Film Review – DReager1.com (2024)

It’s time for a film about how crime doesn’t pay. It’s a pretty fun story with a unique setup. You have an Irish gang trying to steal money from the government and from that point on everything gets a little crazy. The writing is solid and I enjoyed all of the characters. The villains were good in their roles and the cops definitely did a good job on their end. In a sense both factions got to have half of the movie although the point of view is always from the villains and heroine. It’s a film that has good pacing and replay value.

The movie starts by explaining to us that the leader of this gang is a guy named Johnny but he’s been in jail for a long time. After he returned, he spent 6 months hiding out in a house and so the rest of the group is thinking that maybe he has gone soft. Johnny is even talking about how perhaps violence isn’t the answer so jail really has changed him quite a lot. Still, Johnny refuses to step aside and still leads the mission. This goes very poorly due to Johnny freezing at the end and so he ends up falling out of the car and a policeman dies. Now the gang is really on the hot seat. Can they find Johnny or even escape with their lives at this point? Once you down a police officer, the heat absolutely multiplies several times over.

First off, Johnny should take a significant amount of heat for everything that happens in the film. When you really think about it, the guy was not ready to get back into the fold. I admire his enthusiasm and everything but he should have recognized that. Getting dizzy and messing everyone up is what caused someone to be dead. The plan would have went off without a hitch otherwise. There’s also not much point in talking about ethics and everything when you are still going to go ahead with the plan anyway. What this really told me is that at the end of the day, Johnny was going to still keep on going at it with the gang even if he thought it was the wrong thing to do.

The film doesn’t hold back on the high price that he has to pay though. He pretty much gets every kind of injury you can after this. The guy can barely stand or move by the end which is why Kathleen had to make a rather serious move. Johnny definitely could and should have done a whole lot better in order to make sure everything was fine. His deputy actually did the best here in that he was the only one brave enough to tell Johnny directly that this was a bad idea. He tried his best but the guy just wouldn’t listen to him at all. That’s just how it goes I suppose.

It was fun seeing everyone get bumped off one by one though. The worst way to go out was for two of them who stop at an old lady’s house. I think she was a friend of the family or something but how can you trust anyone when the heat is this high. It sure was convenient that she noticed them passing by right? Then immediately they start drinking up a storm so they won’t be in peak fighting condition. As always my sympathy starts to go way down when a character starts drinking because now they are really putting themselves in a rotten position. So yeah W for the old lady. I mean she’s a big traitor and all but that’s just what happens when you’re a villain.

Now I keep calling them villains but I admit I’m not super familiar with the Irish background here. Perhaps their cause was decent and all but as they say, once you start murdering then the line is really drawn. You have to be super sure that you’re on the right side by that point and at least from how this film appears, I would say they were on the wrong side. Nothing within made it seem as if they were somehow the true fighters of justice or anything like that.

If anything, in the second half when the cops are taking them all out, I thought the officers looked really reasonable. They didn’t want to murder everyone but weren’t really given much of a choice. They also had to move with a sense of urgency after losing one of their own. They tried everything in order to find Johnny and it was tough since everyone was helping the guy out. You had a painter, Kathleen, a beggar, random people, and even a priest all being rather sympathetic to the guy. Some of them had their motives to be sure but none were being super helpful to the cops, that’s for sure. Even with all of those obstacles the cops managed to go and take names though.

The ending is definitely intense to be sure. When you can choose how to go out, often that is preferable to being taken alive so I get the logic. Kathleen had to make a difficult call and she did not hesitate. It’s a rather sad ending in some respects but also a sign to be careful who you fall in love with. Kathleen’s mother warned her about this as well but she just wouldn’t listen. It’s not easy to control your emotions of course but if you fall in love with a crook then it stands to reason that your end may not be great.

Overall, Odd Man Out is an interesting gang film. I have to admit that I really enjoyed the accents the whole time. I haven’t watched a super large amount of films taking place in Ireland after all. The plot is interesting and there are a whole lot of characters running around. Johnny is basically on the run for almost the entire movie. He’s out there in the rough conditions for over an hour in the movie which is crazy. He bumps into a whole lot of characters and while this can be the only part of the film that feels a bit slow, it works out well enough. It’s a satisfying movie and the strong script really backs it up every step of the way. You’ll definitely be entertained while watching it.

Overall 7/10

Uh oh, it’s time for a film about the ole rebound so you know this is probably not gonna end well. In some ways you could make the argument that it’s good the main two characters try to get back together but based in large part to the execution I would disagree. Splitting up isn’t great but going back together isn’t either when you know it can’t possibly last. There are a lot of red flags to the relationship in this film.

So the film starts by introducing us to Phil and Ellen who are currently divorced. They each have their appointed time frames with their daughter Flip but she isn’t thrilled with this arrangement. She loves hanging out with both of them and wishes they could all just get along. Life just isn’t that simple sometimes but they don’t really have the heart to tell her that. Flip basically begs them to try and get back together so they give it a shot by going to a date. The problem is that Phil has a girlfriend right now and forgot he was going on a date with her at the same time. He has to try and balance both dates now but it won’t be easy. Can he bring back the marriage?

