Conspiracy Theory
It's easy to dismiss conspiracy theories as the product of an overactive imagination; but what if you discovered at least one of them was true? Conspiracy Theory is the story of Jerry Fletcher (Mel Gibson), a skittish--even manic--cab driver, who also has a hobby as a purveyor of conspiracy theories through a newsletter he self-publishes (with five whole subscribers). Jerry has a fixation on a lawyer for the Justice Department named Alice Sutton (Julia Roberts), who he saved from a mugging six months ago, although his repeat unannounced visits to her office infuriates her. After Jerry is abducted by the icy Dr. Jonas (Patrick Stewart), who plies his mind for secrets about his past, Jerry begins to understand that he's a part of a conspiracy himself.
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Jerry is a high-energy kind of guy, espousing the secrets of "the Illuminati", "Skull and Bones", or other bogeymen of the secret world behind the proverbial curtain. I'm not judging the validity of Jerry's assertions, but it's evident from the opening montage of Conspiracy Theory, that audiences will instinctively dismiss his rapid fire claims as being too outlandish to be true. Many of them have the air of familiarity, which gives the film a sense that it is a secret peek into this realm of "spooks and spies" and "cloak and dagger", with Jerry sneaking us in the back entrance. But the catalyst that transforms Conspiracy Theory into a true conspiratorial, political thriller comes when Jerry is captured and given drugs--"gravy for the brain"--to get him to spills the beans to the unscrupulous Jonas about Jerry's psychologically obscured past--that he was the subject of a secret, MKUltra-esque operation to program him into an assassin. After Jerry makes a daring escape, he visits Alice, but is subsequently arrested. Clues he reveals to her lead her to believe that at least some of Jerry's histrionics are rooted in truth. Forced to work with Jonas, due to their respective government jobs, Alice begins to distrust the sketchy "psychologist"--left with half of a nose, courtesy of Jerry--and also begins to sympathize with Jerry, trying to piece together the puzzle of his scattered memories. Mel Gibson plays Jerry not as a suicidal maniac (like Riggs in Lethal Weapon, also directed by Richard Donner), but as a man who is still somewhat unhinged. But Jerry is passionate about his interest in "putting out the fire" of deception and subversion peddled by the "new world order" as truth. In this, Mel Gibson channels notable doomsayers and whistleblowers, like Alex Jones, but is engaging due to his likability and sympathetic demeanor. Although Jerry is effectively stalking Alice--watching her exercise from the security of his cab, and singing along with her music from the car--he has an inescapable sweetness to him, like a lost puppy dog, which helps Alice warm to him. Alice shares some things in common with Jerry; she is a lawyer who refuses to stop asking questions, even when a case--like that of her slain father--suggests that the resolution was one reached out of convenience. What Alice--like Jerry--discovers is that when there is some kind of cover-up, the guilty will often make great strides to ensure their dirty secrets remain buried, no matter the cost.
Conspiracy Theory is a film about going down the proverbial rabbit hole that is the secret powers behind our world. At the start, it looks like Jerry is just a nut, and Alice merely tolerates his awkward interest and protectiveness of her. As the film progresses, more and more of what looks like nuttiness and paranoia proves more true than not, with Alice and Jerry evading government agencies with acronyms who are tailing them through the streets of New York City, hovering overhead in black helicopters in "whisper mode". This makes the message of Conspiracy Theory one where it's not Jerry who's crazy, but all of us for not looking carefully enough at the lies presented as truth. History has shown that some conspiracies are eventually revealed as being true, what Jerry describes as "them" messing up somehow, not covering their tracks well enough. Be it revelations about the Watergate scandal and the Whitewater controversy, or more recent examples like the disclosure about PRISM by Edward Snowden and online venues like WikiLeaks, there is the pervading sense that only a few of these scandals and deceptions have managed to come to light, leaving the terrifying thought of how many do not. There's a brief shot when Jerry is abducted by Jonas' men depicting a man in a deli who does a double take after seeing Jerry getting dragged off. This is the small moment where the veil gets pulled away ever so quickly, and someone somewhere gets a peek behind that clandestine curtain. Conspiracy Theory plays with the idea that not just some of the conspiracies might be true, but that all of them could potentially be. As a former (if unwitting) member from Jonas' assassination/brainwashing program, Jerry has been afflicted with psychological quirks and compulsions as a control mechanism, like his need to buy copies of "Catcher in the Rye"--pointed out to be a popular book with other, real-life would-be assassins. There's a subtle suggestion that Jerry has a conditioned understanding of the way these black ops organizations do things, since he is highly adept at circumventing their efforts to catch him. (An audience watching Conspiracy Theory would no doubt find it curious that a taxi driver could be able to rig his apartment to burst into flame--while protecting the homes of his neighbors--at the flip of a switch without sophisticated training.) With lots of twists and turns, Conspiracy Theory relishes in playing with our sense of trust, and making it clear that rarely is anything what it really seems.
Recommended for: Fans of an action-packed and even charming thriller that coyly asserts the likelihood of shadow organizations and secret plots in the government, and teases the accuracy of Jerry's claims as being both outlandish and prescient.
Conspiracy Theory is a film about going down the proverbial rabbit hole that is the secret powers behind our world. At the start, it looks like Jerry is just a nut, and Alice merely tolerates his awkward interest and protectiveness of her. As the film progresses, more and more of what looks like nuttiness and paranoia proves more true than not, with Alice and Jerry evading government agencies with acronyms who are tailing them through the streets of New York City, hovering overhead in black helicopters in "whisper mode". This makes the message of Conspiracy Theory one where it's not Jerry who's crazy, but all of us for not looking carefully enough at the lies presented as truth. History has shown that some conspiracies are eventually revealed as being true, what Jerry describes as "them" messing up somehow, not covering their tracks well enough. Be it revelations about the Watergate scandal and the Whitewater controversy, or more recent examples like the disclosure about PRISM by Edward Snowden and online venues like WikiLeaks, there is the pervading sense that only a few of these scandals and deceptions have managed to come to light, leaving the terrifying thought of how many do not. There's a brief shot when Jerry is abducted by Jonas' men depicting a man in a deli who does a double take after seeing Jerry getting dragged off. This is the small moment where the veil gets pulled away ever so quickly, and someone somewhere gets a peek behind that clandestine curtain. Conspiracy Theory plays with the idea that not just some of the conspiracies might be true, but that all of them could potentially be. As a former (if unwitting) member from Jonas' assassination/brainwashing program, Jerry has been afflicted with psychological quirks and compulsions as a control mechanism, like his need to buy copies of "Catcher in the Rye"--pointed out to be a popular book with other, real-life would-be assassins. There's a subtle suggestion that Jerry has a conditioned understanding of the way these black ops organizations do things, since he is highly adept at circumventing their efforts to catch him. (An audience watching Conspiracy Theory would no doubt find it curious that a taxi driver could be able to rig his apartment to burst into flame--while protecting the homes of his neighbors--at the flip of a switch without sophisticated training.) With lots of twists and turns, Conspiracy Theory relishes in playing with our sense of trust, and making it clear that rarely is anything what it really seems.
Recommended for: Fans of an action-packed and even charming thriller that coyly asserts the likelihood of shadow organizations and secret plots in the government, and teases the accuracy of Jerry's claims as being both outlandish and prescient.