There are exploitation movies and exploitation movies. Some exploit lowest desires of the audience and do it by delivering huge amounts of senseless violence, gratuitous erotica or tasteless jokes. But they aren't most despicable form of exploitation films. Most despicable are those who exploit the audience naivete, those filled with couple decent stars or names that should convince viewers that they are about to see something actually good. But the sad reality tells us that Los Angeles happens to be cruel, competitive place and often great, good or decent actors are forced to work on projects that are bellow their standards. In case of Helen Slater, the actress that the author of this review likes, Betrayal of the Dove, 1993 thriller directed by Strathford Hamilton, was one of such films.
In this film Helen Slater plays Ellie, young professional woman faced with many agonising problems in her life. Her young daughter is having nightmares, her former alcoholic husband is constantly harassing her while her matchmaking co-worker makes thing even more unbearable by introducing her to her dorky cousin Norman (played by David L. Lender). Her friend Una (played by Kelly Le Brock), on the other hand, offers real treat in the form of young and charismatic doctor Jesse Peter (played by Billy Zane). However, soon her life soon gets in danger and she is forced to question her new friends.
Betrayal of the Dove is a lame thriller with complicated yet nonsensical plot, and characters we actually don't care about. Even if the actors like Helen Slater, Kelly Le Brock or Billy Zane worked really hard, they would hardly make us care for them. The only exception is David L. Lander whose character, that should have served as some kind of comic relief, gets brutally eliminated too early in the film. What we are left is an incoherent mess of subplots (some of them including parapsychology) and many of the loose ends are not getting tied up in the bloody, Elisabethan and utterly unconvincing finale. Viewers should do themselves a favour and skip this one.
RATING: 2/10 (-)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on June 11th 1999)
==
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/ Cent profile https://beta.cent.co/@drax Minds profile https://www.minds.com/drax_rp_nc
Brave browser: https://brave.com/dra011
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