I mean the obvious answer here is no right? If you already have a new girlfriend then it sounds like you’ve completely moved on. I would feel like the whole thing is completely insincere at this point. Moving on like that is a massive red flag to the point where I would say it pretty much disqualifies you entirely. It’s just such a bad look and it makes them both look bad. Ellen shouldn’t put up with this and should have immediately given up on Phil when she found out. Meanwhile it makes Phil look super greedy like he wants his wife back but still wants to be having fun on the side? I’s clear that he’s not responsible at all so why would you want to re marry him? It would jus be running into the same issues again and again. The reasons why they broke up in the first place would just return for them to break up a second time.

There is really no hope there. Now I know they want to band together for their kid but that’s actually not a great reason to do it. Ultimately all that’s gonna do it lead to more resentment and create more problems. If things were so bad that they had to fully divorce, then it’s not something that can be so easily repaired. They should have just sat Flip down and really given her a detailed reason on why this was not going to be able to happen.

Flip’s a kid so I won’t be super harsh on her but she definitely stirs up a lot of trouble here. No kid wants to be living in a broken home to be sure but it’s something that is really out of her control at this point. Then her final scene is rather rough as she is getting greedy already. It’s supposed to be a very wholesome moment of course but instead you’re just rolling your eyes here. She needs to just calm down a bit.

Since this entire film is really revolving around the main romance, the fact that it isn’t very good definitely ends up hurting the movie as a whole. You can absolutely pull off this kind of premise but only if both characters had not moved on. Like lets say we are introduced to them both and they’re super sad sacks who stay home all day and have nobody to hang out with. Now we actually have something here because that would make sense. You can see how they realized splitting up was a mistake. Since that’s not how the film went though, then you know this was not a good idea.

Phil’s girlfriend Nancy is rather rude the whole time but it’s hard to blame her. On a narrative level you know she is absolutely doomed and from her point of view this is all happening so fast. Why is the ex back in the picture? It’s a risk you always take when you date someone who has a past but it goes without saying that Nancy isn’t going to like Ellen. She has no reason to.

Meanwhile on Ellen’s side you have Rex who likes her but the feeling definitely appears to be more one sided. I dunno it seemed like she didn’t take him seriously and the guy got absolutely crushed by Phil so it’s definitely not like he is anyone special. I can’t say I liked him though, either way as the divorce lawyer it seems like bad practice to fall for your clients in any way right?

Now as I was saying earlier, Flip is always causing a bunch of trouble? Well she strikes again by writing to a marine while pretending to be Ellen so the guy shows up all ready to start a relationship and of course he gets thrown into this whole mess. He ends up taking it extremely well after having his feelings manipulated and everything. You do have to keep in mind that this is primarily a comedic film so all of this is treated rather lightly but from his perspective it definitely sucks.

Also while Luigi is treated well as a loyal friend to Phil for trying to hide his two timing, that’s actually pretty bad. Even if the person is your friend, trying to hide their bad sides is not a good idea. You can hide the ones that don’t affect other people and are mild but when they do affect others, you are making a grave mistake there. The other friend Jack wasn’t really any better and would just show up to create more drama.

Now it’s not like the film is never funny or anything like that. It has its moments and in general I do think the film had good writing. It just is based around a premise that I don’t think worked much at all. The romance should have taken more of a backseat to the comedy and had the film show us why this was such a bad idea. Make the whole thing go absolutely bonkers the whole time and that would have had way more potential. There’s quite a few ways you could have really positioned this in a favorable way. At least that’s the way I see it and you could still have a fairly happy ending.

Just have the main two admit they are not compatible but they will still talk to each other more so they’re not buying Flip the same presents and things like that. I dare say that if you do this, it really fixes all of the issues at once. Then you can enjoy all of the shenanigans more. Flip will probably still be annoying the whole time but what can ya do.

Overall, Never Say Goodbye is a film that tries to make this case but sometimes you do actually have to state your farewells. I get that the film is trying to have a positive message and I appreciate that but in this instance it just didn’t work. The film has its light tone and can be funny but in the end I wouldn’t really be able to recommend this one. There are many other comedies that have a lot more fun with their premises and ultimately they would get the nod over this one.

Overall 4/10

Time for a film that reminds you of how your past skeletons will always come back to hide you. The characters here all tend to have shady pasts except for the heroine who is just trying to do her best but ultimately she ends up having to compromise herself as well. I would definitely say this is a movie where nobody really wins and so the victory ends up feeling a bit on the hollow side. Definitely would have been nice if the characters could have been slightly more heroic.

The movie starts with Marty being super drunk and he is surprised when Mavos doesn’t let him into her apartment. He notices that she lets another guy go up so the whole thing is pretty humiliating. What he doesn’t realize is she gets murdered and a guy named Kirk is the primary suspect. Kirk’s wife Catherine is sure that he is innocent and is determined to find out the truth of the events. Marty agrees to help but unfortunately he ends up falling for Catherine right away. So does he really want to help prove her husband’s innocence or is he content to let Kirk be executed so he can steal her away?

That’s definitely one of the most annoying parts of the film. The fact that Marty is so in love with Catherine when she is already married. The guy doesn’t have any real class and it felt like he was flirting since near the beginning. Catherine certainly notices but she is trying hard to save her husband and can deal with that later. It would have been nice if Marty could have been the bigger man about it and put his feelings aside to help her out instead of being such a nuisance throughout the film. He does help to be sure but he’s helping out from a mess that he really created here so it’s not much of a consolation.

We get a twist for Marty and it certainly doesn’t make him look any better. This guy just had way too many issues the whole time so you’re rooting for him to be defeated. I can’t say that I felt bad for him by the end of the film. He really stuck himself into all of this trouble and so he has to pay the price there now. The guy’s a full antagonist when you really think about it.

