Rating: 
Summary: A Mess
Review: I was looking forward to watch National Security,only because the pairing of two very funny and talented actors, Martin Lawrence and Steve Zahn can surely be a hit. Add to that the comedy action genre that proved more than successful with films like Bad Boys and I Spy, and I was expecting to spend a good entertainng hour and a half.
How disappointed I was: it was one of the very few films that had I watched it in a theatre, I would made my excuses and fled, whereas thanks to my fast forward key on my DVD remote, which I had to use several times, the agony of boredom was minimized.
The problem with National Security is not the acting. All actors are good, even including Eric Roberts who was terribly miscat for this yet another baddie role. I rather blame the plot, script and directing.
An example of how bad the script is, is in a scene when Zahn, a policeman is prosecuted for an alledged beating of Lawrence.(he was instead trying ot kill a wasp!?! is this not remotely funny or what?).He gets six months in jail, and the next second he comes out and works for a security firm.
He then by chance meets Lawrence again (who happens to help prosecute him and was in court for the trial) and he tells him he got six months because of him. Lawrence is shocked and asks: six months only??
And it gets only worse after that.
Moreover I think the writers were pretty confused about Lawrence's character, as we are first introduced to him as this inexplicably over the top unstable man. In addition to that the film is full of over stretched cliches about Caucasians and African-Americans.
Trust me this film is pretty bad, and waste of time for really talented actors, and a proof that a movie to succeed it is imperative that it should have the right good combination of acting, directing and script..remove one and you will end up with a big flop!
Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as I expected.
Review: This is your typical comedy in a can movie. The script isn't all the original and the story line isn't all that gripping either. It's the usual story of two miss-matched people coming together to accomplish a 'mission'. The characters are opposites of each other, Lawrence plays the usual loud, obnoxious black guy while Zahn plays a former cop who just lost his partner. Zahn's character loses his job as a cop after being accused of beating up Lawrence but both characters come together and inevitably become best buddies in the end. It's not the best Lawrence movie out there and when you compare it to some of his best (bad boys, blue streak) it downright disappointing. The movie did make me laugh in some parts but overall I found it to be a slow starting, not very well planned movie. 2 Stars
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely Hilarious
Review: Let me first state that I was ready to give up on Martin Lawrence Films after I saw Big Momma's House and What's the Worst that Can happen. And I thought I was definetly gonna give up after I saw the ...black night movie. The only reason I saw this film was because it seemed alot like Blue Streak (Which is one of my fav films), so I thought I'd give Martin one more try and believe me when I saw this, I was xtremely impressed. I think this movie saved Martin's career. It was so funny and had good action. This film proved to me not to give up on Martin cuz he is the man.
The movie is about 2 security gaurds: One former Cop ,Hank (Steve Zhan) and One Police reject , Earl (Lawrence) who had a huge conflict in their past, now realising they must team up 2gether to stop a gang of thieves from stealing some rare type of metal.
There are many funny moments in this film. It is a good movie. It is racial but it's Martin Lawrence for crying loud; What do you expect? Get it now!
Rating:
Summary: One of the few DVDs I chose to purchase
Review: If it isn't Casa Blanca import, I don't buy it. We rented the DVD and decided to buy it. I feel this is the height of Martin Lawrence's shtick and my wife and I loved it. Like Airplane and the Man Who Knew Too Little, we will want to see it over and over. I am a 59 yr old married white male who doesn't need to accumulate everything, just the most enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Slow, boring, not funny
Review: Summary:
Earl Montgomery (Martin Lawrence) is a wannabe cop whose attitude is keeping him from getting pretty much anywhere in life. Hank Rafferty (Steve Zahn), on the other hand, used to be a cop until, being a bit emotionally unstable after his partner was killed, he is accused of roughing up Earl and ends up convicted of police brutality and being sent to jail. Six months later Hank's out of jail and the only job he can get is for National Security as a security guard. Ironically, Earl, who flunked out of the police academy, is also working for the same company. Despite having had so many problems, Hank is still determined to get the guys that killed his partner and, in essence, ruined his life. When he hears about a similar heist going down he heads for the warehouse where the heist is taking place only to find that Earl is supposed to be the security guard on duty (he's upstairs having sex with some woman, supposedly a secretary). When Hank arrives on the scene he breaks up some of the action and launches a gun battle that eventually draws Earl's attention. When they find out they are working together against a common enemy led by a guy named Nash (Eric Roberts), they team up to bring them down. Of course, things aren't that easy. They are still trying to get over their initial differences which results in the majority of the movie being about Hank and Earl fighting rather than about them chasing the bad guys. But in the end they find out what the bad guys were trying to steal and steal it from them. Then they set up a sting to bring them down only to find that some members of the police commission were involved. Nevertheless, they end up saving they day, Hank is reinstated into the police force and Earl is made a policeman. My Comments:
I'm not really sure what this movie was. I mean, it had Martin Lawrence in it so it was probably supposed to be a comedy, but I didn't laugh. It had a few quasi-action scenes in it, but come on, it's Martin Lawrence and Steve Zahn - you can rule out cool martial arts and fighting scenes. The only thing that really even made it an action flick was that Martin Lawrence carried around a fully automatic pistol. It just never seemed to find a niche for what it was trying to be. As for the story, it was pretty bad. The beginning was actually kind of interesting where Hank gives Earl a hard time then ends up going to jail for it, but the number of coincidences that built up to make the rest of the story work after that were just too much. And, there were a number of things that were left out of the story until the director wants you to see them that would have changed the whole thing - namely Hank's girlfriend being black. It probably would have made a difference in his trial if this had been made known, but of course it wasn't. As for her being upset with him about beating up Earl, heck, I'd beat him up he's so dang annoying. What about the acting? Well, Steve Zahn should have been the first billed for this film because he was the only person that really did anything and was remotely convincing. Martin Lawrence was just Martin Lawrence - a black man with a grudge who can only be funny by being crude. Steve Zahn, on the other hand, played a pretty good frustrated cop. There weren't any real other characters in the movie, so I'm not going to bother to comment on them. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this movie. Maybe Martin Lawrence fans would like it, but it was pretty dry. Steve Zahn was okay, but considering that he had to deal with Martin Lawrence and a pretty pathetic story, he didn't have a chance. Don't see this movie. It's not funny; it's not interesting; it's not even exciting.
