Control Factor (TV Movie 2003) Poster

(2003 TV Movie)

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2/10
Poor even for a B-movie
nitedrive7328 August 2006
I just couldn't find it in myself to be even the slightest bit touched or intrigued by this movie.It's plain ridiculous,poorly made(no one has to add it had a tight budget,that's pretty obvious) and lacks nerve. The basic plot is based on the average conspiracy theory,a man living a seemingly good and fulfilling life with a well-paid job,pretty wife and a roomy,probably pricey apartment suddenly realize nothing is what he believed it was. After a particularly traumatic incident at work,he takes the day after off to recuperate. Then things happen,in short.He must solve the mystery,do something,escape,find out what's going on.Voices appear to be talking to him from inside his head,manipulating him to consider actions he never dreamed of performing.Who's behind this? Or is he just becoming mentally ill?Well...I don't know what else to say about it.I just found myself sneering when watching it,no shivers,tension or excitement whatsoever. Can't recommend it to anyone looking for something else than a good laugh,well maybe if you're suffering from insomnia and the pills your doc prescribed won't work.I can appreciate a good B-movie,but this just isn't.
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2/10
I'd rather watch Showgirls backwards
svens-127 January 2007
The idea for this script was really original. I mean would have been if it had been made in the 1950's. If you're going to make a government mind-control conspiracy film, you've got to make it more interesting than this crap. It's been done before, and it's been done a hell of a lot better.

In summation: the idea was unoriginal, the script was poor, the acting was fine but uninspiring, and I feel as if the time spent watching this film would have been better spent sorting my navel fluff. It's beyond me how anyone that's ever seen a conspiracy-film before could give this film a good grade. In fact, I'm tempted to believe that there's mind control involved.
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7/10
Good variation on a popular theme
luzgannon31 December 2005
Another variation on the popular mind control theme, and a good one, with a strong expressionist leaning in kind of a somewhat De-Palma-esquire style. Emphasis on action and suspense amplified by a battery of artful shooting tricks.

The story is simple, but good enough. Excellent photo and sequencing, nice acting by Baldwin and Berkley in their not very difficult roles, some good surprises. Flawless job, a bit thin, a bit unrealistic, no masterpiece, but a show of professional craftsmanship a good measure above average. And - Elizabeth Berkleys nice look IS an asset to count on - after all, movies a-r-e for watching, aren't they?

So, the technically high quality of the film makes it an effective opportunity to meditate on the philosophy of Free Will, and on it's political implications. There are no obstacles for the engaged watchers to supply some subtleties themselves by creative reflection. This good entertainment does not lack substance.
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7/10
Hard scifi NOT for the masses!
MrD_scifi1 December 2007
I've been having an ongoing conversation with a friend of mine who has conflicting comments about specific episodes of Stargate Atlantis when the rare gems of hard scifi scripts appear. This film is like one of those episodes.

It is rare to see a good script turned into something with stars, cash and the promotion behind it. This particular Baldwin is most definitely a blockbuster actor and I don't feel the 'family curse' extends to him. With more money you might feel this movie could be right up there on the billboards. Unfortunately it is hard scifi and the masses wouldn't cope with it. They want the softer, soapier stories and if that is what gets the blanket scifi genre out there as a viable product, so be it.

But every so often, there comes a tvseries or film that gives us hard scifi fans so much enjoyment that we collect together and make our views known. This film has its faults. The soundtrack feels separated from the lacking environmental sounds, the ending seems a bit rushed. There are many things that could be done better and a lot of these things appear to be to do with camera angles/direction and timings of specific shots/scenes.

We don't say everyone must immediately watch this or that DVD. We are here however unanimous in saying, "Control Factor is a gem of a movie for the hard scifi crowd and not to be missed even with its faults!"
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10/10
An Outstanding B-Movie
claudio_carvalho14 May 2005
Lance Bishop (Adam Baldwin) is a common thirty-three years old American citizen, married with his beloved wife Karen (Elizabeth Berkley) and working in an insurance company. When a deranged shooter invades the building where Lance works, and shoots killing and hurting some colleagues of Lance, the guy tries to kill him and tells that he is saving Lance from a horrible destiny. Soon Bishop has nightmares and his life changes when he discovers what is the cause of his bad dreams.