Meanwhile you feel bad for Catherine the whole time. She’s in a tough situation with a very fast deadline so she’s doing everything she can in order to find some evidence. This even includes going into super shady locations and even having to perform at a location like that. Then she has to put up with Marty being there the whole time and even the boss Marko wanting her. Where the film takes an unfortunate turn is with her having to be with Marko in order to win his trust and get close to the safe. It all ends up being for naught anyway which is a real shame since that’s adding insult to injury at that point.

I never like any plan that involves compromising yourself to that degree. At that point you have to find another alternative even if it’s a longshot. Like just call the cops to have them take a look or bring in Marty and overpower Marko. Marty’s always looking for a fight and he would definitely assist her there even if it’s for the wrong reasons. Catherine never even led Marty on at all, the guy was just being way too desperate. The whole mission was about saving her husband after all, Marty got way too greedy.

I did like Captain Flood from the cops though. He may not have been convinced of Kirk’s innocence at all but why should he be? The case seemed rather open and shut here with Kirk cheating with Mavos. Kirk even admitted to her blackmailing him about exposing the affair so that makes perfect sense that he would take her out. When you add up all of the circ*mstantial evidence surrounding the case it definitely pans out. Flood seemed reasonable to me and wasn’t someone who easily jumped to conclusions. But after a point there is really only so much that you can do about these things.

This also made it harder to root for Kirk to be innocent here. Sure, he didn’t murder anyone but we already know that the guy is a complete cheater. It’s a super bad look for him and just makes the guy really awful. It’s another reason why it’s a shame that Catherine had to stoop to his level in order to save him. It’s just such a rough outcome that you can barely even call it happy. I don’t see any of the characters being all that well off by the end of the film. If anything their problems are really just getting started. It’s safe to say that Catherine can never really trust Kirk again so the relationship is ruined. Once you lose trust then you never really get it back. It’s time for her to make a fresh start at this point but at least she won’t have to worry about Marty. Again, I can’t say I have any sympathy for that guy. As always I would say to watch out if you like getting drunk because things can get tricky. I am still of the mind that being drunk only makes you a bigger version of yourself so everything you do is still the true you. So if you aren’t sure just how noble you are deep down, make sure you never take a drink.

Overall, The mystery itself is pretty good in this film. As always the writing is on point and you are interested in learning the truth behind the murder. As the film goes on though, that interest starts to wane a bit with how unlikable the characters arc. Marty is a jerk trying to get Catherine to cheat and her husband is a cheater. You feel like Catherine deserves so much better. Then the film going out of its way to lower her to their level was definitely a real low blow. I’m glad that she at least kept Marty at bay and never gave in there but the film just didn’t end up being a super satisfying watch. That keeps it from being higher and more in line with other noir titles.

Overall 4/10

It’s time for a really old creature feature film. This one deals with an actual demon so you already know that the heroes are going to be in a real pinch here. How do you stop a creature that is basically invincible and moves with such speed? The main character doesn’t even believe in demons but his scientific approach is certainly about to be tested.

The movie starts off with a guy begging Karswell to remove the curse before he gets murdered. The guy will leave Karswell alone going forward but alas it is too late for that and so a powerful demon bumps him off. The poor guy never stood a chance. Karswell isn’t done yet though and he is going to continue inflicting damage onto people. We then cut to our main character John. He doesn’t believe in any of his supernatural nonsense and that’s why he is here. He is supposed to be helping to disprove all of this but with one of his colleagues being bumped off, it’s all a bit suspicious. He supposes the best way to debunk all of this is to confront the guy himself and so that’s exactly what he does. It may end up being a dangerous endeavor.

The weakest part of the film is definitely the really long seance scene hat happens later on in the film. I suppose we needed John to see how crazy this kind of thing could look but it definitely dragged on. Seance scenes rarely ever end up being all that interesting and this one was no exception. The whole time you’re just shaking your head but at least it does give John more time to think that maybe there is nothing supernatural going on since that would help me think everything was a scam too.

Karswell’s first attempt to prove his supernatural abilities wasn’t the most effective either. He made a bunch of wind and while the guy claimed that it never got super windy like that in the area, John could easily just think he was lying. Once we get to the cats turning into panthers, then it all starts to be a little harder to deny. I would have actually liked this part to have been done a bit quicker so we could get to the real intellectual struggles here.

What I mean by this is it turns out that the demon activates in relation to a parchment paper that is passed around. Karswell makes sure to give it to people and whoever gets it, will be murdered by the demon in 3 days. The only way to escape the curse is to give the paper back to the person who gave it to you. At that point you are freed from the curse. It’s a pretty interesting set of rules and of course what this means is the one who cursed you is hyper aware of this. It’s going to be difficult to hand the paper back. Although unless the film specified against this, I would assume just beating the guy up and stuffing the paper into his hand would work. This is a matter of life or death after all so I don’t think a little violence would be outside the realm of possibility right? It’s at least something to consider.

Still, we don’t go the violence route here so instead it’s time for some mind games to trick Karswell. This is all at the very end of the film but was a pretty fun way to end things off. The trick itself was definitely clever so I could believe Karswell being taken in by all of that. John was also a fun main character with how he so strongly opposed the supernatural stuff. I definitely appreciate that in a character. Sure, we know that the magic is real as a viewer but to someone who’s led a life of science, I’m glad he wasn’t converted so easily.

