Movie Reviews: crime

The old man and the siege

Oddly, it's the fact that "Harry Brown" is reality based that justifies 77-year-old Michael Caine in the role of a neighborhood vigilante.

Let's face it, no one would buy the two-time Academy Award winner as a fantasy fighter for justice as sundown nears on a glorious career that includes "Alfie," "Educating Rita," "The Cider House Rules" and "The Weather Man," just to name a few.

In "Harry Brown," which I prefer to call "Dirty Harry Brown," Caine sets the dour tone quickly. And he seems acutely at home as a severely depressed London widower living alone on the second floor of a London estate. Don't let that word "estate" fool you. In this country, we call them "the projects."

Harry lives in a time-ravaged slum that wears its graffiti like oozing, pock-marked facial blemishes. Teen gangs rule with such force that Harry and other law-abiding citizens can't even walk through a tunnel to get to the store. Even taking the long way around, they fear for their safety; perhaps even their lives.

Caine's Harry is a former Marine who long ago locked his war remembrances away. He wears the weight of the world gone by one his face and has one friend left in the world. Harry and Leonard (David Bradley) play chess as dust settles on all the fixtures (including Harry and Leonard) in the neighborhood pub.

Even a best friend can offend, and Leonard does when he asks Harry if he ever killed anyone in the war.

First-time feature filmmaker Daniel Barber and screenwriter Gary Young ("Shooters") tip their hands a little too obviously with the death-related pub talk. When the final straw falls, which everyone will see coming a mile away, Harry springs (OK, moseys) into action like Clint Eastwood when the neighborhood Detroit punks start messing with this "Gran Torino."

"Harry Brown" pushes the violence envelope for sure. But these things do happen in real life. So when Harry goes postal, so to speak, it's not completely out of left field. It may be difficult to believe that an actor can bring nuance to a scene of explosive force. Caine does that here as he investigates a character overflowing with remorse as well as rage.

In addition to Bradley (Argus Filch in the "Harry Potter" franchise) as Leonard, Emily Mortimer (Rachel in "Shutter Island") scores acting points as D.I. Frampton, the police detective who shows compassion under pressure.

This is a film that delivers as a character-driven thriller about an elder. The appeal, however, is not limited to seniors. Anyone who appreciates Caine's long extraordinary career will relish the depth he's still able to summon in every character he explores.

Caine had a long head start on dirty Harry. He grew up in the very slums, or estates this drama wallows in.

Posted by Larry Ratliff at 12:05 AM in 3 jalapeños, crime, drama, film, R, urban drama | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Tallying up the 'Prophet' and loss statement

Malik, a bewildered 19-year-old Arab, doesn't know what to expect when he's processed into a French prison at the beginning of the French import "A Prophet."

Winner of the second place Grand Prix Award at last year's Cannes Film Festival, "A Prophet" ("Un Prophète") was also up for an Foreign Film Academy Award Sunday night. It lost out to Argentina's "The Secret in Their Eyes."

"A Prophet," directed and co-written by Jacques Audiard, is a coming-of-awareness prison drama unlike anything I've seen before. Malik (Tahar Rahim) cannot read or write when he's locked up. Corsican prisoner elder César Luciani (Niels Arestrup), holding court on a prison yard stone bench, spots the young man's naiveté right away.

César, who wields more power than the guards and probably the warden himself, spots something else. Another Arab arrived at the prison on the same day. Reyeb (Hichem Yacoubi), only to be locked up for 10 days before he testifies against the Corsican mob, has been targeted for assassination.

Since Malik speaks Arabic and especially since Reyeb offers Malik hashish in exchange for sexual favors, César forces new, naive inmate Malik to attempt the hit.

"A Prophet," in French, Arabic and Corsican with subtitles, follows the transition of this young man as he morphs into a tool of the prison underworld, then as he blossoms into his own as perhaps someone more cunning and ruthless than even César could imagine. Malik has visions; sometimes of ghosts still burning as if just back from hell and sometimes of future events.

