Cold Revenge - Ohne Kontrolle

This is the worst film I have ever had the misfortune to sit through. Painful as it was I managed to get to the end, but many of the people I watched it with didn't. I am surprised at this films high rating, I gave it no more than 1!

Nothing really new and spectacular in this British-American 2001 co-production. A bunch of gangsters are robbing a bank, but during their escape they have got a fatal car accident, only a few survive. Later on, they find together again and are planning their next coup... and all those things are gonna happen that you except from such a standard gangster coup movie - brothers in arms, a blonde femme fatale, a groovy sex scene, a well-planned coup with too many people involved, some more gangsters and shootings lots of revenge, of course...

At least "Cold Revenge", as the movie was titled on German TV, avoids copying the fake coolness and hipness of many post Tarantino gangster movies of the last ten years, and Peter Weller and Bryan Brown are doing a fine job, too, but the director fails to find an own, individual style for his gangster drama. There are some nice camera ankles and a thrilling bank robbery in the beginning of the movie, but later on, it all becomes boring and standard in this movie... and just like the tired Weller and Brown, who had their best points of their careers in the late eighties when they starred in the successful "Robocop" and "FX" movies, you are losing interest during this movie... and even Weller's cool Robocop sunglasses can't change that. A missed opportunity.

I admit I started from a false assumption with this film, I thought the story had promise and the leads, especially Weller and Brown would make it enjoyable. Wrong! Every element of the films production comes off as being second rate. Weller and Brown, who are not done any favors by their choice of material, struggle at first, before giving in to complete disinterest. The plot is basic, crims double cross one another for diamonds. This film seems to be double crossing just to fill the ninety or so minutes.The twists and turns are nothing new, predictability renders them a complete yawn. Save your money and put this one back on the shelf.

This movie was a terrible waste of good talent. I have seen Peter Weller and Bryan Brown in much better movies. This is sad that they had to stoop this low just to make some money. Better luck next time guys. I have seen some bad movies in my day, but I must say that if I were a school teacher and were to give this movie a grade, it would probably be a D-. This isn't a B movie it is a D- movie. Sorry this is so cruel but I can't think of a worse waste of time and money than this movie. The plot of the movie was interesting, but very poorly laid out in script. It lacked a lot of organization that is necessary for a movie or a play to be successful. All this movie was, was a lot of murder, mayhem and sex. None of which make it a movie that I would enjoy. My family did not enjoy it either.

Okay, this isn't going to win any awards. However, it's not a bad piece of popcorn entertainment as long as you can ignore some glaring continuity errors and clunky dialogue. The lead performances are unusually strong Bryan Brown plays it just right, MacFadyen does a great scumbag impression while Weller adds gravitas to an unoriginal character. I hadn't seen Weller in anything for a few years and he looks very good for his age, the verbal sparring between Brown and himself are one of the highlights. In many ways, it reminded me of the John Flynn movies of the Eighties full of tough-talking, testosterone blokes, good action and risible dialogue.