hardly knew ye.

Featuring no title song whatsoever, Hostile Intent is a new Lowe.

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Old formula not given new life

[Wizard-8 · 22 February 2015]

When the Canadian B movie company Le Monde Entertainment folded its tents, I didn't exactly shed a tear, because their efforts were uniformly bad, "Hostile Intent" being just one such example. Oh, I admit that it's not completely bad. It is fairly well shot, and by setting almost all the movie in the wilderness, the filmmakers were able to mask the low budget... for the most part. There are some tacky bits here and there. But that's not one of the real problems with the movie. One of them is that the protagonists rub you the wrong way, particularly the one played by a very miscast Rob Lowe. They are not made to be very sympathetic. The second problem is that under the direction of Jonathan Heap, the movie really lacks sufficient tension and excitement. There's an almost casual feeling at times. Maybe it because the whole "most dangerous game" formula has been done to death, but whatever the reason, the movie ends up being predictable and dull. The title tells you how you will feel towards the filmmakers after watching the movie.

worst puter/action movie ever

[hugemoron · 1/10 · 18 March 2002]

Unrealistic weapons, physics, computers, electronics.

If you are shot in the leg can you run? Clips are unlimmited.. don't think anyone reloaded once.

I almost didn't make it through the end of this movie. IT was SO sad.

Rob Lowe is a much better actor than this... he was wasted on this film... He needs to do more comedy in my opinion.

silly , but mostly watchable

[Sheppard68 · 2/10 · 13 August 2010]

From a women's point of view : this WAS a fascist kind of movie alright, but trying to be fair, putting the nerds on a paint ball-setting with real weapons is at least a little bit funny, there isn't too much blood involved and the horror is only mild. I never liked men's films, with all that blood spilling and the kids in the last row shouting and hooting in joy when violence and hatred is shown on the screen. There are film shown for younger audiences which indulge in this and (alas) get academy nominations... This one is definitely not in that league, SPOILER : it is watchable till the scenes (1.09 -1.24 min),where the girl is shot (strange for a main stream film and definitely not funny, guys !)and the bad guy gets shot by some kind of antitank defense weapon (jesus....). The last scene is funny again. Sorry to see Lowe in such a dumb film.

An outrageous fascist movie

[Raph · 1/10 · 22 November 1998]

"Hostile Intent" is a nice action film, with a very well rhythmed man hunt; the few reflections about the future of a world doomed to informatic war contain enough humour to avoid becoming supid clichés.

But that is not the problem. The problem is this outrageous movie stinks american far-right extremism: a conspiration from the federal authorities, which, during a clandestine military operation, wants to shoot honest citizens who do not want anything else than the world's good. But the brave citizens, armed (not only with paint-ball guns) and ready to defend themselves, will retaliate against the tyranny of a corrupt government. And the movie ends in a remote hut which appears to be a real hi-tech bunker. Welcome to the militia, soldier.

You could think that it's just an innocent film, and that you could say the same things from any other movie where some "normal" man or woman becomes a hero. You could. But "Hostile Intent" is so filled with little signs that doubt can't remain very long.

Who's responsible for this scandalous film? The director, Heap, or the writer, Cotto? Tradition wants it to be the first one. Let's hope he didn't know what he was doing.

Excellent, suspenseful action movie

[MarplotRedux · 8/10 · 1 May 2012]

I find it hard to understand why this movie has received such a low overall rating. Granted that it's a little hard to follow in places, but whenever that's so it soon becomes clear. The underlying premise of a Federal government that seeks to keep detailed watch on its citizens whenever they use the internet was still sci-fi when this movie was released in 1997, but probably is sober reality now. The acting is fair-to-good, the characters' gradual realization that they are being mercilessly hunted is suspenseful and well done, the action sequences, which make up much of the film, are superb. I obtained this in an inexpensive 4-DVD pack called Thugs and Guns Collector's Set. Look for it!

A refreshing take on the hacker genre

[incognito005 · 8/10 · 31 August 2007]

The story itself is simple enough - a hacker too smart for his own good gets into the corporate life and is in over his head before he knows it.

That said, the story does a stunning job of portraying the morbid danger of an info-police state, and the viewer is drawn into the implications to such an extent they can almost see the movie characters as actually out there, fighting for them.

There are a some rather unexpected plot twists that do throw the viewer off, but, fortunately they lead solidly back to the story-line & do a remarkable job of creating enriching characters the viewer can cheer on. Great movie. If this had the budget of Enemy of the State, it would probably already be in your collection as an untouchable classic.