The main heroine Joanna doesn’t get a ton to do though. She helps with some of the info dumps and getting John where he needs to be but inevitably she is hypnotized and kidnapped. Considering that she had more of an affinity for the supernatural it would have been good if she could have had some extra defenses. Something to help keep her safe and running away from this guy. In a way that was definitely Karswell’s undoing though. He shouldn’t have gotten greedy and gone after Joanna. Even if he felt like his victory was inevitable he should have stayed hidden until the days were fully up. Make it very hard for himself to be found by John because there’s nothing good that can come out of meeting the guy. People get awfully desperate when they are about to die after all and you can’t predict what the next move will be.

I’ll give the film a shoutout for the cool demon design. He definitely looked fierce and was one of those opponents you would no want to bump into in a dark alley. A single strike from this fighter would really deal a whole lot of damage. Nobody in the film really tried fighting the demon which is too bad. Sure, it would probably be futile but you’re about to die anyway so you may as well give it a shot right? Better than just lying there and yelling the whole time.

Overall, This film shows why you have to be careful accepting anything from strangers. Sure, it’s pretty unlikely that you will be handed an actual curse with a demon built in but you could still be framed for stolen money or something like that. Odds are if someone is trying to hand you something outside then they have an angle. It could be as innocent as handing out flyers for an event in which case you’re fine…or it could be handing you a bomb and you end up being blown to pieces. So just watch out for your surroundings and be careful at all times. Like in this film, your only shot would be handing it back to the person real quick before anything happens.

Overall 6/10

Link to the original review: https://dreager1.com/2020/07/11/murder-by-contract-review/

It’s time for a film about a professional assassin. It can always be a tricky balance since you want to come up with a scenario that doesn’t paint him in too bad of a light where you dread seeing the guy on screen but at the same time you probably want to play it straight and not try to make the guy sympathetic. I’d say the film does a good job of this. The balance is there and by no means is Claude sympathetic at all. You are free to root against him the whole time with no real issues there.

The movie starts with Claude convincing someone to hire him. Claude passes every possible test and aces each of his hit. Eventually he even murders his boss as one of the orders. Eventually he is given his biggest mission yet, he has to bump off Billie, a witness who will be taking the stand soon. This will be a difficult mission and Claude usually makes it a point not to go after women because they are more unpredictable. You can’t exactly turn down a hit once you are involved though so for now he just has to suck it up and continue with the mission. If he succeeds then he will be loaded and if he fails then it’s game over for his life.

One thing the movie does to stand out right away is have a good soundtrack. This isn’t a guarantee for any film after all. You never know if a movie will have solid music or not so hearing a good track can go a long way. It’s a very smooth kind of beat that works for all of the scenes and supports the tone. The movie is showing just how casual this business is for Claude. It really just is the guy’s job and he preps for it as he would any ordinary assignment. We see how he works out and exercises so he is always in peak condition.

He’s also not very trusting by nature so he wastes a lot of time when two people are sent to accompany him. Ultimately it’s a good idea not to trust those guys but you never felt like Claude was in all that much danger. He was clearly a step above those two. They had some tough talk and looked good at times but the skill difference was immediately apparent. Even 2 on 1 you knew they weren’t about to do anything.

Claude is just too calm and too skilled. He waited for his quick opening and from there it was curtains. He also seems to have very little patience for anyone who hasn’t managed to become successful. He chews out a waiter on this about the guy allowing himself to be stuck in this job for so long when he could have really done a whole lot more for himself. Then as long as you are stuck you at least need to be good at what you do. I think his lecture ultimately fell on deaf ears though.

Then by the end of the film Claude gets rather sloppy himself. I don’t think it was even a full change of heart or anything like that. I think Claude would have finished the job earlier in the film but by this point he just had way too many doubts and conflicting thoughts. He didn’t believe in the mission quite as much as he once did and there are enough dead people already where the whole thing has become a mess. So for all of his tough talk and preparation, Claude folded when it counted.

Billie may be the big target but I wouldn’t say that her role is that big anyway. She’s the big objective but in terms of character there’s not a whole lot to her. She spends most of her time taking shots at the cops for not protecting her more and I definitely get that. She ends up being in harm’s way quite a lot. Part of it is on her even if she won’t take responsibility though. One obvious thing is to never walk by the door or any windows. Stay out of easy sniper range and that’s really basic safety 101. The cops actually had a good plan in allowing people to think she was dead for a while and it was just bad luck that someone ended up tattling to Claude. They couldn’t really predict that one.

The writing throughout the film is pretty good. I definitely enjoyed the banter with Claude and his boss despite the boss being bumped off fairly early. The characters always know just what to say and they all have a whole lot of confidence about them. I like all of the posturing. Even the two guys who were following Claude were brave enough to talk back to him. Well one of them anyway. Claude would tell him to be quiet and the guy would just keep on talking. Quality writing definitely helps to support a good thriller.

The character cast may be extremely small but that still services the film well enough. It helps to show just how alone Claude is and how all of his relationships are really surface level. He talks to the people giving him the missions or ladies who are hitting on him but at the end of the day the guy is really alone. The thrills of being an assassin are really the only benefits he gets at this point and I’m not even sure if he was totally serious about his whole buying a house explanation. I assume that was made up but am not exactly sure, so that adds to some of the mystery of the character. He strikes me as the kind of character who will say exactly what he hopes you want to hear.

