andygill
16th February 2007, 14:07
After seeing the trailer and hearing the advance info on this, it sounds like another cool action/ganster thriller along the lines of lock, stock and lucky number slevin. The cast is excellent so i thought, wow, i'm in for a right treat here.
The storyline is based around a Las Vegas showman/illusionist with ties to the mafia (think Frank Sinatra) and who then gets too involved with them and has a hit put out on him by the top dons.
Its then on to see who can "whack him first" with all sorts of hitmen types coming into the mix (I liked the 3 metalheads the most!) with the FBI trying to get to him first before he is "taken out".
What I found with this film was that it tried too hard to be cool but didn't know if it was tongue in cheek with a tone of the black comedy or was actually a serious thriller. It comes across as a clash of alot of cool films all thrown into the mix to create one big mess. It had tones of True Romance, Usual Suspects, Pulp Fiction, Lock, Stock, Slevin, Casino, all these films which are cool without effort, but i think this film tried a little too hard.
Ryan Reynolds is completely different here to his usual fare, so don't expect too much wisecracking from him. Jeremy Piven does well as the target in question but not enough to make this film a classic. Any Garcia looks like he's on autopilot. Alicia Keys is pretty good on her debut, so credit to her for a job well done as the sexy hit-lady vying for the $1m payout.
6/10 from me. The shoot-out scene is good involving the elevator, but apart from that (and the daft twist) not too memorable unfortunately.
The storyline is based around a Las Vegas showman/illusionist with ties to the mafia (think Frank Sinatra) and who then gets too involved with them and has a hit put out on him by the top dons.
Its then on to see who can "whack him first" with all sorts of hitmen types coming into the mix (I liked the 3 metalheads the most!) with the FBI trying to get to him first before he is "taken out".
What I found with this film was that it tried too hard to be cool but didn't know if it was tongue in cheek with a tone of the black comedy or was actually a serious thriller. It comes across as a clash of alot of cool films all thrown into the mix to create one big mess. It had tones of True Romance, Usual Suspects, Pulp Fiction, Lock, Stock, Slevin, Casino, all these films which are cool without effort, but i think this film tried a little too hard.
Ryan Reynolds is completely different here to his usual fare, so don't expect too much wisecracking from him. Jeremy Piven does well as the target in question but not enough to make this film a classic. Any Garcia looks like he's on autopilot. Alicia Keys is pretty good on her debut, so credit to her for a job well done as the sexy hit-lady vying for the $1m payout.
6/10 from me. The shoot-out scene is good involving the elevator, but apart from that (and the daft twist) not too memorable unfortunately.