Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
If you like action movies or enjoy a good thriller, this film will leave you feeling deflated and possibly even a little confused, yet, in my opinion is still worthy of a viewing.
Why Charlie? That doesn't make sense, aren't you contradicting yourself? Well, no. Despite a flawed and unimaginative ending, parts of this movie really do make you wonder what's going on ... which reminds me of watching my favourite TV show Lost, therefore I couldn't help being intrigued.
The plot revolves around a likeable character called Max, who just happens to be a skilled computer security expert whose speciality is installing password protection, sounds boring, but I promise it picks up!
With such an important job, his work takes him all over the world and the story begins after he finishes an assignment in Thailand.
He returns to his hotel where he receives a mysterious package containing a sleek, stylish mobile phone ... he assumes it's a gift or something, so decides to keep hold of it. This is when the film takes a drastic dip into the bizarre and slightly strange.
Max starts to receive text messages that suggest that he extends his stay in Thailand and advising him to change his plane ticket home. For whatever reason, he does and the flight he was supposed to be on crashes ... lucky, or what?
Or what, more like! The randomness continues when Max gets a stock tip, and the price skyrockets.
As I previously mentioned, his job takes him all over the world and he winds up in a casino in Prague, where text messages direct him to play a specific slot machine to win a jackpot and to a certain blackjack table for a big pay-off.
The thing I didn't like was the striking similarity between this section of the film and the classic Rain Man. Max's 'luck' alerts casino security that something shady is going on and they eventually intervene and try to claim he's cheating, best of all, everyone wants to know who is sending Max these messages!
Wouldn't you know it, these 'tips' just keep coming like little sparkling gems, until eventually Max begins to wonder who is behind the mysterious messages and how could they possibly know all this information?
What I really liked about this film was that it managed to hold my interest for long enough to make me begin asking questions myself, like what would I do if I were in Max's position (something dubious no doubt)?
Overall I enjoyed this film but the ending was a bit of a cop out, and, if I'm honest, spoiled the previous parts of the film that I enjoyed.
