Review of Pursued

This is another instance of a third-rate Canadian production that is typically seen on a weekday afternoon on a local TV channel. Pursued is a made-for-TV level movie that suffers from poor casting, clichéd plotting, and indifferent directing. The greatest flaw in Pursued is the casting of Christian Slater - who was halfway to movie jail in 2004 - as the psychotic headhunter who will stop at nothing to recruit a rising young executive. His over-the-top performance, coupled with the weak acting of Gil Bellows as Slater's victim, torpedoes this turkey.

These kinds of Canadian low-budget movies are crippled by a perfect storm of factors. The first is the casting of unknown and generally inferior actors in key roles. The presumptive lead - Bellows as the tech executive Slater's character is desperately trying to recruit no matter what (absurd on every level) - has no business playing the lead in any project. His flaccid performance dooms the film just as Slater's familiar crazed villain is cause for groans throughout.

Secondly, the screenplay seems to have been pieced together by production executives trying to fulfill a series of target audience demands by the financiers or network that shot Pursued in Canada because of government financial incentives.

Sadly, Canada continues to remain a place where film creatives stay and die.