Overall, The film is fairly direct and goes by quickly. It’s mainly about Claude prepping for the big mission and then getting a little more nervous as his attempts aren’t working and the deadline is getting closer. It’s another cautionary tale on why being an assassin is super dangerous. You could have hundreds of successful hits but all it takes is one slip up and there goes your life. There is just no escaping your ultimate fate and while you may have a fun time at first, it just won’t end well. This is definitely a film I could recommend. It ticks enough of the right boxes to be fun for all fans of the genre.

Overall 7/10

It’s time for a thriller about knowing when to break your programming and defy orders. It’s got some good messages to be told for sure but in the end this film isn’t all that good. The main character is a little too slow every time so the villain always has the edge. It’s pretty crazy stuff not gonna lie and nobody is smart at all here. It just doesn’t seem like a very practical project even by corrupt government standards.

The movie starts with showing us the end of a big battle and a village was completely destroyed. Squad leader Andrew completely went off the deep end and turned evil. He ends up executing a hostage for no reason and so Luke is forced to take him down. It’s a mutual defeat though and their bodies are brought back to the government for experimentation. They decide to revive these two as mindless soldiers that can be used to handle any threat. They do not feel emotions or any previous memories. In theory they simply obey all orders without question. So they will be a really good unit for any commander and if the test is successful they can mass produce these kinds of soldiers from dead men.

Unfortunately things go sideways as you could have probably guessed immediately. Andrew is still as crazy as ever and enjoys murdering people a little too much. A local reporter named Veronica does some snooping with her partner and Andrew murders the guy even though it is against the rules. So Luc quickly takes her to safety and the government orders Andrew to pursue. But wait Andrew can’t be trusted because he’s already showing clear signs of a personality and violent tendencies right? Yeah the government barely cares at this point so Luc better run real fast.

Luc is still not his old self though so while he has some memories and such he doesn’t have his personality yet. This means…uh oh he basically has amnesia. One trope I never love is when the main character doesn’t know anything and gets into a bunch of misunderstandings. That happens here as he doesn’t know what money is and why he has to pay for food, he doesn’t know what his body is supposed to look like, etc. I don’t even get why we needed this part of the plot. For the most part I don’t think it would change much about the film if he was totally himself. The main villain basically got his whole personality back after all. Luc deserved better.

So the film’s attempts at humor here really didn’t do that well. Meanwhile I didn’t really care for Veronica all that much. You know the type of character they are going for right away. She’s constantly yelling and panicking and making the wrong decisions the whole time. It’s pretty clear that Luc saved her from getting shot but she still complains for a while and it takes a minute before she really gets on board with the fact that he is the only reason she’s alive. I would have thought that was rather obvious to be honest but it is what it is I suppose.

The film tends to be rather excessive on the violence as well. People are really getting blown up here and the villain collects ears from his prey. It’s definitely a good way to show that the guy is a psycho but I don’t think that was really enough justification. Also, the girl in the intro having to see her boyfriend/husband get blown away right in front of her was absolutely crazy. Then after all that she still doesn’t survive? That’s not really a great way to start the film, I was certainly salted the whole time at the very least.

Also considering who the main actor is, I was expecting way more hand to hand fight scenes. We really don’t get much of that at all though. Aside from the gunfights we get a mild skirmish at the start, a little mixup with the cook later on, and then the final fight. They really didn’t make the most out of his talents which is a shame because I know that the fights would have been really good. Perhaps they would have even elevated the film. Without them, you have more time to really focus on all of the other elements of the film which aren’t nearly as solid.

Now on to the government, the film just makes them look way too inept. They often underestimate the villains and get themselves into trouble but this was a bit much. So by this point in the film they already know how absolutely insane the main villain is. This guy absolutely must be stopped at all costs but they will keep using him since he’s the only one who can stop Luc. Okay fine but then they figure they should reset his memories just in case. So they tell him to go inside the freeze room. Andrew first threatens them a bit but suspiciously complies. So the guy walks in there with the needle before the ice can really do anything and naturally he is violently murdered. That’s just really dumb to be honest.

I don’t get why the government couldn’t do more to stop both Luc and Andrew if they were serious to be honest. It’s not even like you’d have to worry about outlasting them because both characters have a massive weakness where they overheat just by existing. So you just keep fighting until the two of them start melting and then you have the massive advantage. Case closed right? That’s also such a random weakness but I am cool with it because I think it’s only fair that a super soldier would have some kind of downside. It’d be a little convenient if there was none.

Aside from the over the top violence and the lack of hand to hand fight scenes the film could have done with more likable characters. Again you’re looking at a duo of a semi mindless main character and a main heroine who doesn’t seem to understand the danger she’s in for a while there. This doesn’t really let the characters have any banter either so while I generally would say that the writing is pretty good here, it’s really nothing to write home about either. It’s trying to survive in spite of the main characters when they should be the ones trying to prop it up.

Overall, Universal Soldier was a bit of a letdown here. I like the idea of the film but it’s not exactly a fun watch and throughout the film you are waiting for the heroes to do more. The government have no idea what’s going on and it feels like the villain has way too much control here. There’s no way he should be making it nearly as far as he does and so in the end everyone looks real bad. Not really a film I would recommend to anyone looking for their quality action title.

