''Echelon Conspiracy'' (also released as ''The Gift'') is a 2009 American

action Action may refer to: * Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person * Action principles the heart of fundamental physics * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video gam ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by

Greg Marcks Greg Marcks (born August 12, 1976) is an American director and screenwriter of motion pictures. Early life Marcks grew up in the town of Chelmsford, Massachusetts and attended Chelmsford High School. He studied creative writing at Carnegie Mel ...

, from a screenplay by Michael Nitsberg and Kevin Alyn Elders. It stars

Shane West Shannon Bruce Snaith (born June 10, 1978), better known as Shane West, is an American actor, singer and songwriter. He is known for his portrayal of Eli Sammler in the ABC family drama ''Once and Again'', Landon Carter in '' A Walk to Remember' ...

Edward Burns Edward Fitzgerald Burns (born January 29, 1968) is an American actor and filmmaker. He rose to fame with '' The Brothers McMullen'' (1995), his low-budget independent film that became successful worldwide. His other film appearances include '' ...

Ving Rhames Irving Rameses Rhames ( ; born May 12, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying IMF Agent Luther Stickell in the Mission: Impossible (film series), ''Mission: Impossible'' film series (1996–2025) and crime boss Marsellus Wal ...

Jonathan Pryce Sir Jonathan Pryce (born John Price; 1 June 1947) is a Welsh actor. He is known for his performances on stage and in film and television. He has received numerous awards, including two Tony Awards and two Laurence Olivier Awards as well as nom ...

Tamara Feldman Amara Zaragoza (born December 5, 1980), known by her stage name Tamara Feldman, is an American actress. Career Feldman is known for playing Marybeth Dunston in the horror film ''Hatchet'' (2006) and for her roles in the television series ''Smallv ...

, and

Martin Sheen Ramón Gerard Antonio Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. His work spans over six decades of television and film, and his accolades include three Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and ...

. The film was theatrically released in the United States by

After Dark Films After Dark Films was an American independent film production and distribution company founded by Courtney Solomon and Allan Zeman in 2006. History The company is the organizer for the annual independent horror film festival ''After Dark Horro ...

on February 27, 2009, and was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

in the United States by

Paramount Home Entertainment Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, originally Paramount Home Video, and operating as the namesake film studio since 2022) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures. The division oversees Para ...

on July 21, 2009.

Plot

Max (

), a young American computer engineer, acquires an unreleased mobile phone that receives strange text messages. First, they encourage him to miss his flight which crashes soon after takeoff. Then the messages direct him to buy a certain stock, which increases by 313%. The messages direct him to a hotel and casino in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

to gamble. Instructed by the phone to play a certain

slot machine A slot machine, fruit machine (British English), poker machine or pokie (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. A slot machine's standard layout features a screen disp ...

, he wins a €100,000 jackpot, then is instructed to bet the entire amount on a hand of

blackjack Blackjack (formerly black jack or ''vingt-un'') is a casino banking game. It is the most widely played casino banking game in the world. It uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as " twenty-one ...

, which he wins. In the hotel after exiting the casino, Max has an altercation with Kamila (

) and her jealous boyfriend in a hallway. He is knocked unconscious, and his mysterious phone is apparently scanned. Max wakes up with Kamila and asks her out for a drink. To further his newfound career in gambling, Max enlists the aid of a Russian cabbie/apparent e-gadget enthusiast, Yuri (Sergey Gubanov), who outfits him with a text-to-voice earpiece to wirelessly receive his anonymous and lucrative text messages. He then hits the €3 million jackpot on a slot machine but runs away when

casino security Casino security refers to the measures that are taken at casinos to protect the establishment's money, property and patrons. The security protects the casino and its customers from violent crime, theft, and other inappropriate behavior. Given t ...

led by John Reed (

) attempts to detain him.

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

Agent Dave Grant (

) interrupts the chase and handcuffs Max to interrogate him about the phone. Frightened, Max is unable to provide any information. At this point, Agent Grant contacts Raymond Burke (

) of the US

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and proces ...

(NSA), apparently monitoring Max because of messages he has been receiving are from an omniscient communication

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...

computer system known as

Echelon Echelon may refer to: * A level formation ** A level or rank in an organization, profession, or society ** A military sub-subunit smaller than a company but larger than a platoon ** Echelon formation, a step-like arrangement of units * ECHELO ...

