Willing Suspension of Disbelief

Movie reviews from someone who loves movies

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Hard Luck

Plot


Hoodlum attempts to go straight. Takes money from a gun deal gone bad. Is chased by bad cops and a good cop. Stumbles upon serial killers. He survives, gets the girl, the money, and his freedom.

The Good

Watchability


This is quite the watchable movie (+1) even to the point of not wanting to stop it in the middle (+1). There are no obvious technical or continuity gaffes. (+1)

Story Line


A sure sign that the director doesn’t know what to do is the voice-over at the beginning and the end. We, at once, are dropped into the chase scene from the middle of the movie. The protagonist tries to frame the plot from within this, but, it would have been much better if the framing of the movie occurred at the end. (That is, when the protagonist is held at gunpoint by the good cop, he begins to explain his very bad day, which then leads into the movie, and then ends with the good cop making the decision to let him go.) Other than this quibble, the story line, although farfetched, makes sense. (+1) The viewer won’t want to stop the movie in the middle, (+1) waiting for what will happen to the characters. (+1)
The gimmick in this movie is the multiple plot lines (criminal gone good, cops gone bad, serial killers, and the ultimate fighter) that are woven together, similar to some of the better Tarentino films. (+1) This allows the director to shoot the various plot lines differently, giving a different atmosphere to each person’s life.
For a suspense/action movie, this one has a liberal amount of humor in it, and the director knows it. The protagonist and his hostage morph into a buddy-team as the movie itself morphs into a buddy-picture. The humor helps, not only to relieve the stress the protagonist (and therefore, the viewer) is going through, but helps to transition the movie from one sub-genre to another. (+1)

Acting


The acting in this is above average. The serial killers are truly immoral and dangerous. The viewer will believe that the protagonist is trying to go legitimate, but just can’t shake his past or his old “friends.” (+1)

The Bad


There were no obvious technical issues with the film.
The violence is fast and brutal, but even the torture scenes are handled well, with most of the most egregious occurring off-screen and in the heads of the viewers.
Even for a gangster film, there is way too much exposed skin in this movie. It detracts from the story line, since the story must stop for the pole dance, the lapdance, and the hotel strip scene. (-1)
The stereotyping in this movie is very strong. The black street hustler who killed his own. The former criminal who works for an African dance troupe. The government that won’t fund dance, but will fund prisons. The Latino stripper. The cheap Jew. The Italian mobster. The dirty cop. The only good cop is black. Flaming homosexual porno producer. (-1)

The Ugly


+7: Time well spent

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home