Overall 3/10

It’s time for a noir title with a lot going on but it does not execute as well as it could have. It’s not super out of the ordinary for the main character to be unlikable in a noir title like this but at the same time you still need to have some kind of redeemable quality to really let the film go through smoothly. Mix that in with the underwhelming romance and this is not really one for the books. It can keep you entertained but the characters tend to get you annoyed more often than not which throws you right back out of the title.

The film starts off with Bowie and two other inmates escaping from jail. Bowie supposedly murdered someone which is a pretty big charge so he needs to lie low. The other two criminals are hardened veterans so they find a safehouse with people they know. The next challenge will be to rob a bank so they can free another criminal but this time doing it legally. Bowie is really just along for the ride but he ends up falling for the girl who lives there. Her name is Keechie and she doesn’t know a whole lot about the world. Bowie’s out of his depth as well so this could really work well as a match. Can Bowie get out of this crime circuit though?

Okay so I don’t really sympathize with Bowie because of how far this goes. At the end of the day it may be peer pressure but he was still doing everything. Robbing a bank is a crime no matter how you slice it after all. I do think he at least made the right call in skipping town with Keechie when the stakes were getting real high but at the same time he played it sloppy once one of the other criminals, Chicamaw caught up to him. You have to take the guy out of the picture. The longer you keep him around the worse things will get.

Yeah, taking someone out isn’t easy but this guy’s a villain through and through so you can’t really feel bad about that. Bowie also has Keechie to think about at this point so that really means he has to go all in. Ultimately things don’t go great for Bowie and you weren’t expecting them to considering what happened throughout the film. Right through to the end he was outplayed and that’s why he was not meant to be in the criminal game. In a way you could say it’s probably a good thing when you aren’t cut out for the competition but of course it’s even better to not even get involved in the first place.

Now why was the romance so bad? Well I think they overplayed the naive angle for Keechie. She just didn’t seem to know much about anything and so she wanted to take things slow but Bowie was the one always getting upset and trying to speed things up. It’s hard to see what she saw in the guy. From her perspective he’s another crook and someone who is trying to move rather fast instead of getting to know her. Yes, you can say she is desperate because no other guys have wanted her and that definitely throws a sad element into this but it doesn’t make the romance itself any better. In fact you could make the case that it makes the whole thing worse.

Keechie isn’t properly developed at the start of the film. I would argue that she gets a little development later on as she stands up for herself more and makes decisions. It’s not as if it’s a bad relationship all the way through but the start is just way too rocky to buy into. At least it was a way to escape the villain base which was really just a powder keg for a while there.

Also Chicamaw isn’t the best main villain. He’s jealous of Bowie for getting all of the credit for the latest crime but that means the cops won’t be looking for him as hard. That’s almost objectively a good thing from his point of view in every way. The fact that he is so petty that he would put all of this in jeopardy for clout is absolutely crazy. The guy also gets drunk quite a lot so I wouldn’t call him the biggest threat. It’s why Bowie needed to take him out a lot sooner. Yeah he can’t win a straight fight but he could absolutely do something from the sides using trickery.

I will say that the writing is solid as always though. The dialogue between each of the characters is on point without a doubt and the pacing isn’t bad. The film moves from plot point to plot point well, the problem is really that the plot itself wasn’t good enough here. You need to really rewrite large sections of it for the film to be better. It just isn’t the most entertaining film and with so many other better titles to check out, this one just ends up fading into the background.

Overall, They Live by Night is not a film that I would recommend as much as the average noir title. It could have used a mystery or something. Just watching the main guy making various mistakes doesn’t really do anything for me. The main part of the film is also about a romance that I just didn’t care much about either so there was no real saving that part of the film. I was just shaking my head by this point. I do think you could make an interesting story here about the heroine changing a villain from his old ways but you’re not really going to find that here. If the film was aiming for the ending to be a solid book-end to the subplot of Bowie not being ready for these stakes then I do think that was really clever tho.

Overall 4/10

Time Without Pity is definitely a very interesting movie. It’s one of those stories about trying to stay within the realm of the law for as long as possible and only really moving to vigilantism once the options have dried up. It’s a suspenseful mystery and definitely one that has good replay value. I’d recommend it to anyone who likes this kind of murder mystery.

The film starts with a girl getting murdered and so David flies over because his son is the primary suspect. Unfortunately it took a very long time to find David because he was off being drunk. There is a lot of tension here because David was never really around when it counted. Even now, he has only arrived when there are 24 hours left before Alec is to be executed. The reason David didn’t find out sooner is because he was stuck in a treatment facility after being super drunk again. David may have failed Alec in the past but he swears to do right by him this time. He will find the actual killer and save Alec.

The interesting thing about this film is that we see Robert as the murderer in the very first scene. So we know the whole time who the killer is and we’re just waiting for David to put the pieces together. The film allows Robert to look real crazy the whole time since there’s no pretense for trying to make him look even remotely likable. That might sound like maybe David should suspect something but honestly I don’t think that would be enough. The fact that the guy is crazy and abusive doesn’t automatically make him the murderer or anything. Lots of jerks out there after all but they’re not going around sticking it to people.

You are definitely rooting for his downfall the whole time though. This is definitely the kind of film where nobody is perfect though. While we know that Alec didn’t murder the girl, it doesn’t help matters that he didn’t have the best reputation. He also likes Robert’s wife Honor which isn’t good. Keep in mind that his girlfriend his dead but he is still excited to see Honor and have a moment while in jail. I don’t think that should be a priority when you only have a few hours left to live. Or if he’s thinking it doesn’t matter since he’s so close to death that’s arguably just as bad. Alec panics a lot and everything too but I suppose since he’s about to die I’ll cut him some slack there.

