CONSPIRACY THEORY

Review by Robert Thompson 8/10/97

CONSPIRACY THEORY stars Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts and Patrick Stewart.

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This is a very good movie- I'd even pay full price to see it!!!

It starts out with some really neat cinematography in the title sequence- Kind of like something you might have seen in a really good detective movie from the 1940's, only in color.

Mel Gibson plays a cab driver in New York, who also publishes a small newsletter called Conspiracy Theory. Mel Gibson's character appears to be even crazier than usual, but is also his usual charming self. Julia Roberts plays an attorney with the U.S. Dept. of Justice, and is her usual charming self, but in this movie she is a bit braver and tougher than usual. Patrick Stewart is the bad guy, and while you see the strength that you might expect from Captain Piccard, soon you will dislike this character.

In fact, it was kind of enlightening- I sat across the aisle form a couple of young ladies of about 15-16 years who probably went through puberty watching STAR TREK: Next Generation. They made not a sound when Mel Gibson's title credit appeared, but when Patrick Stewart's scrolled by, they both gave a delighted little squeal. And upon Stewart's first scene they gave a real squeal of ecstasy. While this may give to hope to older bald guys everywhere, it may not turn out too well for Stewart. By the middle of the film the girls were totally disillusioned with him, and I think that he really lost a lot of fans by playing this character. Nevertheless, he made a pretty convincing villain.

The movie opens with Gibson ranting to all of his cab passengers about myriads of different conspiracies against the general populace by the evil and mysterious "they". He makes his eighth delivery of information to Julia Roberts at the Justice Dept. about his newest finding: NASA is going to try to assassinate the President by causing an earthquake from the Space Shuttle.

That is all I'm going to tell you about the movie- any more will spoil it. I do think you will enjoy it- plenty of action, plenty of tension, a little romance, and who knows, maybe a little to think about.