The Flock (2007)

Director:

Wai-keung Lau

Writers:

Hans Bauer (writer)
Craig Mitchell (writer)

Release Date:

4 August 2007 (Japan)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Your fear is their desire

Plot:

This film is about a hyper-vigilant employee of the department of public safety who, while training his young female replacement, has to track down a missing girl who he is convinced is connected to a paroled sex offender he is investigating.

Plot Keywords:

Sex Offender | Investigation | Retirement | Pornography | Flashlight

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Richard Gere	...	Erroll Babbage
Claire Danes	...	Allison Lowry
KaDee Strickland	...	Viola Frye
Ray Wise	...	Bobby Stiles
Russell Sams	...	Edmund Grooms
Avril Lavigne	...	Beatrice Bell
Kristina Sisco	...	Harriet Wells
Dwayne L. Barnes	...	Vincent Dennison (as Dwayne Barnes)
Matt Schulze	...	Glenn Custis
Debrianna Mansini	...	Harriet's Mother
Ed Ackerman	...	Louis Kessler
French Stewart	...	Haynes Ownby
Paul Scallan	...	Missing Girl's Father
Susan Conklin	...	Missing Girl's Mother
Carmen Serano	...	Woman in Gorilla Suit

MPAA:

Rated R for perverse content involving aberrant sexuality and strong violence, and for language.

Runtime:

105 min | Canada:97 min | USA:96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:R | Netherlands:16 | Singapore:M18 | UK:18 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:16 | Argentina:16 | Germany:18 | Portugal:M/18 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Australia:MA | Taiwan:R-12 | Finland:K-15 | Peru:18 | South Korea:18 | New Zealand:R18 | Italy:VM18 | Mexico:C | Japan:R-15

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Company:

Bauer Martinez Studios

Goofs:

Continuity: As Gere's and Dane's characters are in the car chasing after Custis, Custis hurls a garbage can at the windshield. We see from the inside as the windshield becomes a spiderweb of cracks, thus causing Gere to careen into the conveniently located pile of soft garbage nearby. The pair leaps out of the car and the windshield is suddenly repaired.

Quotes:

Allison Lowry, Erroll Babbage: Tell me about your double life. What do you think about? I think about a girl who's dead because I didn't look in a closet.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: (2008-05-17)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

After the Rain

Much better than its rating.

It does not seem that this movie managed to please a lot of people. First off, not many seem to have seen it in the first place (I just bumped into it by accident), and then judging by the reviews and the rating, of those that did many did not enjoy it very much.

Well, I did. I usually tolerate Gere for his looks and his charm, and even though I did not consider him a great actor, I know he can do crazy pretty well (I liked his Mr Jones). But this performance is all different. He is not pretty in this one, and he is not charming. His character is completely different from anything I had seen from him up to that point---old, ugly, broken, determined. And Gere, in what to me is so far his best performance ever, pulls it off beautifully. I guess it is a sign of how well an actor does his job if you cannot imagine anyone else doing it instead---think Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, or Washington as Alonzo in Training Day. That is how good Gere was here.

The rest of the cast were fine by me, too. I guess I would not have cast Danes in this role, mostly because I think she is too good-looking for it. But she actually does an excellent job, holding her own with a Gere in top form, which is no small feat. Strickland easily delivers the best supporting act, in a part that requires a considerable range from her. I actually think she owns the key scene with Gere and Danes, and that is quite an achievement.

So what about the rest of the movie, apart from some excellent acting? The story is perhaps not hugely surprising, some 8mm-ish aspects to it, but adding the "veteran breaks in rookie" storyline to the who-dunnit, and also (like Silence of the Lambs) adding a sense of urgency through trying to save the girl and the impending retirement of Gere's character. All that is a backdrop to the development of the two main characters, as they help each other settle into their respective new stations in life. That's a lot to accomplish in a 100 minutes, but it is done well, and we end up caring for the characters and what happens to them.

Direction and photography were adequate. I could have done without the modern music-video camera movements and cutting, but then I am an old curmudgeon, and it really wasn't all that bad, in fact I think it did help with the atmosphere of the movie, which as you might have guessed, by and large isn't a happy one.

Worth seeing.