The Insurgents (2006)

The Insurgents is an indie film that looks at the issue of home grown terrorism. It stars John Shea, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Henry Simmons.

The mini series "Sleeper Cell" explored the idea of terrorists right in our midst, and did a far better job at it with a better story that really delved into this sensitive subject. In The Insurgents, we have Shea as Robert, an "out there," retired, professor who now writes books about how corrupt our government has become, and unless we destroy the whole thing and start again, it will never be right. While he needs to be locked up for the good of the rest of us, he pontificates endlessly his dribble throughout the film quoting our founding fathers out of context to further his cause. At times, I felt preached to, as the film tries to rewrite 9/11 with some revisionist history, but not offering any proof to back up its point of view.

On top of this background noise is a plot of a cell of home grown terrorists planning to get some serious attention to the cause. Unfortunately, the plot is told with more flashbacks than the Godfather series adding to the confusion. Sure, a few twists are revealed, but it is so nonsequential that it confuses more than it reveals. It brings up the issue of who can really be trusted in this type of conspiracy, but it never develops this as deeply as it should.

In short, you can skip The Insurgents without missing anything. I think they should have made this into a 9/11 conspiracy movie, and some type of pseudodocumentary because for plenty of the film that's what I felt like I was watching.

Overall Grade: D

Reviewed by Jonas