As for David, well he’s trying hard to get to the truth of the matter which is great. Full points there of course but then you also have to consider the fact that David being drunk all the time didn’t help matters. He drinks several times during the movie as well and breaks down in a few instances. He was still able to come up with a good plan though which helps. Ultimately he ends on a high note which makes up for a lot of his issues early on. How you finish the race is a big part of how likable a character is after all.

His friend the attorney was also really good. The guy really did everything he could and postponed the execution multiple times. Without him, David would have absolutely been too late so he definitely owes him a whole lot of credit. There are also a few other suspects in the film from David’s point of view like the secretary Vickie or Alec’s best friend Brian. Brian in particular always appears to be hiding a whole lot and playing both sides of the field. It’s why us knowing who the murderer is makes things interesting as you are forced to watch David bark up the wrong tree at times.

There technically isn’t a whole lot of action in this film which makes sense because why would the murderer want to take any chances right? It’s mainly a battle of words with Robert being the only one who is panicking the whole time. David knows deep down that the odds are stacked against him because without any fingerprints or witnesses at the scene of the crime, his only real chance is a complete confession from the murderer. Why would the murderer do that though? There would be no benefit to him, particularly when he knows that the case can’t be solved.

So the film actually addresses this and does it better than I anticipated. I thought we’d have a lazy moment where the villain admits to the crime in front of a bunch of people or something like that, but this doesn’t happen. The villain is caught without confessing to the crime and the way the movie does this is really creative. It goes back to the vigilantism part I referenced earlier. The plan is certainly not legal and actually relies on a lot of deception. It’s a plan that involves a heavy price so most wouldn’t do this even if they thought of it. So the plan worked well here in showing just how far David would go to save his son and it’s also a plan that is realistic enough to work. The villain didn’t really have an out by this point and was completely outplayed.

Overall, Time Without Pity is a really fun film. It’s also a super clever one that tackles what would otherwise be a standard plot in a new way. The first of course is the fact that we know who the murderer is. It’s not the first film to do that of course but the vast majority do not so it’s still a fresh take. Additionally you have the fact that the main character has to solve this case in under 24 hours or Alec will be executed even if he is innocent. So you’ve got the time factor there to make things even more urgent. It’s a really solid set of parameters to fit the film into and it works out really well. The ending is very satisfying and so in the end I would definitely recommend watching this film. It has aged extremely well.

Overall 7/10

It’s time for a very old film but one that definitely executes well and ends up being a fun picture. It’s a fairly short movie so it definitely ends quickly but still gets the full story across. Needless to say, there will always be traitors around trying to cause trouble and if you don’t find them first then it’ll get rough. I definitely can’t say I felt any real sympathy for the villain here.

The film starts with another terrorist attack as the power grid is knocked out. There have been many such events lately and it seems like they are possibly building up to something massive. The cops are having detective Ted look into a lead. They think that Karl Verloc may be one of the traitors helping the villains out but there is no proof. So Ted looks into it but along the way he starts to fall for Karl’s wife. (I had actually thought she was the daughter but at least according to Wikipedia they were married which makes Ted’s romance plot a lot more dicey) Can Ted stay focused on the mission?

The romance plot is pretty bad either way but for sure it gets worse depending on the heroine’s status. Either way Ted shouldn’t be messing around here. He’s got a mission to complete right? He spends a whole lot of time flirting but it’s not like the girl even likes him all that much. In the opening scene he is even trying to defend her when a bunch of people want refunds and she tells him to get lost/threatens him with arrest. Not very charitable right? I dunno if I was him I would have been rather discouraged after that. Ted is a good agent despite this but there’s just not a whole lot for him to do.

Throughout the movie he is still trying to dig up evidence and back in those days this could be really difficult. The ending isn’t exactly happy for him either due to how things play out. Meanwhile the heroine was nice enough. I would usually say she was oblivious in not noticing what Karl was doing but not this time. I don’t see any way that she could have found out the truth so as far as I’m concerned she is innocent there. So the whole thing is just a really rough experience for her.

As for Karl, yeah there’s not much positive to say about him. At the end of the day he sold his soul for a few bucks. You’ll always have an extremely hard time convincing me that there could be any possible way to redeem him after that. It’s just not happening, he knew the risks and made his choice. By the end he does the classic move of trying to say he didn’t know this would happen but that’s really a lie. He knew this was going to happen, he just didn’t know about the specific victims. So yeah no sympathy from me here.

The masterminds don’t actually appear much but that’s by design. Early on the police chief admits that there’s no way the heroes are going to find the top brass. Their job is to find the local traitors working with them but beyond that it gets more to the FBI level. It’s why this is such a hard job because you don’t even know how many villains are out there. A lot of them to be sure but an exact count? You’re just not going to have that kind of information on hand, nor as you likely to get that at any point in the future. It can feel like an endless journey but one that you have to keep going through anyway.

Part of what works well in the film is keeping the whole thing very confined. We have a very small cast of characters and most of the film takes place around 1 block. You know bad things are happening around the world but the only focus is on what’s happening locally. Most people aren’t scared about the local terrorism going on but the fact that it has yet to be stopped is certainly lingering in the backs of their minds somewhere.

