The promo tagline for Deceived is "A signal from beyond. An enemy within." This is an ambitious film, and as such is inherently risky. It succeeds - partially. Very watchable and interest-sustaining in spots, it sometimes falls prey to gaps and incongruities which leave the viewer asking "what?!?"

Most of the story takes place in a remote space observatory, owned by billionaire Emmett Shaw (Stewart Bick), perched high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Extraterrestial signals are being received here (or are they?), setting off a long series of reactions and events. The high-profile male leads - Judd Nelson and Lou Gossett Jr - give respectable performances but are limited by the screenplay. While succeeding in spots and showing potential in others, the story occasionally lacks focus, has no clearly defined vision and veers dangerously close to being campy at times.

Most of the rest of the cast give good performances, here too given the limitations of the screenplay. Michelle Nolden is effective in the lead female role (as Smitty Turner) and Deborah Odell is convincing, for the most part, as the manipulative investigative reporter who would stop at nothing to further her drive for success, money and fame. Jefferson Mappin plays his role as the cosmic New Age preacher Reverend Fletcher to the obnoxious, even repugnant, hilt. Ramona Milano as the military ESP/telekinetic experimental subject is eerily chilling in scenes where she is using her almost supernatural powers. While she's not as effective in the scenes where her characters other side - sad, conflicted and confused - is shown, those scenes still provide interest and some depth to the story.

Deceived is a study in contrasts, including some unintentional ones. On the one hand, the story has the potential to be compelling and draw you in; the characters and acting strong enough to almost pull it off. On the other hand, the movie comes across as uneven: Judd Nelson's character (Jack) is supposed to be feverishly working toward a rapidly approaching deadline - but still finds time to eat a meal, sit around with Kara (Deborah Odell) long enough for her to try to seduce him, and then go chat with his ex-girlfriend Smitty (Michelle Nolden). I won't harp on these seeming inconsistencies except to say there are a few more where that came from. The cliche' shots of "thunder and lightning" - reminiscent of the old B-movie haunted house external shots - only serve to increase the occasional campy feeling you get watching this film. And why are there so few sci-fi / high tech films involving computers - indie or mainstream - that don't leave the impression that the cast, crew and writers are computer-illiterate?

If I seem to be panning this film, I'm not. It is an interesting film in more ways than one, and those who enjoy any of the film's significant themes: science fiction, thriller, and theology, may well find it to their liking.

At the end of the film there's a small twist, and the story goes out quoting the Bible, 2 Timothy 3: "... in the last days perilous times will come ... men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers ... unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God."

Now that they mention it, there does seem to be a lot of that going around...

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Deceived (2002, Cloud Ten Productions) (out of 4)
directed by Andre van Heerden
written by Paul Lalonde and John Patus
produced by Cloud Ten Pictures
Judd Nelson as Jack
Louis Gossett Jr as Col. David Garrett
Michelle Nolden as Smitty Turner
Deborah Odell as Kara Walsh
Jefferson Mappin as Reverend Fletcher
Ramona Milano as Lt. Vasquez
Stewart Bick as Emmett Shaw

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