a5c7b9f00b A new government agency with the right to domestic charter is reformed to prevent another terrorist attack in the United States. In the early morning hours of 9/11 an elite CIA team known as Echelon 3 was denied access to Logan airport by the FBI, preventing them from acting on the intelligence that could have stopped the terrorist attacks. In the aftermath of the tragedy, the Echelon 3 team undeservedly took the fall and was quickly dismantled. Ten years later, with terrorist activities on the rise, a congressional shadow government committee known only as the Keepers, is re-instating the new and improved top secret unit now known as Echelon 8. The team is granted unprecedented approval of domestic charter allowing them to monitor U.S. communications and take every action necessary to protect the United States from the next terrorist attack. Can Echelon 8 prevent history form repeating itself or will the team suffer the same fate of its predecessor? The only thing interesting about this film is the plot, which has one innovation: the super-secret, off-the books CIA team is out to protect citizens AGAINST the military-industrial complex! Now there's a new one. Acting and directing are less than convincing. Locations are low- budget. Nothing wrong with that, but I wouldn't say that this is an undiscovered gem. There is one find, however: Russell Friedenberg, who convincingly plays a rough and sinister covert operator . I would like to see more of him. <br/><br/>There were enough loose ends to make one think it was intended as a pilot for a series. It has an interesting concept, and a series could work with better direction. We are left wondering whether the "Keepers" are the secret overseers of the CIA detail or the secret, conspiratorial rich guys, who they are trying to get. Anyway, the major bad guy gets away in the end, so it sets up at least a sequel. It is 2001. A secret government group is investigating something, and one of the agents has had to abandon his apartment because people were sent there to kill him.<br/><br/>It is obvious that before long this movie will reference September 11 in some way. And yes, we see some of the concepts familiar to those who paid attention to the investigation. Someone, for example, wants to learn how to fly but not how to take off or land.<br/><br/>Just before that terrible day, our heroes have figured out what is going to happen and are well on their way to stopping it. Early on that morning, they arrive at Boston's Logan Airport all set to stop the perpetrators. One solution would be to stop all flights, which seems impossible, but recall that George W. Bush was able to stop all commercial air traffic in the country a few hours later. But it doesn't matter. An FBI agent ejects our heroes from the building, and we all know what happened then.<br/><br/>Ten years later, the team is back together as a unit called Echelon 8. And they have a crisis even bigger than September 11, in terms of the total number of dead, even though it won't all happen at once. If they don't figure out what to do in time, the results will be disastrous. If they do stop the villains this time, they will at least partially redeem themselves for their failure years earlier.<br/><br/>There is plenty of excitement, and the potential for dire consequences if they mess up any of the many complicated steps in reaching the goal.<br/><br/>It's a pretty standard action thriller, and no one seemed familiar, so I didn't have that as a reason to enjoy the movie. I don't really remember standout performances.<br/><br/>But it's an interesting way to pass the time, I suppose.
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