A film until a week ago I'd never heard of, and after the crushing double-whammy of disappointment of my last 2 cinema outings, I thought why the hell not. I'm so glad I chanced my arm with this one.
Long story short, Frank Grillo, still trying to find that leading role, plays Teddy, a bad guy. Gerard Butler, happy to take whatever role lets him have a lot of fun in the role, played Viddick, a bad guy who takes money to kill other bad guys. One punches out a cop to get the protection of a jail cell for the night, the other pretends to be DUI so he can get in the same jail cell.
That's the bare-bones plot, but where Venom was one note and no fun, this is an orchestra with clown shoes. It's great, helped in no small part by the amazing performances from all assembled and a very slick script. The well-publicised standout is Alexis Louder, in one of her first major roles, and she steals the movie from everyone else in the room.
It's cheesy in places (she favours a six-shooter and practicing her quick-draw), the chief shouts a lot and the setups are a little obvious, but they really can be forgiven as the movie rumbles along, with that script really helping to build the characters and your faith, or lack of, in their genuine motives.
There are jarring elements though. Most external shots are painfully obvious day-for-night, there's a lot of fire at one point (no spoilers), but I've honestly done better compositing jobs in my 7 year old copy of photoshop. I supposes that come with having to reach out to seven production companies to raise the casting money, until there's no cash left for decent FX shots.
But that can be forgiven, it's just too much fun to bear so needless a grudge. 8/10, would recommend.
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Writer`s Release