This is the beginning of one of the best science-fiction movies I have recently seen. The plot contains elements of "They Live", "Total Recall", "X-Files" and "Matrix" and is very engaging. I really do not understand the unfair IMDb User rating of 4.6 for such an outstanding B-movie. Fortunately I bought this VHS without seeing this ridiculous quotation. The story, of a government agency controlling the hearts and souls of the population, in an experiment aimed "to increase the productivity of the workers, control the criminality and even the elections", is spectacular. I can not write much more about this intriguing story, because the mystery deserves to be disclosed and appreciated by the viewer. I really liked this movie a lot, all the team (director, writer, cast, producer, crew etc.) deserves a congratulation and my vote is ten for such a wonderful and magnificent surprise.

Title (Brazil): "O Controle da Mente" ("The Mind Control")

Note: On 26 September 2015, I saw this film again.
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7/10
A more Earthy remake of They
siderite17 February 2006
The film is a low budget one and no amount of acting could have saved it. Adam Baldwin does a fair job, Elisabeth Berkley... well, I never liked her, Tony Todd is amazingly old in this movie, I've always liked him, but in this film he is not that great. One can even recognize John Neville, in his usual god-like role.

However, it did manage to keep me on edge, mostly because it is such an outrageous concept. Once you dared put yourself in the same place with the main character you cannot but wonder "what if this is really happening?". You won't get the answer from a movie, but I know enough to know that it is definitely possible.

In the end, if you get over the disgusting racial issue of the "black posse", you ignore the religious babble that seems to infect the movie ending and you try to cope with the bad acting of some people, you get a reasonable movie.

