Rating: 
Summary: A serious subject taken seriously
Review: This is one of those rare movies, like Traffic, that takes a serious topic and treats it seriously. To make it work as an entertaining movie, they had to put in some plot elements and situations that are implausible or flat out ridiculous, as earlier reviewers have noted. The movie succeeds nonetheless. The major focus is a moral issue: can an important political objective justify killing millions of people? Stalin and Mao thought it could, but they might not have been right. By the way, the movie does not engage in Iraqi-bashing. The incineration of millions of Iraqis -- millions of full-fledged human beings -- is precisely what raises the moral issue. The finest moment in the film is at the end, when a waitress stares with silent horror at the President, whom she clearly thinks a moral monster.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't overlook this movie!
Review: This movie did not recieve much promotion or publicity, but nevertheless it is an interesting and engaging film. The plot concerns the President of the United States who is in Colorado campaigning for the presidential primaries. He enters a small diner with his entourage for some publicity shots just as a terrible snow storm hits the area. Just at this moment the son of Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait, killing American peace-keeping forces. The President, who was elected vice-president and succeeded his predecessor when he died, is faced with one of the toughest situations a President could face. He has been criticized for his lack of leadership and experience, but in this situation he rises to the occasion and acts with a boldness which surprises and shocks his advisors. Connected to Washington only by phone lines, he outlines a plan which not even his family or his closest friends can endorse. It appears to them that he is headed towards an all out nuclear holocaust. The President, however, proceeds with his plan which is even shocking to the viewer. A clever twist at the end, good acting, and a fascinating plot make this a worthwhile movie.
Rating:
Summary: Talk about suspense ...
Review: This was a difficult movie to get through objectively -- throughout the entire thing, we find ourselves staring at the obvious similarities between the events in this film and the events that have happened since September 11, 2001.The story is pretty simple: President Walter Emerson (Kevin Pollack) is enjoying his unelected presidency (serving first as Vice President and later taking over for his President) when he and his campaigning staff are caught in a snow storm and stranded in a small-town Colorado diner. Out of nowhere, President Emerson and his staff see on a cable news network (ala MSNBC) what appears to be the start of a war. Suddam Hussein's son has apparently invaded Kuwait and killed many Americans. The movie quickly turns into a series of back-and-forth arguments on whether to release nuclear weapons on Iraq. The President hears "do it" and "don't do it" from Chief-of-Staff Marshall Thompson (Timothy Hutton), other advisors, his wife, and civilians who are trapped in the diner with him. The question becomes suspensfully clear: Will the President of the United States "nuke" a whole civilization? I liked this movie simply because it was so suspensful. Not many movies "keep me on the edge of my seat," but this one did. It evokes a fear that is now all too familiar to us -- not knowing what's next and hoping, just hoping, that the people who are in charge are responsible enough to make the right decisions. The entire movie takes place in just one location -- the diner -- the use of just one set is highly effective as it provides us with a sense of the President's emotional, as well as physical, isolation. We're right there with him, telling him what to do just as the other civilians who are trapped. There's a scene in The American President where Michael Douglass, playing the President, must decide whether or not to bomb a building in some foreign country -- Deterrence is kind of like a prolonged version of that scene. In Deterrence, however, Kevin Pollack's President must decide whether or not to bomb a whole civilization, rather than just a building. Rating: 4 / 4. SMITH TALKS: The Future of Movie Reviews ...
Rating:
Summary: Low Budget, Great Plot
Review: This was the best low budget film that I have seen in years! The story was incredible and it kept your attention from beginning to end. While the setting is sometimes unrealistic the plot is very believable and sobering to say the least. The movie goes to show that the threat of nuclear war is a very real modern possibility that has not died with the Cold War. It takes the United States' most recent all out military engagement, The Persian Gulf War, and takes the scenario one step further with Sudam Hussein's son, now the dictator of Iraq, invading Kuwait once again. The President of the United States, who has just come into power due to the death of the previous president, is faced with his first major international crisis during his election campaign. He is determined to react to the emergency quickly and with a show of ultimate force. I will not reveal the ending; however, I will say that it is both unique and thought provoking. This is a must see film that will really make you think.
Rating:
Summary: A chilling glimpse in what could be the future
Review: When I went to see Deterrence I figured that it would be a good Sunday night movie at best. But when leaving the theater a whole new sensation came over me, " What if something like this really happens?". After all, with nuclear weapons floating around, there could be some truth in the future to this movie. The film is set in the year 2008, and rotates around election night. The President (Kevin Pollack) is faced with a situation which requires him to possibly use nuclear weapons. The story is smart and true. It is a very believable plot, with an exciting ending. The actors do a fine job as well, one in particular: Timothy Hutton. Timothy Hutton plays Marshall Thompson and I was blown away by his acting. I hear many people say that the climax of his career was with Ordinary people, but he does an equally good job in Deterrence. This movie is definately a must see.
Rating:
Summary: Fiction turning into reality?
Review: When it was realesed Deterrence was just a return to a genre of film that was apearently over along with the Cold War, the "what if" scenario of a possible nuclear war. ... this movie is in my view frightening relevant and up to date. ... Walter Emerson, the U.S president is stuck in a diner due to a snowstorm during his campaign trip. There he receives word that Udei Hussein, Saddam's son and now leader of Iraq has invaded Kwait and is on his way to take the oil fields of Saudi Arabia. Emerson takes a desperate gamble with an ultimatum to Husseim: Stop the invasion and surrender or Baghdad will be destructed by a 100 megaton H-bomb. From there on is a game of cat and mouse as the world, now on the brink of total annihilation begins to go insane. Under the bestified looks of common people caught into something way above them and at the same time closer than ever to them, Emerson takes decisions that might turn him into a genocidal ... . ... Welcome to the XXI century.
Rating: 
Summary: Keeping The Cold War Warm
Review: While certainly not the first film of its kind, DETERRENCE accomplishes two feats well: First, the thriller keeps the blood flowing around single-location, almost theatrically-intimate dramas. Second, the film underscores that a post-Cold War world is an increasingly difficult setting for the film industry. Kevin Pollack does an outstanding job playing Walter Emerson, a politician who rose to the position of President after the commander-in-chief passes away. Trapped in Aztec, Colorado, in the middle of a snowstorm at the height of Presidential primaries, Emerson faces his greatest challenge as king of the free world: how do you stop a Arab dictator from latching control over the flow of oil when all you have in the negotiation process are you own wits? The tension builds as townspeople, gathered in the diner with the snowed-in President, start to watch on television the escalation of a simple military engagement into full-scale nuclear annihiliation. The film's greatest strength lies in Pollack's ability to vascillate between a hard-lined strategist and a slick politician, all the while maintaining a high degree of likeability. Also, the surprise shocker of an ending doesn't quite deliver the punch that FAILSAFE or TWELVE ANGRY MEN (films alluded to in the product's packaging), but it certainly will keep you talking for hours and it might even prompt a second viewing to see the subtle nuances Pollack added throughout the story to complete his blockbuster performance. Definitely worth a view (rental), DETERRENCE is probably not one to own UNLESS Cold War thrillers make up your entire home video library.
Rating:
Summary: Unlike anything you've ever seen
Review: You simply can't afford to miss this amazing film. I was on the edge of my seat during the last twenty minutes of it. Prepare to question everything you believe in.
| 
