Flock | 
| Director: Andrew Lau
Actors: Richard Gere, Claire Danes, Avril Lavigne, Kadee Strickland
Studio: Weinstein Company
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.95
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Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 19404
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 96 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 80386
UPC: 796019803861
EAN: 0796019803861
ASIN: B0013D8LCC
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Release Date: May 20, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Erroll Babbage (Richard Gere) has spent his career tracking sex offenders and his unorthodox methods are nearly as brutal as the criminals he monitors. When he links one of his deranged parolees to the disappearance of a local girl he and his new partner (Claire Danes) must scour the S&M underground to find her before it's too late.System Requirements:Running Time: 96 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS Rating: R UPC: 796019803861 Manufacturer No: 80386
Amazon.com
Richard Gere stars in The Flock as Errol Babbage, a government employee in charge of tracking registered sex offenders who has become convinced he can tell when they're about to offend again. When a young girl is kidnapped, he loses his bearings and sinks into a violent obsession, dragging his new partner (Claire Danes) into a dogged investigation that includes abusive interrogations, flagrant violations of civil rights, and a whole lot of sexual tension between the two of them. The Flock is the sort of overheated thriller that wants to condemn sexual deviance while depicting it in absurdly lurid and titillating ways (the scenes in a porn studio/fetish market are slathered with moral indignation but ooze with repressed lust). The movie wants to be a portrait of a passionate man who risks becoming what he most abhors, but it's implausible at every turn. The Flock lurches from one sleazy sequence to another, intoxicated by its own hypocrisy, cheering on Babbage's vigilantism while pretending to compare it with the dangerous acting-out of the deviants. In the end, Babbage is redeemed and affirmed. Also featuring Ray Wise (Twin Peaks), KaDee Strickland (Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid), French Stewart (3rd Rock from the Sun), and an extremely brief appearance by pop star Avril Lavigne. --Bret Fetzer
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 The Best Film of 2007 December 11, 2007
A. W. Hondros (DE)
19 out of 21 found this review helpful
I saw this movie and really didn't expect much coming in. But Richard Gere delivered his best performance to date and Claire Danes supported him very well. This is probably one of the most if not the most suspenseful movie I have ever seen. While it is a little stomach wrenching at parts I started to gag, it keeps you on the edge of your seat.
Richard Gere deserves an Oscar for his role in this movie, and the cinematography is second to none. I highly suggest this movie.
 "The Abyss Gazes Also into You...": "The Flock" Thriller from the Director of "Infernal Affairs" August 22, 2007
Tsuyoshi
11 out of 15 found this review helpful
The following review refers to "The Flock" (105 minutes) released in Japan where I saw it in theater.
The story of "The Flock" centers around the case of a missing girl. Or girls perhaps, and some disturbing photos. The thriller has an undertone of "The Silence of the Lambs," but in spite of its intriguing protagonist played by cast-against-type Richard Gere, "The Flock" is short on thrills, and some parts require an enormous amount of suspension of disbelief.
The most unique aspect of the film is the central role Richard Gere plays with slovenly appearance with unkempt clothes. Gere plays Erroll Babbage, veteran officer of department of public safety, monitoring paroled sex offenders. After 18 years of his work of supervising the registered offenders, Erroll, firm believer of his own theories about offenders, is not content with just visiting them and doing routine question. He cannot arrest them, but he thinks he can do something with his method, which is not exactly legal sometimes. Even his co-workers stay away from him, including his supervisor Bobby Stiles (Ray Wise). So in 18 days Erroll is to quit, or "let go" from the job.
To Erroll is sent an understudy Allison Lowry (Claire Danes). Erroll takes Allison under his wing and grooms her for the career as officer who can see through the "public presentation" of people. While training Allison, Erroll confides to her that he is convinced of one thing, believe him or not, that only he can know the truths behind the case of a young girl who suddenly disappeared.
As I said before, "The Flock" needs more suspense. Not many details are given about the missing girl (who might have just run away from home). Though Richard Gere is convincing as the man who is obsessed with his work, not much is told about the background of Allison either and her flat character weakens the master-pupil relation between them.
The film anyway keeps telling its story, fast-paced and stylish, with Gere's strong performance as its real power. However, "The Flock" becomes less and less credible in the second half. As it has something to do with sex offenders and Megan's Law, "The Flock," it is obvious, has one very important topic in it, but the film's plot, which poses some intriguing questions about the law and morality, does not delve into them.
Director of "The Flock" is Andrew Lau from Hong Kong, known for his acclaimed "Infernal Affairs" (original of "The Departed"), but internet site IMDb says Niels Mueller did uncredited re-shoot. I don't know which director is responsible, but the film, especially the opening, is full of jump-cuts, fast-forwards, double-exposures and other visual gimmicks that only help lessen the suspense. This unnecessary editing is regrettable because the cinematography itself is fine with the bleak landscapes (shot in New Mexico).
As to the role of Avril Lavigne as a young woman, it is not a big one. It is more like a cameo, and it is hard to judge whether her acting is good or bad.
And it is hard for me to judge the film either. During most of the time I was not bored, but that is not because of the slickly told but implausible story, but because of Gere's fine acting and the stylishly grainy photography and sinister atmosphere that reflects his character's mind. At the same time, besides the lack of suspense, I felt something is wrong with the film, which attempts to tackle one of the most serious issues, but somehow stops in the middle of the process.