In only his fifth feature, Audiard ("The Beat That My Heart Skipped") wields power and confidence himself. This is a drama of grand, if brutal style. Malik is perplexed, intrigued and seduced by his steadily growing power base. He gets advice to learn to read and write from a man he is about to brutally murder with a razor blade concealed between his cheek and gum (like chewing tobacco).

This is a sometimes mystical eruption of raw violence and self-empowerment that riveted my attention to the screen.

Rahim, who has done some television work, is putty in the hands of his director in real life. His character Malik, while being molded in similar amazing fashion by César on screen, solidifies into someone who reveals with a little sly smile during an act of extreme violence that no one is safe around him.

César creates a monster, and the transition is quite extraordinary in any language. Audiard, through Rahim, majestically reveals the inner-torment and survival instinct it takes to propel a monster to an even scarier level: intelligence.

Audiard clearly structures his ending as a "to be continued" wink at the audience.

In the case of "A Prophet," I'll look forward to it.

Posted by Larry Ratliff at 12:10 AM in 3-1/2 jalapeños, crime, drama, film, foreign film, R, thriller | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

A Romanian cop handcuffed, by definition

You've heard about entertainers so gifted that they could just read from the telephone book and entertain?

Well, in "Police, Adjective," an astonishingly daring offbeat drama from Romania, you might just be transfixed in your seat as the film's main character reads from a dictionary.

If you appreciate quirky foreign films, don't be hasty to dismiss this drama (with slight hints of irony) as a classified bore.

Romanian writer-director Corneliu Porumboiu ("12:08 East of Bucharest") turns the deeply troubled cop genre on its ear with this little tale. Here we have Cristi (Dragos Bucur), a rebel cop different than any rebel cop you've seen before.

Cristi isn't borderline psychotic like Mel Gibson in the "Lethal Weapon" franchise. Nor is he an alcoholic (though he drinks at times), suicidal, a short timer or recently divorced.

This rebel with a cause simply doesn't want to arrest a local high school kid for smoking hash and sharing it with his friends. Cristi is an undercover cop who's spent about a week trailing a local school kid whose experimentation with dope could, if he's not careful, send him to prison for about eight years.

Cristi's superiors sternly object to his notion that what the kid's doing may be against the letter of the law, but there's no real harm in it. Besides, Cristi figures, the law will soon change anyway, so why ruin a young life?

A moral stand-off between a cop and his boss may be a simple premise, but it unfolds against a methodical, fascinating backdrop that's impossible to ignore. In Romanian with subtitles and subtleties, "Police, Adjective" is a battle on two fronts: words and wills.

When the film first lights up the screen, all we see for what seems like a near-eternity is a slumping man (Bucur as Cristi) walking, walking, walking through ordinary streets (the filmmaker's hometown of Vaslui in northeastern Romania).

If Porumboiu does nothing else with "Police, Adjective," he shows that an audience will sit still as his protagonist meticulously goes through an undercover cop's daily routine. He prepares his file on the case and tries without much luck to get his co-workers to expedite the paperwork. Cristi also does his best to avoid his superior officer, who's bringing increasing pressure to make Cristi stage his bust and close the case.

I can't think of another film that provides as much attention to detail. When Cristi's home, for instance, we don't just see him share a meal with his wife. Porumboiu's camera, and thus us as well, hang around for seconds on the goulash.

Ah, but that's nothing compared to the battle-of-wills showdown with the cynical police captain, performed superbly and with impeccable timing by Vlad Ivanov (the abortionist in "4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days").

Quirky cinematic chestnuts can't be rushed. "Police, Adjective" will stand as a prime example of that.

Posted by Larry Ratliff at 12:05 AM in 3 jalapeños, crime, drama, film, foreign film, not rated | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

'District 13,' the French connection

Very few sequels hold my attention throughout.

"District 13: Ultimatum" is one of them.

