Motives - Wenn Begierde zerstört

No pun intended - this reminds me a bit of the Trois series (if you can call it that I reckon) ... this thankfully was only two movies: this one and the sequel of course. Not really a great story behind it - and even worse humans representing them. I doubt many will feel with the main character here ... we are supposed to root for him and he goes and does stuff that ... well again mostly we shouldn't like.

That said, it doesn't mean he did something horrible ... the thing he is accused of. His wife seems quite unaware - and you may not like her. Even when she does make sense (trying to hold him accountable) ... I reckon some may find her annoying. But Vivica A. Fox is right ... and should actually be the most likeable character ... until she undoes everything towards the end ... which may make you think ... well I won't go into details! And the sequel will shine some light on the questions that may have felt like they are not answered here.

Still predictable - I think you can waste your time with better stuff. Even if I do like the actors (most of them) involved in this project.

This film tries to combine several genres, in a quite a strange mix. The plot happens in Atlanta, and involves a businessman and restaurant owner married un-happily apparently with a charity organization leader, involved in all type of dubious activities, including stock market fraud, murder, and a steamy extra-marital affair. The pace and the moral approach is of a 70s TV soap opera, combined with a 90s erotic thriller. Nothing too bad, but nothing original or really interesting either. Characters are one-dimensional, their physical appearance is all that counts. The plot twist towards the end works quite well, or it worked for me in any case.

The odd thing is that all main characters, without any exception are Afro-American. This does not work in my opinion - the American society as I know it is multi-racial, and reversed segregation does not work, not on life, and not on screen. Why? Is this meant to be a revenge to the all segregated approach of film making in the 40s or 50s? Well, it does not succeed to be more than a DVD rental minor film, and the reason is probably that it never tries to be more.

Not to be mis-understood, Afro-American film-making can be great (mentioning just Spike Lee is kind of trivial) but only when it approaches life and minority causes in a realistic and good taste manner. This is not the case here. 4 out of 10 on my personal scale.

Unlike some reviewers who didn't like this movie because it has an all black cast, I liked it BECAUSE it had an all black cast that wasn't singing, dancing or rapping, or being portrayed as drug addled ghetto trash. I like seeing black ppl in "normal" stories about lust, murder, money and revenge. However, this is where my praise ends.

THIS MOVIE SUCKED THE HOT AIR OUT OF ALL BALLOONS EVERYWHERE!!!!!

I'm not sure if it was the plot, the sophomoric acting or the lazy direction, but this film sunk to the bottom of cinematic trash and all the king's horses and all the king's men could not save it.

Personally, I think Vivica A. Fox is above this kind of straight to video crap, but if it pays the bills...whatever. Do you boo!

The scenery was beautiful and should be nominated for an Oscar, however.

If you've nothing better to do on a lazy Saturday afternoon...maybe you want to get your taxes done to some background noise...then this might be the film for you. Otherwise, you'd be better off checking out L.A. Confidential or The Devil in the Blue Dress for any kind of cinematic satisfaction.

The plot: An arrogant businessman tries to hold on to his charmed life after an ill-advised affair threatens to bring down everything.

Motives is a low budget, direct-to-video erotic thriller. Erotic thrillers often end up being half gritty noir and half soft-core porn, and Motives isn't any different. The noir element was fairly straightforward if a bit derivative, with a pretty decent twist at the end. However, the sex scenes were so unconvincing and amateurish that I almost laughed. I've seen better sex scenes in made-for-cable movies back in the 1980s when there was nothing else to watch after midnight.

Motives has an all Black cast, which could be either viewed as a gimmick or an attempt to break out of the stereotypical "Black" movie. I think it's a bit of both, really. It's also got a soundtrack chock full of R&B ballads, which really didn't do anything for me. I prefer heavy metal or classical music. Given the movie's demographics, however, this is probably a better choice than Iron Maiden or Judas Priest.

Though it sometimes degenerates into soap opera melodrama, it always comes back to thriller territory eventually. If you're looking for an original, slick, and sexy thriller, Motives might not be the best choice. If you just want something to pass the time, it'll do.

Motives is a souped up soap opera with a restricted rating due to graphic sexual content, more sex with a little violence thrown in . Everyone looked so pretty and the life these fine people lived definately makes you want to covet. It was an interesting film just easily one read like a Soap Opera hyped up in its own melodrama.

Emery Sims played by pretty boy Shamar Moore, is just that, a pretty boy who owns a restaurant business who's very wealthy and respected in the community. When a consensual affair goes wrong along with a murder investigation pending, Sims world begans to spiral down. But as the events unfold Sims begins to question the ones closest to him including his most trusted wife played by Vivica Fox. I thought her perfomance was bland in this movie as they made her into the attractive yet subdued nagging wife.

So yes its been done before and its all acting. Need I say two of Young and the Restless' (Moore and Rowell) were plucked from this sitcom. I also found the beginning subplot unnecessarily used for this story. I do however support the rise of more all star casts of African Americans in films whether their backed independently or not. I just wished that the storylines weren't so confined to stereotypes and overdone material. There's no slighting of the actors because I'm a fan of Fox and Rowell. And let's not forget the knockout performance from Mr. Joe Torrey himself. Just lose the material. You have a potential fan waiting.