funny thing . charlie sheen and donald sutherland and sam waterston and and stephen lang have all have incredible performance . who can forget sheen a the callow naif in wall street and or sutherland a the the cynical korean war surgeon in mash . waterston and lang have both also have successful tv and film career ( law and order and kill field and de niro tribeca and etc ) . so what in the world would any of these fine actor be do in a stink bomb like this . shadow conspiracy plot of a washington coup detat be not really that bad and unoriginal maybe but not that bad . sure it be do ( seven day in may a fine film . ) and but with a little tweaking and it could still have be entertain . shadow conspiracy main problem be in the execution . early in the film sheen and political strategist extreme and ridiculously and implausibly resolve a potential public relation gaffe by blackmail a congressman . later and gunplay with lang mute hitman tear up half of what be suppose to be georgetown be explain on the news a gang war . have anyone remotely associate with this film ever live a day in washington . sheen be about 20 year too young and way way too young and to be so senior in a white house administration . sheen response to avert a political crisis be so ladened with false machismo and he look a though he attend the david hasselhoff school of act . and when be the last time gang war spread to georgetown . be talk about a section of washington where citizen vote against have a metro stop so that they could maintain their exclusivity . i agree with another reviewer that this film would have be unbearable without the fast forward button . i tap it off hbo a year ago and then take 3 separate viewing to plod through it . in summary represent don not buy this film . don not even rent this film . if you see it at blockbuster and run away as fast a you can .