In French with subtitles, the follow-up to the 2006 French import "District 13" moves the basic story along well enough. That's a must for any successful sequel.

The real appeal, though, comes from reuniting two charismatic actors, Cyril Raffaelli and David Belle. Chances are you've never heard of them.

Raffaelli and Belle are martial arts experts and stuntmen first and actors second. In the "District 13" stylized action crime-thrillers, they combine all their skills in a manner that must make Jackie Chan proud and jealous at the same time.

Comedy arises out of the mayhem. But director Patrick Alessandrin, calling the shots on his first action film, never lets it become overly silly (as Chan often did).

Elite French police officer Damien Tomasso (Raffaelli) and reformed vigilante Leito (Belle) went their separate ways at the end of the first "District 13" adventure. The ultra-violent Paris ghetto District 13 was finally under control. Government officials vowed to maintain the peace.

They lied.

When the sequel begins and quickly leaps a few years into the future, an unscrupulous businessman (Daniel Duval) who has the president's ear wants to destroy the walled den of killers, druggies and thieves and build a profitable towering skyscraper. To speed things up, his goons frame ghetto residents as cop killers and even plant dope in Damien's kitchen to send him to the slammer (and presumably out of the way).

Fate throws Damien (seen first in drag) and free soul Leito together once again. Frankly, you'll need to be a little patient at the beginning of this fast-paced actioner. Director Alessandrin, working from a script by French filmmaker Luc Besson, gets carried away with speeding up jerky footage to set the mood of an unsettled Paris of the near-future.

The good news is that it's not necessary to have the original in your viewing past to enjoy this smorgasbord of martial arts majesty, sneering bad guys and gifted athlete-actors who perform most of their own stunts in a manner you might find quite amazing.

Raffaelli and Belle are masters of parkour, the art of basically running through objects (by finding openings others might not) rather than going around them when someone is in hot pursuit. In fact, many credit Belle with inventing the discipline.

Outlandish and wildly paced, parkour fits perfectly into the "District 13" scenario. Also, Raffaelli and Belle bring cool confidence to their characters; men of action but few words. If you can conjure up a magical combination of a tough, young, tight-lipped Clint Eastwood and a young kung-fu fighting Jackie Chan, you pretty much have the picture of what transpires here.

This is a film that might not appeal to everyone. If you thrive on inventive highly entertaining martial arts action and super-cool characters, however, look past the subtitles and pay a visit to "District 13: Ultimatum."

Posted by Larry Ratliff at 9:31 AM in 3 jalapeños, action, crime, drama, film, foreign film, R, thriller, urban drama | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

'Brooklyn's Finest': bad cop overkill

"Brooklyn's Finest" gets caught in a "Traffic" jam.

The location? That's easy, just follow director Antoine Fuqua's frequently flowing blood trail.

Actually, the original source of this blood-stained tale of three dirty cops on a potentially deadly collision course is Michael C. Martin.

A first-time screenwriter and former subway flagger in the bowels of New York City, Martin supplies Fuqua (also executive producer) with a tale of cops so dirty you might get the impression that no honest guys sworn "to serve and protect" remain on the New York beat.

Anyone who remembers Steven Soderbergh's scalding war-on-drugs drama "Traffic" (a best picture Oscar nominee) 10 years ago will recognize the similarity as separate stories and characters merge.

Excellent actor Don Cheadle (an Oscar nominee for "Hotel Rwanda in '04) also strengthens the mental bridge as well. Cheadle, one of the key characters in "Traffic," portrays undercover New York cop Clarence Butler, known as Tango on the streets in "Brooklyn's Finest."

Tango attempts the tough dance along the blurred line between good guys (police officers caring more about advancing than policing) and bad guys, including a loyal prison buddy and drug kingpin named Caz (Wesley Snipes).

Fuqua, who directed Denzel Washington to a best actor Academy Award win as a conflicted cop in "Training Day" (2001), is not lacking for excellent talent.