Oh yeah, nearly forgot, cell phones are NOT the enemy! I need my cell towers! :)
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7/10
Decent thriller
JasperX20 January 2003
caught this one night on the sciFi channel and was surprised. they usually have some bad stuff but this one was actually good for a change. if you like conspiracy kinds of things that are paranoid you'll dig it. acting was decent and the story had some unusual twists. elizabeth berkley is still nice to look at all these years after showgirls!
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10/10
Closer to the truth than known
terencevasa8 January 2010
Warning: Spoilers
I have just recently watched this film and was shocked how accurate the film is. The secret services have been conducting tests like these on innocent victims for several decades These victims (targeted individuals) known as TI's have suffered in silence afraid to speak about there torture due to being labelled mentally ill after all how can it be proved. The only thing that happens that is different from real life attacks is the nose bleeds as far as i know victims don't get them. its a undetectable and evil form of torture and those responsible are the low life of all human kind. I would love to know would research was put in to the film and where he got it from as films etc like this are a step forward in stopping these crimes. congratulations to the people that made this film is of the highest order though i wish there was some sort of website related to the film so i can find out further info. Most people that don't like this film probably don't realise how truthful the film is nether the less a great film in my opinion.
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8/10
Terrifying
skoyles22 July 2007
I decided to record this movie when it appeared on the Space channel only because I noted that its lead was Adam Baldwin, an actor whose work I enjoy more each time I see him. I had not counted on discovering a disturbing, even frightening, vision of conspiracy. With the ever reliable Tony Todd and John Neville as well as the surprising talent of the lovely Elizabeth Berkley, this film was a definite winner. This is true horror, of the variety of the first Matrix movie with overtones of X-Files or of Conspiracy Theory. I found myself caring about the characters and experiencing that eye-widening fearful tension of watching an average man caught in a strange and hopeless situation. Kudos to the writer, director and actors. Truly a gem of a motion picture.
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10/10
This Movie Requires Some Historical Background to fully Enjoy
parhat27 January 2008
This movie required some background that has to be understood to grasp the full implication that this can be done in the United States. The actual Mind Control Experiments began with the using microwave radiation is actually being used under the United States project called "Operation Crimson Mist", which killed over a million people directed against a sovereign nation of Africa, Rwanda. The method of mind control was done by the United States hidden in an unmarked C-130 Hercules Airplane under the guise of "atmospheric researchers" of what was to be become one of the most deadly mind control experiments in history. Following the assassination of the then President of Rwanda, under the guise of a simple assassination, the Hercules plane began on 6th of April 1994. This information is verifiable. The method of transmitting synthetic telepathy is done two ways, one by electrical stimulation, using patented Dr. Patrick Flanagan's neurophone technology, the second newer more sinister, microwave signals, where the information to send data to communicate to the brain occurs between 0.1 Hz to 8 Hz, a carrier signals of microwave radiation between 1-3.0 Gigahertz, when this signal combines you get a "voices" that speak in your mind. For those unbelievers, the technology of using electrical signals is now declassified and deaf people can now "hear sounds" or hear voices using neurophone technology, but these very same signals maybe projected using microwave signals as part of mind control experiments, basically as part of the overall goals by New World Order of population control. It's no coincidence that even U.N. has ultimate goal of population control too. The experiments in Rwanda lead to a death of at least 500,000 deaths at the beginning, where later deaths mounted into a million. Hence with this background in mind, I hope you will enjoy the movie when this experiments is furthered into a domestic home of Mr. Lance Bishop, an insurance manager, being a victim of mind control, where their objectives were to control population behavior, but more precisely, a hidden control to control "votes", which if those in power can get this kind of guarantee, who wouldn't in for those in power NOT be interested in mass mind control? Enjoy the movie - its one of the very few that knew the background, but this information was just missing from such an enjoyable movie, at least for conspiracy buffs such as myself. You may further research this on Rwanda "Operation Crimson Mist" or take a more look on the deaths, in the movie, "Hotel Rwanda". In case you are wondering who were the powers that be on Rwanda, it's usually the CIA, and they have done that in Project Tuskagee, against its own population too. For a conspiracy theory buffs, I am sure you will enjoy it!
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8/10
Cool sci-fi thriller
Woodyanders26 July 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Affable everyman insurance agent Lance Bishop (a lively and engaging performance by Adam Baldwin) discovers that he's the unwitting subject of a nefarious mind control experiment being conducted by some shady secret government agency. Assisted by angry ghetto resident Reggie (a typically fine Tony Todd), Lance becomes determined to expose said evil plot to a blithely ignorant and apathetic outside world. Director Nelson McCormick, working from an absorbing script by John Dombrow, relates the compelling story at a constant brisk pace, builds a good deal of tension, creates a suitably edgy and paranoid atmosphere, and further spruces things up with a galvanizing flashy and glossy hopped-up style. Better still, there's a strong and provocative central theme about fate vs. free will, the narrative delivers a couple of genuinely surprising twists, and the whole thing bravely concludes on an effectively ambiguous and ambivalent note. The sturdy acting helps a lot: Baldwin makes for a sympathetic protagonist, Todd does well in his role, Elizabeth Berkley is likewise excellent as Lance's lovely wife Karen, Conrad Dunn contributes a memorably slimy turn as slippery agent Thrillkill, and John Neville has a neat bit as the sinister director who runs the operation. Rudolf Blahacek's slick, fluid, and agile cinematography gives the picture impressively sleek look. Pete Kreser's moody and elegant score also hits the spot. A nice little movie.
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8/10
world control
Costiputza19 May 2009
It's a remarkable movie not by realization (could be better) but for ideas, as in Matrix 1, Truman Show, Das Experiment, 1984, etc. In my opinion one of the best and also with a good idea to start, we know they will always try to subdue us and forcing us working without freedom, or the possibilities of even think something against the regime. But also we must know that if we don't react every time our freedom is broken, we will finish being slaves. We are partially but not 100%, they want 100%, they don't accept less, but something more, they even want that we must be grateful towards them for the chance of working until death for corporations, greed, money, or power of leaders. Think about this when the age of retirement will become 70 years old or over. The meaning is for most of us starting to work at 20 or less we must fulfill 50 years of working and for majority hard working, just to have the right to stop finally at 70 (if in life then) and hopping few years to enjoy the loans, the home buy ed in 50 years or more, the divorce because the lack of time or too much stress provoked by job, the death of someone loved because lack of money or lack of social security, trying to forget drug or alcohol problems caused also by the job and many many more, finally thinking is there a little percent left until 100% or we are already there with factor or no factor control. The most important factor control nowadays is not the microwave, but the money seeing the financial crisis now is not such incredible thing, doesn't it? It's enough to think back how often crises was, what reasons for wars was, for military intervention, for cold war, you name it, but most of it just think who get a use of this? Because we, the normal, poor peoples with normal problems (could say daily problems not provoked by acquisition of a new yacht, or a new mistress) we have nothing to win au contraire. And who then, maybe the banks (just an element of taking profit of all trades) the oligarchies, the governments, the key persons of worldwide organizations, corporates ones? In conclusion a must see movie with a cold water douche effect. Waakeeeeeeeeee uuuuuuuuuuuup!
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10/10
Damn nice movie of the week...
vidalsdauphin31 January 2004
Control Factor is one of those films that makes you wonder. "What if a big name director took this project under their wing?" I asked myself. Sadly that didn't happen but what the resulting film still makes one of the best movie of the weeks i've ever seen. Nelson did a great job with the budget and the movie turned out to be a quickly paced thriller that has an actual theme (sadly unlike most of Sci Fi channels "saturday action" originals.) Adam Baldwin, Tony Todd and Elizabeth Berkley did a wonderful job and their was not a bad role acting wise in the entire movie. While the movie lacked some action (probably due to it's tight budget) it did provide some bang, a few nice visuals and was compelling right up until the end. In the end if your looking for a decent sci-fi thriller and this is on, your search has ended.
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10/10
One of the best movies i've lately seen
ckynet21 July 2005
The movie contains a lot of surprises and a lot of stressful moments. One of the best seen lately on the TV. I recommend it to everyone =)) The actors were chosen well, too, I think. The idea of the movie is really interesting, I think... but the best is how it is presented - when i read a short description i thought this will be the usual American "thriller" with nothing interesting in it (like Boogeyman). But lately it turned out to be almost as good as one of the best movies in my scale, The Butterfly effect. O.K. Not that good, but for a TV movie - I give the 10 points and say that the movie is excellent. For some it may seem a bit too sweet... but i think it was OK cause the action was chosen very well. Thank you, authors, for such a nice film.
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10/10
An absolutely amazing film
eliz721219 January 2003
This film was reminiscent of the film (I think it was called They Live) starring Rowdy Roddy Piper and the plot of that film was that aliens are controlling the thought processes of humankind by a transmitter high on top of a building. Well, in this film there aren't any aliens. This time it's our own government that is controlling our thought processing. I won't give away any plot details but I will tell you this. Whoever wrote the screenplay did a superb job. This film makes you wonder and keep guessing as to what will happen. I'm almost at the end of the film and I can't wait to get back, it's that good. So watch it on the Sci-fi channel. Enjoy -Melody
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9/10
This movie is not so much sci-fi, this stuff is real (for the most part)
imdbtruth4 June 2015
Warning: Spoilers
"Targeted individuals" is a real thing... Most of the technology shown in the movie is not only real technology, it's very old technology developed by the DARPA and the CIA... Now I doubt they have guns that can make you freeze in place while they "change your implant"... I also don't believe that this type of mind control is being done in mass quantities as it was in the movie, but it's estimated that there are about 3000 "targeted individuals" being experimented on at any given time... This supposedly includes all sorts of weird stuff like moving all your furniture while you're out, "neighbors" who are in on it will spread vicious and untrue rumors about you, "strangers" will conspire against you to make you look like a crazy fool in public, and at the worst possible moment, etc, etc... But usually they use some sort of "ELF weapon"...

