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Somewhat frustrating film - a few good things, but overall d

Mad Max | Seattle, WA USA | 03/26/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"From the previews and the box, I believed this was a "heist" movie, or about a thief's last big score (like the Score with Edward Norton, or the Italian Job).

In fact, it was quite different. It's a "real time" movie - Val Kilmer plays a thief who is waiting in a park. He has just finished his score, and is waiting for the buyer.

Much of the movie is him on the phone, trying to locate the buyer (there is a small twist here), talking to his ex-wife, ex-girlfriend, and child on the phone. The other major focus is a little boy he meets at the park, and they form a unique relationship. And there are some flashbacks which tell us how he ended up in the park.

Overall, though, it's frustrating. First, I don't know who decided that 90 minutes of waiting in the park & talking on the phone could be exciting to watch. Second, Val Kilmer plays a dumb thief, whose personal life was in ruin. His partner (on the phone) apparently has a mental disability - and it doesn't make much sense. Not only is it hard to believe that a world class thief would have sub-par intelligence, it's painful to watch Kilmer play this role.

But most importantly, I wish these directors would understand the fatal flaws with making flashback movies - we already know that the main character survives the scene (shootout, double-cross, etc) if he's standing there narrating the flashback. So where's the suspense?

If you're a huge Val Kilmer fan, you might want to see this just for the sake of it. Also, there's a cameo by Marg Helgenberger (Catherine Willows on CSI ). Some of the scenes with the boy were mildly cute. But I can't think of too many good things to say about the film. The action here was sparse, the drama drags on ... it's all just a bit drab. Difficult and frustrating to watch."

Highly Misleading

F. Allbee | North Central Texas | 04/20/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"OK. I read the back of the DVD case. It was totally misleading. It sounded like an uplifting, man commits crime, realizes he is in error, makes things right, possibly family-friendly movie.

WRONG! The cover reads, "After the heist of his life, a thief hides out in a city park as he plans to strike a deal and unload his stole goods. There he begins an unusual friendship with a precocious boy, prompting him to reach out via phone to his ex-wife and estranged daughter, who he hopes will reunite with him now that he is about to be rich. As his business deal begins to unravel, he fights to keep the kid out of harm's way and escape to Florida to join up with his family". All of this is factually true, albeit a gloss-over of the facts.

Val Kilmer is not up to his potential. The kid, Bobb'e J. Thompson (a veteran of many movies at his young age), is cute and a pretty fair actor, he has a future in Hollywood (poor kid, I hope he doesn't end up like Danny Bonaduce or the Kids from "Different strokes", or the innumerable other childhood stars that have been ruined by Hollywood's excesses. (political commentary aside) The kid thinks he is gay (Hollywood always manages to slip that in) because he does not like girls and he was raised by a homosexual who told him he must be gay because he doesn't like the opposite sex. Turns out he doesn't like girls because they don't know how to play correctly (typical for a boy his age). Can we make a movie that isn't full of political and sexual undertones (especially where children are concerned)?

This is pretty much an orgy of foul language and gratuitous violence. I couldn't even finish the whole movie with my Kids in the room. Definitely a thumbs down."

Yikes

Daniel G. Lebryk | 04/14/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The movie opens reasonably well, Val Kilmer is chasing a guy with a brief case, yells to him, shoots him, and takes the case. He then runs away and gets attacked by 3 or 4 guys trying to steal the case back. The fight is fairly well filmed, the action is decent. Val escapes with the case. From here forward the film falls apart. We spend too much time following Kilmer's run to Echo Park. Once at the park, Kilmer makes a few phone calls from a pay phone and we are treated to an awful split screen with him and the person on the other end. There is some very sappy strings royalty free music that plays in the background. And every time the film goes into flashback, it is preceeded with a clip in 25% slowed motion. Both of these techniques are way overused and are extremely difficult to use in the most skilled hands.

Most of the film is spent with Val Kilmer walking, sitting, or phoning in the park. There's a supposed deep relationship he builds with a young boy in the park. I'm certain the director meant for this to be symbolic. The story of how Val got to this point is told in repeated flashbacks (some of the flashback events are shown more than once). There is some mystery in the story line, and for those brave souls that decide to watch this, I won't spoil the ending. Kilmer is dead man walking as the film progresses. The last 5 minutes are what elevate this film from one star stinker to a just bad two star film.

I picked this film up because I happen to like Val Kilmer and Marg Helgenberger (China Beach and CSI). It was disappointing to say the least. Marg spends most of the film behind a reception desk at some office. Her scenes are all from the exact same camera location, a one shot. It looks like they hired her for maybe 2 days - one to shoot all the reception scenes and a second to drive a car. Val Kilmer just looks sad in this film, with greased back long hair, a nasty little beard, and he's gained some weight. Age has not been kind to Mr. Kilmer, or this film was unkind to him. It's likely this is a new low for his career.

The production is just awful. Handheld camera galore. Those sad split screen and slo-motion effects. Poor sound. The shoot out at the end of the film is just so badly done. I'm guessing the director ran out of money for stunts by this time and had to go with some really lame fight scenes.

Rated R for language. There is a spicey phone call about the middle of the film that feels like a cold shower. No nudity. The violence is down right stupid.

The DVD has two audio tracks - dolby digital and stereo (no director or other commentary). There are no subtitles. The bonus features are three movie trailers.

Unless you absolutely have to own every single Val Kilmer or Marg Helgenberger films, pass on this one. It's a not so enjoyable hour and a half."

1 star is over rating it.

L. D. Lee | Elkton, MD United States | 05/26/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"This movie was painful to watch. It was boring and stupid. Very low budget-but I guess Val Kilmer can't get work since "Heat". Could not even finish the movie. The idea of going back in forth in the movie to me was just a way to use up time. Terrible, Terrible Movie"