Ethan Hawke, who appeared opposite Washington in "Training Day," is deeply troubled cop No. 2 and veteran actor Richard Gere takes on the role of serial suicide attempter Eddie Dugan.

Dugan, a beat cop who favors prostitutes and coke nose floats, has seven days remaining before retirement and his police pension. Anyone who saw Morgan Freeman's performance in "Se7en" (1995), though, knows a lot can happen to a cop in a short stretch of days.

It doesn't help Dugan's chances any that he begins his day with a shot of Irish whiskey and a gun barrel pointed down his throat. In this gritty world, Russian Roulette ranks as the new breakfast of champions.

Hawke, a Texas native, has the most success dissolving under the skin of his character. Backed into a financial dilemma that's quite literally do-or-die, Hawke's Sal plays fast, loose and seriously stupid with police procedure, not to mention code of the mean streets.

If itchy trigger fingers, drug trafficking and frequent grisly violence bother you, there is no reason to waste your time or churning stomach on "Brooklyn's Finest."

From this aisle seat, it's a tough call. Fuqua, a talented director when he's got a good script, has run into a sincere, but flawed one here with a bloodthirsty, lust-thirsty tone that overpowers some gifted actors (including Ellen Barkin as Agent Smith).

Overkill is the order of the day and night in this flawed, predictable, sometimes a little laughable crime-drama.

Posted by Larry Ratliff at 12:05 AM in 2-1/2 jalapeños, crime, drama, film, R, urban drama | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Rounding down the usual suspects

Well, at least they got the title right.

"Cop Out" is just that, a lazy, clichéd excuse for a buddy cop action comic-drama.

Bruce Willis and TV comedian Tracy Morgan are the unfortunate actors out front.

I was the unfortunate film critic sitting in the dark wondering why time was standing still.

The only thing that kept my mind occupied (a little) was wondering how much longer director Kevin Smith can ride his "Clerks" success.

Willis (the "Die Hard" franchise), a talented big-screen vet who should know better, and Morgan play -- sort of -- Brooklyn cops with pressing agendas not necessarily related to police work.

Paul (Morgan) is convinced that his wife Debbie (Rashida Jones of "Parks and Recreation" on TV) is cheating on him. Jimmy (Willis) needs to somehow come up with almost 50,000 bucks to pay for his daughter's wedding.

In between, screenwriting brothers Robb and Mark Cullen (TV writer-producers trying the big screen) send the 21st century Keystone Kops on a quest to reclaim a rare 1952 baseball card. Ho-hum.

Along the way they'll rescue the ingénue, befriend a likable cat burglar (talented Seann William Scott) and, if you're like me, make you ponder why you're in the theater for this piece of buddy-cop toxic topic waste.

Smith has made a couple of interesting films since "Clerks," his only real knockout, of 1994. The fact that Hollywood continues to green-light projects with the creative free spirit in the director's chair shows faith, if not dogma.

"Cop Out" has no chance to become anything more than a cliché of successful buddy-cop comedies like the "Lethal Weapon" franchise featuring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover.

Willis and Morgan are no Gibson and Glover, although they aren't given much of a chance to really give it a comic-action go.

The film's opening scene, an embarrassingly lame affair where Morgan chants movie cop lines while overplaying the interrogation of a suspect, arrests any real forward comic movement before "Cop Out" gets out of the opening blocks.

If I've seen a less entertaining buddy cop comedy, I've buried it so deep in my subconscious I can no longer retrieve it.

Sorry, "Cop Out." Looks like you're it.

Posted by Larry Ratliff at 10:22 AM in 0-1/2 jalapeños, action, crime, drama, film, R, raunchy comedy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

'Holmes' for the holidays

Who let the hounds of the Baskervilles out?

British director Guy Ritchie, that's who.

Ritchie may push stylized filmmaking to the brink of over-indulgence in wildly entertaining crime-thrillers like "Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch." But when he's not catering to the whims of the lady of the house, now ex-wife Madonna, in a sultry, boring remake like "Swept Away," Ritchie knows how to fill a movie screen with explosive action worth watching.