Rating: 
Summary: Damn Gina¿
Review: "National Security" is yet another Martin Lawrence buddy cop comedy that falls a little short of his previous work. THE STORY: Hank Rafferty (Steve Zahn) is a cop whose partner got killed on the job. Earl Montgomery (Martin Lawrence) is a cop wannabe with a "white man holding down the brother" attitude who's too much of a loose cannon to get on the force and is thus reduced to being a security guard. After a minor altercation between Hank and Earl that gets blown to Rodney King proportions Hank is out of a job and in jail. After serving his time Hank is reduced to becoming a security guard. Following the trail of the men who murdered his partner, Hank finds that he must now team up with the man who put him in jail to stop a smuggling ring and avenge his fallen partner. THE COOL THINGS: Overall, the story is somewhat, neigh, VERY predictable but is filled with some decent action and some decent comedy. That's about it though... THE CRITICAL ANALYSIS: Like in most of his movies, Martin Lawrence's comedy is clearly the driving force behind the film. Unfortunately in this particular flick they lost quite a few steps. Earl's "White Man out to get the brother" shtick wears thin VERY quickly and the character becomes pretty annoying after a while. The tension between the two characters is played out very well and Earl does get his comeuppance but Earl's character is easily more of an annoyance to the viewer rather than the fun guilty pleasure most Lawrence characters usually are. BEST SCENES: No real best scenes in this film. Everything is basically one huge joke as Hank and Earl work they way around. THE DVD EXTRAS: As far as DVDs go, this one is pretty sparse with the only things of note being the requisite commentary track and the alternate ending. Here's what you get: 1. Director's Audio Commentary Track - decent as always 2. 2 Deleted Scenes - pretty much rubbish stuff 3. Alternate Ending - decent alternate ending that could have worked 4. Music Video - some rap song by some rappers, ehhh 5. Trailers for National Security, Bad Boys II and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle THE VERDICT: Well, yet another Martin Lawrence buddy cop comedy. Some things worked here, some things didn't. This was easily the worst of his efforts. While the basic plot of the film worked the Earl character was just a bit too much. Again, some nice subtle potshots about racial relations usually work best but Earl's character was just way too much. While the movie had some pretty funny stuff comedy wise and some decent action, Lawrence's character more annoying than funny. The DVD extras are almost non-existant so you don't get that much value for your buck here other than the movie itself and handful of extras. THE GRADES: The Move: 2 stars
The Extras: 3 stars
Overall: 2.5 stars There's some decent action with some funny stuff if you can stand Earl's mouth.
Mild Recommendation: Stick with Blue Streak or Bad Boys
Rating: 
Summary: I actually liked it.... A few Caveats...
Review: National Security stars Martin Lawrence as the cheeky police-academy drop out Earl. When Earl accidentally locks his keys in the car, he looks quite suspicious to Anglo cop Hank, and Hank decides to stop and ask him a few questions. Earl mouths off, and then panics when a bumblebee tries to sting him. A tourist catches the incident on film, and poor Hank is sent to the slammer. I actually LIKED National Security, the acting was well done, some of the gags were humorous, and the dynamic between Earl and Hank was funny. The downside: At times the racist bile spewed by Earl went a bit too far. I also found the Earl character a bit difficult to like. He was bigoted, emotionally needy, craving Hank's approval, and at the same time rejecting him because he was white. The sad thing was, this behavior is constantly being rewarded. This left me with a vaguely unsatisfied feeling. I would've liked to see Hank and Earl learn to respect each other, and for Earl to apologize for not being honest at the trial and for Hanks' incarceration. Moreover, I guess, I would've liked to have simply LIKED Earl, and for Earl to be more engaging. Overall, if you can overlook the scenes of non-stop racial humor, I found this to be a funny flick.
Rating:
Summary: Better then I thought it would be...
Review: Automatically any movie with black/white partnership, cops, and Martin Lawrence in it is considered bad, but I enjoyed this movie. It was funny and had a more original idea. They don't really start out as friends. They start out as a cop spying a black citizen sticking his hand in the window of his car and steps up to make sure he isn't stealing it. The cop appears to be beating him down when a passer byer catches him on camera when the real culprit takes wing, literally. They don't meet up until months later. The racist jokes were funny and they weren't insulting anyone. Trust me, because I hate racist jokes. People giving it bad reviews shouldn't watch these types of movies. It was funny and entertaining, what do they want? Maybe they should stick with dramas instead of comedies like these.
Rating:
Summary: Funny Rush Hour-type movie
Review: I found many similarities between NATIONAL SECURITY and the extremely hilarious RUSH HOUR series. They are both very much alike. Lawrence and Zahn both do great acting jobs, which helps the film alot. The laughs keep on coming and so does the action. But, for some reason, I liked it a little better when I saw it in the theater a few months ago. It's still very good though.
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your money
Review: I rented this video with a gift card and I now regret it; I usually like Martin Lawrence but this movie was terrible. I should have rented something else. Is it a comedy? action flick? It fails on both. There was no chemisty between the actors and the writing was terrible.
| 
