The Flock

Yet another motion picture where the public and critics got their hate on for Richard Gere. It's always hard to pin-point why we want to dislike him so much, either PRETTY WOMAN or the whole free Tibet thing, not sure, but when the script warrants the dude can act. Here he plays a civil servant charged with the duty of keeping track of registered sex offenders. At the end of the line and showing his replacement, Claire Danes (slighlty miscast but more than up for the task), the ropes when he loses it and starts going all Denzel Washington. Think TRAINING DAY meets SE7EN and you have an idea where THE FLOCK is going. Aside from Gere delivering the goods we have the direction of Wai-Keung Lau whose work we don't often see in these parts. His style works for what is a much heavier product than the trailers would have you believe and there is some pervertedly fucked up shit on display here which might explain why Ray Wise signed on. Special mention must be made of French Stewart of 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN fame who, while always strange, is a bonafide creepshow in this outing. Little Avril Lavigne comes out to play as does KayDee Strickland doing her best work since THE GRUDGE. In the end though it all comes down to Gere and when he gets down rough and tumble he's a hard man to beat. Great to see he can still pull it off.