"Sherlock Holmes," the umpteenth big screen or TV rehash of the adventures of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's revered consulting detective, is a visit to London's late 19th century 221-B Baker Street like never before.

With brooding Robert Downey Jr. in the lead as Holmes and Jude Law as collaborator Dr. John Watson, Ritchie's take on Holmes is to turn the keen observer, bare knuckles boxer and master of deduction into -- are you ready? -- an intellectual superhero.

Shocked? Don't be. It's an elementary 21st century movie character makeover, my dear movie-goer.

When I read the Sherlock Holmes short stories and novels in my youth, I found them intellectually fascinating for a kid of 12 or 13, but a little, shall we say, dusty.

With Ritchie behind the camera and a screenplay-by-committee (three screenwriters, working from a story conceived by two others), "Sherlock Holmes" is a mad dash with equal parts wit and truly special special effects. In layman's terms, that means that Ritchie blows stuff up real good.

Ritchie doesn't cater to Holmes' signatures, such as the old fogy deerstalker hat and the phrase "Elementary, my dear Watson."

The filmmaker does, however, cater to his own signatures. Slow-motion leads to sped-up action a couple of times (one too many, from this aisle seat). I must admit, though, it's an effective way to showcase Holmes' thought process as he prepares to take out an oversize goon or bare knucks boxer.

What I like best about this "Sherlock Holmes" is the performance of Downey. That shouldn't surprise anyone. Downey, a two-time Oscar nominee ("Chaplin," "Tropic Thunder"), is an immensely talented and versatile actor. Case in point, his temperamental inventor of war tools and anti-hero in "Iron Man" and the upcoming sequel.

Downey's Holmes, though also a superhero of sorts of his time, cares more about the intellectual challenge when "the game's afoot." In this case it's Mark Strong (also on screen in "The Young Victoria") as Lord Blackwood, a deviously worthy dark arts-loving adversary who warrants Holmes' full attention.

Law ("My Blueberry Nights"), who'll appear soon in "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" along with the late Heath Ledger, handles his role as Holmes' almost-equal partner with style and ease. And Rachel McAdams ("The Time Traveler's Wife") plays the sultry femme fatale role quite well as Irene Adler, a character mentioned briefly in Doyle's short story "A Scandal in Bohemia."

I'm not sure how the Holmes' expert devotees, the Baker Street Irregulars, will feel about their hero out front in a new-fashioned action thrill ride that, for the most part, delegates the deducting to the backseat.

I know this, though. This "Sherlock Holmes" is one hell of a stylized entertainment ride.

Posted by Larry Ratliff at 1:05 AM in 3-1/2 jalapeños, action, books, crime, drama, film, PG-13, thriller | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

A whole new meaning to 'cracking' the case

Filmmaker Werner Herzog and Nicolas Cage, a talented actor who thrives on taking chances, are volatile enough in separate projects.

Put them together in a violent crime-drama like "Bad Lieutenant," however, and it's like holding a stick of dynamite with a very short, fast-burning fuse.

Frankly, "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" (the full title) might be too jolting for the unsuspecting. Cage, as daring as any actor I've seen in about 30 years, plays the title character like he gets a rush from living down to that "bad" rap.

A back injury on the job in very recent post-Katrina New Orleans leads to pain killer addiction, then a desperate descent into what can best be described as a male version of a crack ho.

Rogue, out-of-control cop Terence McDonagh (Cage) doesn't just sell his body to get the smack he so craves, however. Terence gives up something that cheapens not only himself, but his fellow officers: justice.

"Bad Lieutenant" plays like the ugly flip-side of Al Pacino's "Serpico." Terence isn't just a dirty cop arresting dope dealers and doing buiness with them on the side. He wallows in it.

