Review-Echelon Conspiracy on Blu-Ray

Echelon Conspiracy is a mildly entertaining action/thriller movie that went straight to video and is eerily similar to “Eagle Eye” in that it also involves the main character being basically forced to do outrageous things by text message. Shane West (“ER”) stars as Max Peterson, a computer engineer from Omaha Nebraska who, while on business on Bangkok, receives a package containing a state of the art cell phone. He soon begins receiving SMS messages that bring him luck in casinos, instruct him to travel to different countries,  and even save his life at one point.

At one casino, he is caught on the surveillance tape looking at his phone at the gaming table, which catches the attention of a former FBI agent named John Reed (Edward Burns), who now works as the head of the casino’s surveillance team. His former partner who now works for the National Security Agency is Agent Grant, played by Ving Rhames, and the hotel/casino owner is played by Jonathan Pryce.

We find out that others have been killed while following the instructions on the text messages, which leads the head of the NSA, Raymond Burke (Martin Sheen), to worry that it has something to do with the activation of a new Homeland Security program called Echelon. So now he’s paying attention to Max’s movements as well.

In Moscow, Max is in a cab when the driver spots the mysterious phone and tells Max that he is a computer hacker and can help him figure out where the SMS messages are coming from. He gives Max a Bluetooth earpiece and uploads some kind of SMS-to-voice program that lets Max hear the messages. I learned on Amazon.com that the voice is Julianne Moore, who is uncredited.

So, you’ve got Max being pursued across the globe, being helped by a cab driver/hacker, and a beautiful woman who is, of course, secretly undercover. There’s car chases and explosions and people being beat up. It’s all very actiony right up until the kind of unsatisfying conclusion.

Here’s the thing- it’s not an altogether bad movie, especially if you like action and international intrigue and a good car chase. But the Blu-Ray version has ABSOLUTELY NO BONUS FEATURES. It is beyond me why Paramount would put a movie with so much potential for juicy behind-the-scenes footage on Blu-Ray and include NOTHING extra. There was no “making of” footage filmed? No interviews with the cast, no deleted scenes, NOTHING? I’m sorry but that’s disappointing.

I recommend renting Echelon Conspiracy if it sounds like your kind of flick. Maybe Paramount is waiting to come out with some kind of Special Edition packed with Bonus Features later in the year. Let’s hope so.

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