You’d think I could get away from thinking about surveillance cameras over the weekend, wouldn’t you? It didn’t work that way a few Saturdays back. I view it as a hazard of visiting one of those huge multi-screen theaters which have become fixtures in our cities and suburbs. The one I found myself in is home to fourteen theaters!
You’d think that with fourteen films my friend and I would be able to find one we could agree on, wouldn’t you? My friend wanted to see The Artist and I didn’t. I wanted to see Hugo – in 3D, partly because the magic of the story appealed to me. And partly because I’d written an article for the Kintronics newsletter a couple of years back. I was curious to experience 3D in its most recent incarnation.
And I almost saw it - until we found out about the 3D surcharge.$11.00!!! Ouch, this called for a conference My friend had heard of Safe House, a story of a girl's search for her kidnapped sister. I went along with her choice since it wasn't silent and it wasn't black and white. So while she went to get popcorn I stood looking up at the board listing the times and theater numbers of the other films offerings . “Wow” I commented when she got back. “Safe House is playing and so is something called Silent House. People could find themselves in the wrong movie.”
After being directed to theater 5 by the ticket taker we settled into nice roomy, rocker seats with lots of leg room.
I think they provide them so you'll be relaxed and comfy while you sit through twenty minutes of previews, each louder than the preceding one.
And I almost saw it - until we found out about the 3D surcharge.$11.00!!! Ouch, this called for a conference My friend had heard of Safe House, a story of a girl's search for her kidnapped sister. I went along with her choice since it wasn't silent and it wasn't black and white. So while she went to get popcorn I stood looking up at the board listing the times and theater numbers of the other films offerings . “Wow” I commented when she got back. “Safe House is playing and so is something called Silent House. People could find themselves in the wrong movie.”
After being directed to theater 5 by the ticket taker we settled into nice roomy, rocker seats with lots of leg room.
Finally the Featured Presentation began. The camera pans in on a traffic crush that made midtown Manhattan look like Sunday Morning. Mayberry, USA. Denzel Washington emerges from the back seat of a taxi and dashes into a building. A vague memory materializes. I had seen Denzel on David Letterman recently, talking about his latest film. It was called Safe House and he played a rogue CIA agent.
I turned to my friend who was in the process of turning to me. We whispered the same sentence to each other. “We’re in the wrong movie.”
I had been correct when I surmised some people might end up in the wrong movie. I just didn’t know some people would be us. All in all though, it wasn’t a bad story and (bonus!) it provided me with an idea for this entry.
You see, the whole plot rides on surveillance cameras, or the lack thereof, and I’ll venture to wager all my worldly goods that I’m the only one in the theater who realized this right off the bat. Call it a by-product of working at Kintronics, the IP Camera Experts
You see, the whole plot rides on surveillance cameras, or the lack thereof, and I’ll venture to wager all my worldly goods that I’m the only one in the theater who realized this right off the bat. Call it a by-product of working at Kintronics, the IP Camera Experts
But back to our story.....The next scene takes us to a clandestine booth in a smoky, exotic bar. Tobin Frost (Denzel) slides in opposite a Mid-Eastern featured man. They exchange greeting and the man slips a microchip into Frost's outstretched hand. Frost goes into a stall in the men’s room, fits the microchip into in a small ampule, and somehow injects it into his thigh. I can’t be more specific because I had my eyes closed.
He returns to the table downs the last of his drink and the two men leave and get into a BMW. Within seconds shots are fired, his cohort slumps over the wheel and Frost is left to steer from the passenger seat, serpenting through oncoming traffic in the heart of Cape Town South Africa. Just when you wonder how much bouncing and whorly-gigging one car can take, he pulls up in front of the United States consulate and sprints in, escaping the danger. ( foreign danger, that is.)
He returns to the table downs the last of his drink and the two men leave and get into a BMW. Within seconds shots are fired, his cohort slumps over the wheel and Frost is left to steer from the passenger seat, serpenting through oncoming traffic in the heart of Cape Town South Africa. Just when you wonder how much bouncing and whorly-gigging one car can take, he pulls up in front of the United States consulate and sprints in, escaping the danger. ( foreign danger, that is.)
From there he is escorted, by a cadre of high ranking CIA internal affairs interrogators, to a CIA safe house out in the boondocks of the South African countryside. The agents can't believe their good fortune. The famed Tobin Frost has dropped into their laps. Matt Weston, played by Ryan Reynolds, is the bored rookie “house keeper” who is eager for a "guest" after twelve months as a virtual hermit. He enters a string of passwords into the control panel and grants entry to his visitors. But he barely gets a glimpse as they rush the legendary Frost, handcuffed and hooded, past him, and into a room outfitted with a two way mirror.
“Turn off the surveillance cameras,” the head honcho tells him.
“Which ones?” he asks.
“All of them” comes the barked response.
(Uh-oh, I think, but keep it to myself)
The next scene reveals why they’ve turned them off. Water boarding, even the domestic variety isn’t something they want captured on film. Well, wouldn’t you just know it. Just as Tobin Frost is going down for the third time, all hell breaks loose. Alarms buzz, bells ring, sirens sound amidst explosions and general chaos. Frost’s pursuers are breaking in.
Head torturer sticks his head out from the two way mirror. “What the hell?” he yells “Where are the surveillance cameras?”
“You told me to turn them off,” Weston reminds him.
“Re-boot!” he’s commanded.
(Oh no, I think, rebooting’s gonna take a while. But still I remain mum.)
And so while the system is rebooting, the pursuing assassins succeed in slaughtering everyone present except for…………
……. You guessed it ….. Frost, and oh yes, Weston who now has assumed the role of Frost’s pursuer.
These two in turn are pursued by the original pursuers. And so it goes, the whole plot turns on that flawed decision. They turned off the IP cameras.
Don’t let this happen to you. Keep your IP camera system up and running.And come to Kintronics with any questions you may have. www.kintronics.comThese two in turn are pursued by the original pursuers. And so it goes, the whole plot turns on that flawed decision. They turned off the IP cameras.
