Conspiracy Theory

Conspiracy Theory is an action-driven thriller starring Mel Gibson as the paranoid taxi driver Jerry Fletcher, who sees conspiracy theories everywhere. Jerry publishes a newsletter called Conspiracy Theory, which has five subscribers! Jerry regularly seeks out the young government lawyer Alice Sutton to convince her of one theory or another, but she becomes convinced that one of Jerry's theories actually has something to it when Jerry is suddenly hunted by unknown powers within the state apparatus -- after all, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean nobody's after you!

Conspiracy Theory makes the mistake of constantly suggesting that one of Jerry's theories has touched a sore spot, and it makes no effort to dispel this impression, which confused me. Jerry's ideas have nothing to them, but it turns out that he himself is a victim of abuse of power and inhumane research. The villainous Dr Jonas once experimented with turning people into robots who carried out every order, even murder. Jerry was one of these 'research subjects'. Jerry's memory is coming back. Is that what Dr Jonas fears? At any rate, Jerry and Alice have more in common than they immediately realise.

Mel Gibson always does well as a man on the verge of madness, and there is pep and humour in Donner's direction, but there are too many loose ends. So the beginning is promising, but the film does not keep it up.