Dot.Kill
Dot.Kill
R | 08 March 2005 (USA)
Dot.Kill Trailers

Charlie Daines is a morphine-addicted detective on the trail of a psychopath who is setting up murders and broadcasting them live on the internet. As he closes in on the killer, Charlie realises that he is to be the final victim.

Reviews
cppguy

At at glance, I noticed the reviewers mostly gave this movie a higher ranking than the hoi polloi. While this isn't the best movie you could watch, I don't think it belongs below a 5 rating.Speaking broadly about movies and TV shows that feature net related activity, the bigger budget movies go with computer effects that defy any reality (think "Jurassic Park" and the line by a child "ooh! this is Unix. I know this.") while less self-obsessed low budget films are stuck with using stuff the rest of us actually use from day to day... and are therefore more realistic.This isn't academy award material, but it's not as bad as the couple pathetic reviewers make it out to be. Any reviewer who gives a 1-2 star rating for a properly produced film should be doomed to watch "Manos" or Justin Bieber movies for life. Netflix popped it up as an average selection for me and it was some good filler time while I got some work done. It beat the heck out of old "X-File reruns."

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Comeuppance Reviews

On the surface, "Dot.Kill" doesn't have a lot going for it. First, there's the title, which is ridiculous. So many lame jokes can be made from it. ("www.itsucks.com"), or "Dot.Kill Me Now"... then I realized the movie had different titles like "Digital Reaper" and "Digital Jesus" which make no sense. I was ready for the worst...Thankfully, "Dot.Kill" is an entertaining mystery. Charlie Daines (Assante) is a morphine-addicted cop on the edge, who doesn't have much time to live. Daines has his own demons, but a serial killer is on the loose, killing people over the internet. Can he stop him in time before his next fix? The best part of the movie is Assante's performance. He goes over the top and back. At one point he is confronted by one of his partners about his drug addiction. Daines starts going insane. He picks up a hot poker (which comes out of nowhere) and says "Do you want to BURN me!?!??!" The drawbacks to "Dot.Kill" are the similarities to "Fear Dot.Com" and the ending. But if you like Assante's work, you'll have a fun time.For more insanity, please check out: comeuppancereviews.com

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Scarecrow-88

An aging Armand Assante stars as a grumpy, disgruntled, temperamental detective Charlie Daines, eaten up with cancer, trying desperately to fight thru his pain to solve a difficult case concerning a serial killing Master Hacker whose murdering Big Company CEOs for a live on-line audience, while also capturing the cops working the crime scene through hidden cameras displaying them for millions to witness. Embittered and hard-nosed, Daines is just too stubborn to check into a hospital, receiving morphine from an ex-addict he helped get off junk, just so he can cope with the agony of his disease. But, the NYC police must cooperate with the feds who have hired a cyber-specialist, Adam(Raffaello Degruttola)to assist in finding the psycho while "dinosaur" Daines continues to pursue leads using his instincts and nose through good old fashioned police work. Here's the rub..how does a sickly detective, combating coughing fits and exhaustion, find a killer of supreme intelligence? While, I'll be the first to admit that this film is indeed derivative of other films regarding cyber-psychos and the pursuit of their capture, I think what makes "Dot.Kill" work is Assante's effective performance as the detective contemplating life, trying to enjoy the time left with his wife and son(..keeping his disease secret from them out of love), while doping up as he bickers with his superiors and partner over tackling the case his way as they demand his cooperation with Adam, whose knowledge(..and language) of the cyberspace is of importance. The cat-and-mouse, as one would expect, soon involves Daines because(..isn't it always obvious?)he's the man tracking his identity and whereabouts. The twist on who the killer really is might work on some, but I feel that viewers who have adapted to these kind of thrillers will figure it out before it is revealed 75 minutes in. Couple the "colorful" cop talk from one to another(..little profane insults towards one another and plenty of f-bombs to go around)with having to watch a slowly dying man looking worse and worse as the film continues, might be a difficult watch for some. As usual in these kind of cop-psycho thrillers, Daines travels through seedy locales on the street to get info(..and morphine)and we see that a few of the wealthy targets engage in carnal activities. It's also a challenge to root for Daines, who is rugged, foul-mouthed, easily annoyed, and speaks his mind whether you like what he has to say or not. But, as we watch during the film, he's a good cop whose "flaws" make the character so interesting and rich. Assante is in practically every scene and the whole show. I'd recommend checking this out for his performance, even if the film itself feels old-hat and familiar.

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nihilus

One movie, different names... Dot.kill, Digital Reaper, Digital Killer here..... pfff seen that before, probably a bad B-movie... Well I was surprised, in a good way. Assante produced this one and I must say, it's not bad at all. I'm not a real fan of Assante, but he does a good job. You can look at it in different ways, finding the bad guy came for me in second place, Assante's struggle was for me more interesting. A movie with 2 stories, if you want to see a good b-movie with a human story to tell watch it. I wasn't bored during the movie and that says something. I've seen better movies but there are a lot worse than this one.

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