Thursday - Ein mörderischer Tag

'Thursday' is a good movie but we recognize too much from other movies in its genre and therefor it lacks originality. If you have seen 'Goodfellas', 'Reservoir Dogs', 'Pulp Fiction' and a bunch of other movies that were inspired by that last one you have seen almost every part from 'Thursday'. There is a scene that involves torturing that has even the same dialogue as in Tarantino's 'Reservoir Dogs'.

Still, it is a good movie. Because not every part is taken from the same movie the complete thing has some new ideas and some nice touches. The opening sequence to begin with, is quite impressive. We meet Nick (Aaron Eckhart), Dallas (Paulina Porizkova) and Billy Hill (James Le Gros). They get into a fight with a clerk in a gas station over a cup of coffee and it ends with the death of that clerk and the arrival of a cop. We've already glimpsed at a suitcase with a lot of money in it.

Then we meet Casey (Thomas Jane) in Houston. He is married to Christine (Paula Marshall) but used to be working with Nick. She doesn't know a thing. Then Nick gives him a call and says that he is coming. We learn that he has screwed his friends over and the problems are about to start.

What happens exactly is not for me to reveal but we meet some other characters, all interested in the money or the drugs Nick also had with him. Casey has flushed those down the drain.

Very funny moments, a lot of blood, a very funny sub-plot involving actor Michael Jeter and some surprises (although if you really think about it you see them coming) this is a good movie with some very fine performances, nicely directed by Skip Woods.

As I stated earlier this year, in my review of Swordfish (which was scripted by this films writer/director/producer Skip Woods) this is a good film. It ranks very high up there in my crime flick list among Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, Pulp Fiction and Snatch. Basically I think this film is for me what Reservoir Dogs was for many people - a cult classic - although I prefer to compare it with Pulp Fiction. I mean I never liked Tarantino's first effort a lot, but I sure as hell liked this one as much as I like Pulp Fiction, for it simply has everything a classic needs. A great story and good actors. OK the budget might be not as big as in for instance Godzilla, The Avengers of Mission to Mars but it sure as hell beats the living crap out of those films (and numerous others).

The story of this film, is about a man named Casey (Thomas Jane), who has settled down with his wife in Houston. Unexpectedly an old friend of his comes by disrupting his life, revealing his secrets and basically making his day a living hell (and a bloody one too).

The film is very original and quite bloody / sexually tinted. So based on that first and that last quality I can assure you that if you like this film, you'll also like Swordfish, which of course has a much bigger budget and more famous faces than this one but is just as good (though not as bloody and not quite as sexually tinted). I saw this film for the second time last night and I really enjoyed it (again). I mean all the characters and actors are good, although I must give very big credits to Thomas Jane and Paulina Porizkova, who were the best actors (and had the best characters) in the film. Also I'd have to thank Skip Woods for being so imaginative and original. Brutal, sexual, offensive??? Maybe, but sure as heck enjoyable and a thrill ride to the end.

8 out of 10

You may have heard of this film only in the context of the noted film critic Roger Ebert's attack on it as something that "crosses the line" when it comes to violence and offensiveness. (I'm still wondering if he and I saw the same movie at the Toronto Film Festival!)

I beg to differ with Mr. Ebert's opinion that any person with basic sensibilities will be completely offended by this film. I don't believe it necessarily pushes the limits that had been previously set by such "just as over the top" offerings as PULP FICTION and RESERVOIR DOGS. This film might suffer from the fact that it is NOT a Tarantino production, but if you like cartoonish violence, obvious stereotypes and oddball chitchat on cultural themes (Star Trek, anyone?), it will not disappoint. I went into it with no preconceptions (I bought a ticket at the last minute on the day of the 2nd screening) and was surprisingly entertained.

I hadn't seen this movie for years. I saw it the other night, and realized just how frickin' entertaining it really was. The likable Jane gives a true meaning to the word reformed. Now a talented architect, his past catches up with him, in the form of his ex partner in crime (Eckhart) This Thursday is hell day for him. Eckhart, who at the start, can't decide which coffee to have, and the female cashier is Indian, so you know what that means, marks a great ambiguous start to Pulp Fiction'ish flick. Unlike Jane, Eckhart hasn't changed his tune, and brings down a tonne load of trouble on Jane, making this Thursday, the worst one he's ever had. After Eckhart takes Jane's loaner car out, Jane's day gets worse quick, when trouble keeps coming through his door, some of his visitors, including hottie Prosnokova (where has she been all these years?) are real nasty and unbalanced pieces of work. She delivers a real sexy performance, and a sexy telling of her experiences when watching lesbo porn, where James Le Gross, is just outright sick, the sickest one. Plummer's fun, as wannabe Jamaican rap artist/drug dealer and in this case, hit-man too. He's very generous when it comes to sharing his gunja, where Jeter's impelling as Jane's marriage adviser, whatever. Even bad apple detective (Rourke) makes an entrance, with a severed head in a box no less. Be prepared, Thursday has some pretty heavy shock violence, but it's very unrealistic too. Thursday has something going for it though, where this owes a lot to it's characters in their good performances, especially Prosnokova. It's short sharp sweet, and never boring, and Jane is great as the lead, where 84 minutes couldn't be better spent at the video shop. Slick, it is, as the way it ends, with the underused Paula Marshall, as Jane's girlfriend. Thursdays have never been more exciting. For Jane fans. especially.

Loved the movie, could kick myself for not buying it right away when the Unrated version was (briefly) re-released on DVD and generally available.

Similar in flavor to "Pulp Fiction," but I wouldn't call it a knock-off, as so many have. Tarantino and Woods both have a talent for realistic, believable dialogue by colorful but still believable characters in a genre where it's seldom seen. But, in this movie Woods also shows a flair for using the absurd, and annoying, realities of everyday life to move the plot along. Woods, like great comedians, exposes the little frustrations of life that we all experience but few will admit to, and deals with them in politically incorrect, yet satisfying, finality.

This movie is well worth watching: sex, blood, outrageous dialogue supported by even more outrageous action, corruption, redemption, and the satisfaction of finally seeing a loud-mouthed, nagging wife at a loss for words when she is forced to confront the fact that there's more to her husband than just the long list of imagined faults she's dreamed up.

See it...soon!