The film also doesn’t have the jolly ending that you might expect. Sometimes the heroes just aren’t fast enough and it’s by no fault of their own. You just can’t prevent every possible tragedy from occurring no matter how hard you try. That’s just not possible, nor has it ever been possible. So the film really tries to push that message through and it makes sense. At the same time, the movie never gets super depressing or focuses on this for too long which is why it hits the right balance. I feel like a modern remake would not have the same level of restraint and subtlety.

Overall, Sabotage is a pretty good movie. It’s short and to the point. For that reason there isn’t a ton of things to say here but not every movie needs to be very long. The writing was good and the pacing was always fast. I enjoyed all of the dialogue here even from the villains. The romance may be on the weak side but at least since it’s a very old fashioned one, it’s not like much is happening. It’s really just a lot of flirting the whole time, rather unsuccessful flirting at that. The movie itself is rather timeless as there will always be traitors out there. People desperate enough for some money that they would betray their fellow friends and colleagues. It’s a shame but at the end of the day it’s human nature and so you have to do your best to just stop them all and keep things moving as smoothly as possible. I would definitely recommend checking this title out and again, it’s fairly short so it won’t take long.

Overall 7/10

This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

Another Escape Plan? Hey some characters have a hard time staying out of jail but at least you know they have a lot of experience by now. This one really goes back to the original in a lot of ways with the main character getting more screentime and doing a lot of fighting. I would even go as far as to say that it’s definitely the most intense one. It has its moments but you can definitely tell that the series is faltering somewhat.

All right so the film starts with reminding us why a bunch of bodyguards just aren’t worth it. Daya’s group is immediately defeated and she is kidnapped. Always better to have one all star than a group tbh. Her father is a big time criminal who operates a lot of prisons and so Ray has decided to take him down. It won’t be easy though because Ray’s group isn’t all that great and they are defeated along with Abigail getting kidnapped. Ah well…looks like Ray is gonna need to do a lot of the heavy lifting here. He’s fairly used to it though. Can he murder all of the villains before they execute the final hostages or is it already too late?

One thing you can definitely tell about this film is that it’s quite a bit edgier than the first two. Gone are the more sci-fi type prisons in place of a very dusty, sand type of area. It looks more like a prison you would see in real life which in a way is good for realism but by film 3 it’s not like that should be a huge consideration right? That’s already all done with by this point. Even the fights are more on the realistic side without all of the big choreography. You just have people getting shot and stabbed.

The fight scenes aren’t bad but they do tend to end with rather violent finishers. You may think Ray is a little too old for all of this but he definitely handles himself well in a fight. you can expect him to typically dominate in the ring. Of course he does have a lot of rage due to the events of this film. There is definitely a body count to be had here and with films always needing to top themselves and elevate things to the next level, you could say that this film took the next logical step. Can’t say it’s one that I’m a really big fan of but hey….that’s how it goes. It’s a big spoiler to say much more than that but one character ends up biting it and I would say this was unnecessary.

I feel like it could have set up some sequels since the dynamic is different but I suppose they didn’t have enough fuel in the tank to squeeze out a 4th one of these. It would definitely be nice if Ray’s teammates could hold their own a bit better. Yeah they each have their specialties like we have the jokester hacker, but at the end of the day it doesn’t feel like he will come through when it counts. You actually want to have someone inside the jail with you taking down tons of opponents.

Ironically the best assistant Ray has is DeRosa who isn’t actually part of the main team. When he shows up the villains start falling like dominoes but his role isn’t quite as big here. He shows up a few times and then at the very end but this is not really his film so think of him more like a guest star. He would do pretty well in continuing the franchise if you had to switch main characters I would say.

The film does give the main villains a connection to the first film so that helps in terms of connecting everything together. I can appreciate that as a writing strategy even if you don’t really need to do it. I understand how you want to end things on a bang and that makes everything feel more personal. It reminds you that you really can’t trust anyone in the prison breaking game. At the end of the day everyone is out for themselves and will mess you over if given half a chance.

If we did get another film we’d have to see how they force Ray back into a prison. Are we going with the ole hostage routine again, some kind of challenge like a mega prison? The latter would look bad for Ray while the first would feel lazy. I dare say the best thing to do is ditch the prison theme. It’s not called prison break after all. Have Ray be on an island where a coup happens and now he has to escape or maybe put him on an airplane that gets hijacked. This franchise could have really expanded in a whole lot of ways but instead it just ended.

The writing here isn’t bad either. Perhaps a bit on the generic side but I had no real problems with it. The setup is decent and the film’s pacing is good. If you just take away some of the excessive violence and grit here then this would really be fine. It may be hard to avoid all of that in a prison film but I would say the first two films did a better job of this. It all just feels a little less hopeless with how things are going. You feel like there really is something worth fighting for while by the end of this film things are a bit too far gone. Still not pointless by any means as there are people to save but it doesn’t hit in quite the same way.

Overall, Escape Plan 3 is probably the weakest one here. It goes a bit far at times to be sure. I don’t think the plot itself was bad. The supporting cast may be a bit annoying in how they hold Ray back but realistically he is the leader for a reason. It makes sense that he would be the strongest after all. Maybe they can just make his teammates a bit stronger next time, I liked the main fighter in film 2 after all and DeRosa is solid. Put them as the main trio for a whole film and then we’re talking. Still, unless you absolutely need to watch the whole trilogy I would say to watch the first two films and then call it a day.

Overall 4/10