Once Upon a Time in Venice

I went into this one not exactly sure what I was going to get, considering Bruce Willis has churned out a phenomenal amount of bad movies at an astounding pace in recent years.

What I watched was, to myself at least, a movie that kept me laughing throughout as things just kept getting more and more complicated for Willis' character.

I must warn that if you are to watch this, don't expect the action star Bruce Willis, go in expecting something akin to Hudson Hawk, which is a guilty pleasure of mine that always gets me mocked by my friends.

Good comedic moments and fairly good acting for what it is.

Recommended.

80s action icon Bruce Willis makes an average of four films a year. That is twice more than what buddy Stallone does yearly. Trouble is, these films are either poorly marketed or badly written or Willis is tasked with supporting roles opposite new actors in lead roles. Which is why Once Upon a Time in Venice has potential but how well it performs will be anyone's guess. There are lots of established actors along with Willis in an interesting setup that resembles a cross between a Guy Ritchie and Quentin Tarantino film. Playing a retired cop turned private investigator (Moonlighting anyone?), Willis plays a loner whose dog is kidnapped by petty criminals. To get his dog back, Willis' Steve Ford must navigate through a series of heists and dodgy characters, including loan sharks and dimwitted gangsters.

It's a film that sounds very familiar and doesn't require a whole lot of thinking to sit through. But as an action-comedy, Once Upon a Time in Venice is a misfire that should have gone straight to streaming video, or the type of film you watch in a hotel room before a flight. There are moments that are supposed to be funny, like Ford's best friend (John Goodman) going through a divorce, or Ford trying to infiltrate a gangster hideout (inaudible mumbling from Jason Momoa), but there's something missing. There are other popular actors too, albeit shoehorned in bit roles that never add up to the overall story.

Debut director Mark Cullen has a long history writing for TV and it shows. Most scenes in the film feel disjointed or like skits at best. At worst it feels like the script was filmed soon after first draft. That's a shame because this film had all the juicy ingredients for a fun crime caper along the likes of Snatch or Jackie Brown. Instead, the film is weighed down by dull-as-lead directing that even John McClane wouldn't shoot his way through. Speaking of Willis, and at 62, there are still plenty of good films he can make as long as the choice is right. Let's just hope Willis doesn't disappear down the rabbit hole like Nic Cage.

Pure shtick that reminded me of the old "Airplane" movies. Bruce Willis does comedy well and has a great supporting cast: - a thin and bi-polar John Goodman - Famke Janssen in a much lighter role that her Blacklist espionage - a little bit of Kal Penn playing a 3rd world bodega clerk.

Willis has to jump through a web of interconnected heists in hope of recovering his stolen dog. The bits are klutzy and brilliant to the end. While I was amused, I cannot recommend over all the other greater movies.

I will not said it was good neither bad , it's watchable, some moments were funny and some weren't. the story was (ok) !! , the acting was ok too !! but this kind of movies, you only gonna watch it just to kill time , nothing else ,nothing special.

5/10

An ex-Los Angeles detective turned PI seeks out the ruthless gang that stole his dog.

Director, writer Mark Cullen's entertaining beach bum action caper which sees Bruce Willis as Steve Ford return to centre stage instead of small cameos. Thankfully Willis isn't just there to just pick up a pay cheque, its very much his own film, and he's as cheeky and charming as ever.

The on location feel captures the heat of Venice Beach and Cullen offers plenty of colourful locale visuals. The characters are all quirky and larger than life including humorous Jason Momoa as mumbling gangster Spider and Steve's heartfelt troubled friend Dave (excellent John Goodman). Things get more and more outlandish as Steve tries to solve a number of weird cases. Sadly, Famke Janssen is wasted as Katey Ford.

With echoes of the recent The Nice Guys (2016) there's a few shoot outs and double crosses with hints of watered down Tarantino thrown in for good measure, Cullen like the moments of comedy set these up with perfect timing thanks to some effective staging and Matt Deizel fine editing.

Overall, while not Willis' best it's an almost return to likes of Last Boy Scout form rather than Die Hard, still it's good fun and worth a viewing.