That "heart attack gun" in the movie, that's a very real weapon developed by the CIA 40 years ago! This was made public by the CIA's own congressional testimony in the late 1970's. Also made public around that time was the CIA's MK ULTRA program, in this program the CIA used drugs such as LSD and other more horrific forms of mind control against the will of their subjects... One of their objectives was to attempt to create mindless assassins...

"Voices in your head".... This could be done on a massive scale using the HAARP station in Alaska, but HAARP can also pinpoint its targets... To be fair, HAARP can also be used for a slew of other things, some of which are cool and useful, while others are extremely evil and even deadly... I've seen videos where this technology is demonstrated on a small scale using easily obtainable items, the sound is transmitted via microwaves, and is not audible to the ear, but rather it actually sounds like it's in your head...

The "Navy yard shooter" from a couple years back is an interesting story that some think points to mind control... Those who believe there was a conspiracy will point to the fact that the gun they took off the shooter had "My ELF Weapon" written on it... "ELF" stands for "extremely low frequency" which is the type of microwaves used in mind-control and other ELF weapons...

It has long been rumored that in the first Iraq war, the US deployed a "Voice of God" weapon... This reportedly caused all Iraqi soldiers on the front-line to hear the voice of "Allah" in their heads, the voice told them to disassemble their weapons and surrender peacefully, and so they did...