"Flock" a MUST see March 20, 2009
Sherrie A., Norman (Montana)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I watched "Flock" with surprise, as I hadn't even seen promo's for it. I LOVED IT!!! I don't need to tell you whats in the movie, everyone else has already done that. I was amazed by the movie. Richard Gere, can play ANYTHING and make it come out good. I believe he did better in this, than he did in "Internal Affairs" and I believe that's saying a lot. While the movie is some what slow at first, it has to be. It has to get the people watching it, into what's going on. I feel that's hard to do, with the subject at hand. Sexual predators is a very hard subject to do in a movie. It's a touchy subject. Anyone in "real life", who works with these people gets a feeling about them. I doubt that many of them act on it. That's what I love about this movie. I felt myself WANTING to do just what Gere's character did. I can't wait to get the movie for myself. I own ALL of Richard Gere's movies and I haven't be disappointed in any of them. I feel Gere should get an award for this movie, as it IS an out-of-cast character for him, and he plays it so well. I really don't understand the bad reviews that this movie got. I guess that some people expect too much. I just love to watch a movie just for what it is. Now I'm not saying, I haven't seen what I thought was a crappy movie. What "I" think is a bad movie. verses other people would probably start an argument. I guess one persons bad movie is another persons good movie. Isn't it great we all don't like the same things???
 What the Flock? June 17, 2008
B. Merritt (WWW.FILMREVIEWSTEW.COM, Pacific Grove, California United States)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Although THE FLOCK has some pretty good acting by veteran Richard Gere, and some okay shots that might harken some back to THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS days, the movie stretches credibility to the breaking point and destroys itself against a plot that really leads nowhere.
The film is about Erroll Babbage (Gere) who works for the department of safety and is preparing to retire. His office thrusts upon him his replacement, Allison Lowry (Claire Danes, Stardust), who quickly discovers that Babbage is obsessed with his job. And that job ain't very fun. He monitors hundreds of sexual offenders who are on parole in his jurisdiction. Allison goes with Erroll on many calls to check up on his "flock" of offenders and learns that he is in desperate need of retirement. But Erroll is good at his job even if his methods aren't. He taunts sexual predators and even has physical conflicts with them. Erroll justifies his actions by bringing up these deviants' pasts. It is this "good justification" that challenges the audience on some level, letting us see how brutal Erroll is and yet how out-of-touch he's become (by being too close to his job).
When a teenage girl goes missing in Erroll's "area", he immediate leaps to the conclusion that she was abducted by one of his flock. But how could he know? Is Erroll that good at his job? Allison challenges him and Erroll pushes back. Their battles become as fierce as Erroll's need to find this missing girl.
Although the set-up for the story was okay, it didn't have any umpf! I will give credit to Richard Gere, however, who plays the Erroll character very well. Battling retirement. Worried about everyone who's near his flock. Disgusted with those he's responsible for overseeing. Disgusted with himself for having to do some of things he does. Quite a change in character portrayal for Gere. But beyond him there's not much else. Some of the sets are okay (dark and dangerous) but there are so many other problems as to be laughable.
I'll be the first to admit that suspending disbelief is a requirement whenever watching films. But that suspension has limits. The biggest push against those limits is the destruction of EXTREMELY vital crime scenes. Someone as meticulous as Erroll would KNOW that moving a body would be a huge no-no. Or trampling through a crime scene. Or moving evidence. It went beyond and hurt the film to no end.
The other damaging part of this film is that we never get into Clair Danes' character, Allison. She's almost dropped by the wayside at the end of the film and we're never privy to what her intension might be: Will she stay or leave? Will she end up like Erroll if she does stay?
This isn't a horrible film as it does touch on some uncomfortable moral ground, but the story as a whole needed to be tightened up.
P.S. The fact that this movie went straight to DVD and didn't get air time at cinemas in the U.S. is pretty telling. As is the fact that only three other reviews are up here at Amazon.com at the time of my posting.
The Wolf in the Fold June 24, 2009
The JuRK (Our Vast, Cultural Desert)
There are almost as many things to really like in this movie as much as there are things to be repulsed by and to dislike.
The best thing it has going for it is a terrific performance from Richard Gere. One of my guilty pleasures is THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES, not because it's a great movie but I'm from that area and knew about the Mothman--and a really good performance from Richard Gere (for an off-the-wall supernatural movie that never quite gels, he gives a sincere depiction of grief and obsession that transcends the material).
In THE FLOCK, he's the burned-out monitor to his "flock," his workload of sex offenders he has to keep tabs on. He's done it for so long that he feels he can even sense when they're going to go "off the reservation" and commit more sex crimes. And if he thinks that, he doesn't mind stomping them into the dirt. Obviously, a very tightly-wound character who may or may not be someone to admire.
But that's the thing about this movie: I think a lot of people will be conflicted at one point or another.
Would anyone have a problem with Gere's character physically assaulting sex offenders for the entire movie? Is he a monster for abusing his power for keeping them "in line"? Are any of them truly rehabilitated? One genuinely evil character will leave wondering after the climax. This is a movie that gives you a glimpse into deviant sex...and leaves you to wonder if it turns you on.
I like all of these elements to a good sexual thriller.
But there were things that I wasn't so crazy about. I had a hard time believing that Claire Danes could take over his job. There were too many times that she appeared as a damsel in distress, especially in this line of work! The thriller structure was a little obvious toward the end but I'm not sure what else they could do with it.
All in all, THE FLOCK is worth seeing if you like movies like THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and SEVEN (successful) or 8MM (not-so-successful). Dark, thoughtful, interesting. Something that makes you look inside your own little tastes and kinks, if you have any.
Do you?
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