Terence is so consumed by "gotta-have-it-right now" that when he's away from his call girl girlfriend (Eva Mendes as Frankie Donnenfield) Terence is very likely to "arrest" a young women to grab what might be in her purse. He's always thinking sexual, too, and demanding "favors."

With Herzog in the director's chair, we get a filmmaker versatile enough to turn out a bone-chilling documentary about a bear lover who pays the ultimate price ("Grizzly Man") and an actor who'll stop at nothing to slither under the skin of even the seediest character.

Herzog ("Rescue Dawn," "The White Diamond"), working from William Finkelstein's sledgehammer of a screenplay, gives Cage a very dark cinematic alley to venture down. The result is a performance a rivet or two beyond riveting.

Cage doesn't always make wise project choices. "The Wicker Man" is a good enough example of that. When he's acting on his front burner, as he does here and as he did in "World Trade Center" and "The Weather Man," though, Cage is as good as any actor out there.

He shows that here. We don't just feel Terence's shaky, hair-trigger desperation. We can almost taste it. "Bad Lieutenant" isn't a pleasant cinematic destination, of course. People merely on extreme edge would be considered middle-of-the-roaders in this harsh environment.

It's impossible not to admire Cage's frantic, caged-animal performance, however, and Mendes ( "The Spirit," "We Own the Night") is equally up to speed, if you know what I mean, as the prostitute gal-pal.

Posted by Larry Ratliff at 3:57 PM in 3 jalapeños, crime, drama, film, R | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Mob-order bride

What extreme would you go to in order to own a snack bar?

In "Lorna's Silence," the award-winning drama from Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, the title character marries a junkie for the money and arranges a future marriage with a Russian mobster in hopes of securing her business dream.

In French and Albanian with subtitles, "Lorna's Silence" magnifies a young Albanian woman's drive to succeed and the soft heart that threatens to derail Lorna's plans.

Serious film fans should make a special effort to seek out "Lorna's Silence." In addition to a dazzling, almost hypnotic performance turned in by Arta Dobroshi ("Magic Eye"), this matter-of-fact, gritty tale of lives for trade and sale is another strong addition to the Dardenne list of films.

Who are the Dardennes? The critically acclaimed filmmaking brothers from Belgium won the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) top prize at the Cannes Film Festival for "Rosetta" (1999) and "L'enfant" (2005). "Lorna's Silence" took Best Screenplay honors at Cannes last year, where the film was also nominated for the Palme d'Or.

The Dardennes belong to a rare group of filmmakers. Bille August, Francis Ford Coppola, Emir Kusturica and Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are the only filmmakers to win the Palme d'Or twice.

We first meet Dobroshi (discovered in her native Republic of Kosovo) as Lorna as she's returning to the small Liège (Belgium) apartment she shares with her "husband" Claudy (Jérémie Renier). Lorna pays about as much attention to her Belgian husband as she might a stranger on the street.

We soon learn it's an arranged marriage. Once Lorna gets her Belgian citizenship papers, she has agreed to marry a Russian mobster anxious to obtain Belgian citizenship himself. That'll provide the money she needs to open the coveted snack bar.

The intrigue comes from the way the Dardennes stir the plot pot. Claudy is a heroin addict. In fact, a pleading needy one who begs Lorna to help him kick the junk. Though Lorna, defiant even to mob bosses at times, wants to take the time to get a traditional divorce before marrying the Russian, even though that'll mean waiting longer to open her dream business.

Cab-driving local mobster Fabio (Fabrizio Rongione), who has brokered the deal for Lorna, is equally determined to assist Claudy in an overdose to ice the deal quicker. Will Lorna go along?

Moving away from their usual 16 mm camera, the Dardenne brothers embrace more conventional 35 mm for the first time. The camera, less mobile than before, lets the characters come to it for a change. That, combined with the filmmakers' knack for gritty intrigue, ups the ante on the mysterious, hypnotic tone.