Think what you want, but we are all under various forms of mind control, some more than others... And if you don't think you're a victim, then I hope you don't own a TV, because that's the worst enemy the human mind has ever known...

For the record, "copper or tin hats" will not stop these types of weapons, but they will interfere with the waves and make them less effective... This is why no matter what subject, if it involves conspiracy, some idiot will tell the guy to "go get his tin foil hat"...

If they were already using a freaking "heart attack gun" in the 1970's, how mind boggling is it to imagine what horrors they might have created in the past 40 years! Equally as scary, we have to assume that many other countries also posses these weapons...

This movie was great overall! Acting was pretty good all around... The story was thought provoking... This movie goes pretty hard against the new world order and their military industrial complex! This might be the best "B Movie" I've ever seen! I might be a little harder on it if it were an "A-list" movie, but either way, this movie is not to miss1
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8/10
Freaky
defcon_dude21 January 2003
I guess I've always been a sucker for movies like the Matrix where everything's weird and you don't know what's going on. This seems to be an attempt at that and for the most part it works. I can't say I'm very familiar with Adam Baldwin (is he a Baldwin brother?) but he seemed to do a good job with his part. And I was surprised to see Elizabeth Berkeley actually get to act for a change and not just take off her clothes. I guess they didn't have a very big budget because it isn't really about action as much as figuring out what's going on. There's a nice twist about midway into it that caught me totally by surprise. Also an interesting ending that - gasp! - tries to say something.
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9/10
Really great acting
kenhe21 February 2005
Warning: Spoilers
Control Factor had great acting, not just the main players, but the supporting cast as well. And in spite of the obvious fact that this movie contained elements of various other popular movies, like the Matrix, and even the really great movie Total Recall, it still stood on its own. I had to laugh at some the gimmicks like the baseball caps the protagonists used to repel the government transmitted mind controlling radio waves. THAT brought to mind the fabled tin foil helmets that unstable people are alleged to wear to prevent aliens from mentally controlling them. I watched this movie twice, mainly to enjoy it and it's credibility, but also to concentrate on the technical aspects, how the director managed to keep the several plot lines in operation simultaneously, and still maintain the viewers interest. Adam Baldwin was really gave a great performance, advancing from innocent bystander, to confused victim, and finally to effective leader. I have recommended this movie to all my friends, and will continue to do so. Controlling Factor was to my mind a much better action, sci-fi, and psychological thriller than many other more popular and probably more expensively produced movies.
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10/10
Excellent movie
myrella-ivan17 September 2014
I hesitated to see the movie because of that 5.1 from IMDb.com (but it is not the first time when the note is far below the quality of a movie - maybe they can do something about it). Surprisingly, it's an excellent film and the acting is very good. Adam Baldwin, as always, a wonderful actor, sustains very well the lead role. I still do not understand why he has not more leading roles in which he can show his true value. The actress who plays the wife sustains very well her character. The whole action is entertaining.Although there are some aspects and parts of the plot who does not run very well, on the whole it's a very good movie, For my part, I give the maximum evaluation.
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8/10
Will I like this movie?
antcasq20 February 2005
Normally I watch 1 or 2 movies in the weekend, but most of them are crap!

I think that most of the movie lovers feel or might start to feel that watching a good movie it's just like winning the lottery. So I would like to offer you the right ticket.

Without spoiling anything I just like to say/write that I'm sure that you will be pleased with this movie if you liked "Equilibrium" or "Paychek". What about the people that haven't seen any of the movies above? They just have to see one. If you like it, see the other two, otherwise skip them!

Last advice: Don't haste you time on Hollywood crap, just because some movie own Oscars!
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10/10
best film I've ever seen
sabf22 May 2006
i saw this film not long after it was released when it came on sky and I've been looking for this film ever since i couldn't get it out of my head (lol), i only just found it. i had seen it but i couldn't remember the name of it everything that happens in the film i could tell you but not the name. its got a brilliant storyline and i thought it was great the action was good. anyone who watches this film will have a hard job to forget it. if your looking for a film which is unusual then you have found it. i have never seen a film before with a story line quite like this one. definitely one to watch best film I've ever seen but because i didn't know who the actors were I've had a hard job finding it.
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