Bad Faith

Produced for Canadian television, BAD FAITH is based upon a novel of the same name, and is scripted by the author of the original, Ian Adams, who has the honour of being the first English language writer commanded by a court to reveal sources of information used as landscape for a work of fiction, an earlier published tale of international espionage. The film and book are fabricated versions of events brought to light during the Lower Mainland Missing Children Case wherein a dozen youngsters were sexually assaulted and slain by Canada's most infamous serial murderer, Clifford Olson, with a petty criminal, or "rounder", being arrested for the crimes he may not have committed. The U.S. video edition is titled COLD BLOODED, a just choice as each featured player is unprincipled or on the verge of being so, with an investigative news writer (Tony Nardi) as the only partly sympathetic figure yet nonetheless unscrupulous in his journalistic selectivity as relating to honesty. Acting laurels must go to Brian Markinson who gives a bravura performance as an informant who could be the key to a law enforcement smoke screen that also involves the local attorney general's office, while there are numerous other fine turns, notably those contributed by Michael Moriarty, John Kapelos, and Paul Coeur. An accurate mise-en-scène is created by the producers of this capably directed and edited work shot in a hibernal Calgary and, despite a snarled plot that nearly obviates ready comprehension, there is a satisfying bite to the dialogue that lifts the noirish affair to a level beyond the norm.

The movie jumps in after several teens have been missing. There is very little action/suspense to the movie. It plods along in a dull fashion, and the viewer knows its going to be one of the star characters that is guilty, so its not even a big surprise. The big surprise for me was being very bored by the movie. Michael Moriarty and Patty Lupone are listed as stars, but until near the end they have very little substantial scenes or dialog. The movie is advertised as a hunt for a serial killer, but not much is given to show any forensic evidence found, how to link it to a suspect, where the murders took place, and the big Why the murders. The end solves the "mystery" but it is not very exciting; in fact it is a boring conclusion.

What a boring film - to illustrate this is the fact it was shown at 2 in the morning bad film bad cast no storyline that you could follow kept jumping all over the place my favourite scene was where the journalist went to see the lawyer who we had only seen about twice before this but anyway he was going to try and strike a deal with her and what was she doing feeding small pieces of meat to a lion like where was she meant to be in a zoo!! to put it bluntly this film blew chunks thats two hours of my life I'm not getting back! Its amazing how a film like this gets made obviously the subject matter is important but there should be some sort of standard and conclusion to a film of this type two words don't bother

A dozen youths are dead or missing in a metropolis in western Canada and the police force is pressured to solve it. A newspaper reporter (Tony Nardi) and a detective (John Kapelos) want the truth, but the investigation is muddled by the chief inspector's dubious relationship with a "snitch" (Kenneth Welsh and Brian Markinson). Michael Moriarty plays the city prosecutor and Gloria Reuben a defense lawyer. Patti LuPone is on hand as the formidable District Attorney.

"Cold Blooded" (2000) is a crime drama that debuted on Canadian television as "Bad Faith" and went straight-to-video in other countries. It's based on Ian Adams' 1983 book "Bad Faith," which was inspired by Canada's most infamous serial killer, Clifford Olson, whose murders were committed in the suburbs of Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1980-81. Adams also wrote the script for this movie.

Don't expect a lot of action. This is a talky drama that focuses on the dynamics of a big city investigation and the political complexities thereof. The realistic, noir-ish scenario is interesting enough, but some elements of the story are confusing and something happens at the end that is so contrived and predictable it's eye-rolling. But, then again, it IS a movie.

While it debuted on TV in Canada, "Cold Blooded" is a hard R-rated picture with quite a bit of female nudity (just a heads-up). It's reminiscent of "Midnight Cop" (1988), albeit with superior editing.

The film runs 1 hour, 37 minutes, and was shot in Calgary, Alberta.

GRADE: B-