Posted by Larry Ratliff at 12:05 AM in 3 jalapeños, crime, drama, film, foreign film, R | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The guy who killed people out in the cold

"Whiteout" is a dramatic thriller that pulsates -- through its deliciously cheesy tone -- to the beat of a horror creature feature.

Don't expect "The Thing," or even "'The Thing' without the monster" as a colleague described (before viewing) this starring vehicle for cinematic tough gal Kate Beckinsale, however.

And there are no warring vampires or werewolves here, as in Beckinsale's popular "Underworld" fantasy series. Just howling wind, temperatures at minus-120 degrees and, more often than not, whiteout conditions. That occasionally makes for blurred confusion spotting the bad guy.

The first thing Beckinsale's U.S. Marshal Carrie Stetko does after coming in from the body-numbing cold is strip and hop into the shower. I warned you it was going to be cheesy and provide nods to horror flick sleaze.

Set in the South Pole frozen tundra of Antarctica (but actually shot in Canada), "Whiteout" gets down to the grisly and frigid business of tracking down a killer with a pick ax. But not until an action-packed pre-credits set piece featuring gunfire aboard a Russian transport plane and a crash that occurred years before.

A quartet of screenwriters and director Dominic Sena waste little time setting the whodunit theme and dangling red herrings (bad guy decoys) amid the growing anxiety of an approaching storm.

Marshal Stetko has her bags packed. She's ready to end her self-imposed purgatory she began after an arrest got very ugly in Miami when Antarctica's first murder victim is found stuck to the ice. The clock is ticking on the last flight out for six months. So time, as they say, is of the essence.

"Whiteout" is more entertainment structured than thriller based, although that bone-splitting ax is sure to figure prominently near the frenzied finale.

Frivolity (Antarctic beach party anyone?) definitely mixes in with the serious stuff. That's why I chuckled under my breath as the lights went down that they might as well toss The Surfaris' "Wipe Out" into the mix.

Sure enough, "Ha ha ha ha ha wipe out" (not "Whiteout" as I had hoped) shows up as whiskey flows during the beach party scene, but it's a new version by Steve Isles.

This is the kind of thriller you can let your mind wander and have that kind of fun with. After all, the plot plods its way to a fairly predictable conclusion.

Beckinsale, a qualified enough leading lady, drew a Screen Actor's Award nomination channeling screen legend Ava Gardner in Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator." She barely has to fire up her emoting engines in this one.

There are a couple of scenes of decent dialogue between veteran actor Tom Skerritt as good ol' Doc. And Beckinsale gets in some spirited almost romantic banter with Gabriel Macht ("The Spirit"), whom she may or may not need to be wary of.

Director Sena ("Swordfish," "Gone in 60 Seconds") called the shots on "Kalifornia" (1993), a dangerous road crime drama I admired. This one's good for a chilly thrill or two, especially for the mainstream popcorn crowd.

Posted by Larry Ratliff at 12:10 AM in 2-1/2 jalapeños, crime, drama, film, graphic novel, R, thriller | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Movie Reviews

12 posts categorized "crime"

05/14/2010

The old man and the siege

03/12/2010

Tallying up the 'Prophet' and loss statement

A Romanian cop handcuffed, by definition

03/05/2010

'District 13,' the French connection

'Brooklyn's Finest': bad cop overkill

02/26/2010

Rounding down the usual suspects

12/25/2009

'Holmes' for the holidays

11/25/2009

A whole new meaning to 'cracking' the case

10/02/2009

Mob-order bride

09/11/2009

The guy who killed people out in the cold

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12 posts categorized "crime"

05/14/2010

Harry Brown

On the Web

03/12/2010

A Prophet

On the Web

Police, Adjective

On the Web

03/05/2010

District 13: Ultimatum

On the Web

Brooklyn's Finest

On the Web

02/26/2010

Cop Out

On the Web

12/25/2009

Sherlock Holmes

On the Web

11/25/2009

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

On the Web

10/02/2009

Lorna's Silence

On the Web

09/11/2009

Whiteout

On the Web

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