Review for Echelon Conspiracy

Introduction

Echelon Conspiracy is a "globe-trotting action-thriller", where a "well-travelled computer whiz-kid" suddenly finds himself in possession of "a phone that sends him text messages enabling him to win untold wealth". As we all know, nothing in life is free and he soon finds himself in big trouble!

Max Peterson (Shane West) is making the most of his gift, a mobile phone that guarantees wins at the Casino but soon he finds himself being pursued across the globe by hitmen, casino security and CIA operatives.

Embroiled in a deadly international plot that threatens "the stability of the entire world" Max must first find out who is sending the mysterious messages and get to the root of the conspiracy before it's too late.



Directed by Greg Marcks (11:14) and produced by Steve Richards (Gothika; House of Wax) the film also features Edward Burns (27 Dresses, The Holiday) Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction, Mission Impossible II and III) and Martin Sheen (The Departed, Catch Me If You Can).

For the record, this title is apparently an ASDA exclusive.

Video and Audio

The picture quality is fine, a 2.35:1 1080p transfer with nice colours, rich levels of detail and a pretty good contrast level.

A 5.1 Dolby TrueHD soundtrack, which is a pretty solid performer. Quite a bit of action with car chases and booms and bangs thrown in to good effect. "Dialogue" (and I use the term advisedly) is audible, even if it doesn't always seem logical...



[The pictures contained in this review are for illustrative purposes only and do not reflect the image quality of the disc]

Extra Features

We get a little something more than our friends across the pond, but it wasn't worth the minimal effort they went to in order to include a trailer and 4 "featurettes", which are just TV spots or extended trailers.

Conclusion

Films about conspiracy theories. FBI. CIA. NSA.

Films about computers taking over the world.

Films about us relying on technology too much.

Nothing new. But they can be generally entertaining (although not always for all the right reasons). I'm thinking here of things like Enemy of the State and Eagle Eye. And probably T2, although that goes in a rather different direction as I'm sure you know!



Sadly, instead of a "globe-trotting action-thriller" we got given a poor man's "globe-trotting action-thriller", which seems rather tired, and you just know how it's going to end. And you might spend time screaming at the so-called technology, because this isn't sold as science fiction, rather some kind of fact that could happen to all of us. If only they'd had some more budget to spend on the action sequences, then you might have been able to forget some other bits.

As it stands, you're not distracted enough by the action, so you start to pick holes.

Probably best avoided, otherwise that NSA supercomputer will come round your house and eat your Blu-ray player...