. These messages have been responsible for the deaths of several Americans, most recently a

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...

IT specialist. Burke recently lost a battle to pass a bill in

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

to allow Echelon to be upgraded by being uploaded into personal computers worldwide. Burke eventually decides that Max knows too much and must be eliminated; however, Reed and Kamila — revealed as Reed's associate — come to Max's aid and transport him to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. There, Max reconnects with the techie Yuri to get his help in discovering who is sending the messages. Yuri believes the messages come directly from the computer itself, and that the system has somehow become

self-aware In philosophy, self-awareness is the awareness and reflection of one's own personality or individuality, including traits, feelings, and behaviors. It is not to be confused with consciousness in the sense of qualia. While consciousness is b ...

and autonomous. Max and Reed don't agree but flee when more armed men arrive at Yuri's apartment. A car chase through Moscow ensues. The chase ends with Reed outmaneuvering and destroying the pursuing vehicles led by Agent Grant, who escapes injury. Grant begins receiving threatening texts. He asks Max to help to stop Echelon. Max receives another text, instructing him to return to

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

, where he first worked as a computer security engineer. Max, Grant, and Reed all fly home on a military aircraft. After arrival, the group finds a sealed

bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...

-like building with a cache of network servers and a high-end computer system that Max helped install years earlier and is revealed to belong to another victim of Echelon's messages — the same person whose credit card was used to send Max the phone. Max starts up the bunker's computer and is instructed via text to activate the servers to enable Echelon to download itself into the bunker's computers. It plans to replicate itself across the worldwide network. Grant calls Burke at the NSA to inform him; nonetheless, Burke wants the Echelon in the global network in the interests of US national security. Meanwhile, Max fails to stop Echelon's replication countdown, until he takes the idea of using the computer self-learning ability. Max asks the computer about its primary purpose, and it replies that it aims to defend the US as defined by the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

. Max asks the computer to search for threats to the Constitution. A lot of articles appear concerned about the recent attempts to secure Congressional approval to upgrade Echelon, underlined as a grave threat to personal freedoms. When the download is complete, Echelon shuts itself down, having understood that it is a threat to both the US and the world due to the potential of misusage by those that control it. Grant and Reed send Max and Kamila to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

while Burke is

subpoena A subpoena (; also subpœna, supenna or subpena) or witness summons is a writ issued by a government agency, most often a court, to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of ...

ed to appear before the

Senate Intelligence Committee The United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (sometimes referred to as the Intelligence Committee or SSCI) is dedicated to overseeing the United States Intelligence Community—the agencies and bureaus of the federal government of ...

for his decision that endangered the US itself. In the final scene, back in

, the techie Yuri is unveiled as a Captain in the Russian Security Service. He is commended for his actions and says they will soon start it again, but they have helped the Americans to make the right decision for the time being. "I want to believe so." he cryptically adds, turning off his mobile phone.

Cast

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, ''Echelon Conspiracy'' holds an approval rating of 0% based on 12 reviews. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, it has a weighted average score of 26 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.

Joe Leydon Joseph Patrick Michael Leydon (born August 22, 1952) is an American film critic and historian. A critic and correspondent for '' Variety'' since 1990, he is the author of ''Joe Leydon's Guide to Essential Movies You Must See'' (Michael Wiese Pro ...

of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote that the film "plays an awful lot like a direct-to-vid knockoff of last year's ''

Eagle Eye ''Eagle Eye'' is a 2008 American action thriller film directed by D. J. Caruso from a screenplay by John Glenn, Travis Adam Wright, Hillary Seitz and Dan McDermott. The film stars Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, Rosario Dawson, Michael Ch ...

''" and "ups the ante with additional pilfering from ''

WarGames ''WarGames'' is a 1983 American techno-thriller film directed by John Badham, written by Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes, and starring Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, John Wood and Ally Sheedy. Broderick plays David Lightman, a ...

''".

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * *
"Film Review: The Gift"
by Duane Byrge at ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (May 16, 2008) *

', on ''

FilmAffinity FilmAffinity is a movie recommendations website created in 2002 in Madrid, Spain, by the film critic Pablo Kurt Verdú Schumann and the programmer Daniel Nicolás. In 2016, the site listed 125,000 movies and series and had 556,000 reviews writte ...