Played - Abgezockt

Just saw Played at a London screening. Although convoluted at times the many twists and turns in the story climax to a rewarding pay off.

Stand out performances: Val Kilmer is superb in that zany Kilmer way. Gabriel Byrne is not featured enough in Played but when he appears on screen his intensity is gripping.

The lead role is played by Mick Rossi who does a fine job and creates a character that you have empathy for right off the bat, at times he reminded me of a young Al Pacino.

His low key performance works well in a world of pop up colourful characters. Played with it's powerhouse cast and it's street cool is something to watch out for.

Okay, I got the screener at the video store I work at & thought the cast was interesting enough to give it a try. I've seen enough of these promos (especially from Lionsgate) to not expect much of a film, or more than a minute of each 'name' from the cover, so after reading some reviews here on IMDb I went in with low expectations.

Overall, I'd have to say I pleasantly surprised. Lots of nice little plot twists, several double-crosses, a few scenes of genuine suspense.

The movie centers around and features (newcomer?) Mick Rossi in almost every scene, and his performance only suffers in comparison to the more seasoned actors showing their stuff. He does a decent job as an unlucky little fish caught in a sea of meaner, bigger fish.

And the long list of 'guests' do a stand-out job of fleshing out their characters & keeping the story compelling. Val Kilmer is great as a dopey 'cleaner'; Vinnie Jones is nicely menacing as a crooked cop; Gabriel Byrne, in the few minutes of screen time he has, is perfect as an understated dark angel; Joanne Whalley is strangely enticing as a long-suffering but supportive ex-love interest. Anthony LaPaglia & (the great) Bruno Kirby, unfortunately, add little as tough LA detectives, but arguably they didn't have much to work with.

My only real problem would be the ending. One of those films that just kind of stops, and after so many little twists it would have been nice for something tighter to finish on.

If you're at all interested, and can find it cheap, don't be afraid to give it a try.

As others have said, do not be mislead by the name cast. nearly all the major name actors have very little screen time.

It is the first major role for Mick Rossi (he also did the screenplay)

This film had a small budget & it shows.

The production values are nil.

The acting is only so-so.

The script is chock full of the F word & variations of same plus other choice vulgarisms.

I cant say I hated this film, Its just not good just mediocre.

Ratings ** (out of 4) 52 points (out of 100) IMDb 4 (out of 10_

Mick Rossi gets out of prison after eight years. He's taken the fall, hasn't talked about his accomplices to get a better deal. His reward is a hit job in Los Angeles. But he will discover that there are no rules, no loyalties, and no honor among thieves. And the cops are just as dirty.

This is a dirty, gritty, poorly realized movie, but one thing it does have is the realization, after eighty years of making movies about criminals, is that they don't do it out of a sense of anything but what they get out of it. There are n loyalties carried over from childhood, no Runyonesque malapropisms, just raw viciousness as portrayed by some fine performers like Val Kilmer, Gabriel Byrnes, Vinnie Jones, Anthony Lapaglia, Bruno Kirby, and Roy Dotrice.

I'm not sure what I was expecting from this movie, especially since reviews have stated that much of the script was improvised. The film seemed fairly tightly-scripted to me...perhaps this is a tribute to the cast or director.

I also expected to be put-off by the limited screen time of the major names in the movie. To the contrary, I found it refreshing to have good actors in such small, but crucial, roles. This is the only way to avoid making movies into star vehicles that sacrifice story and direction for the sake of glorifying one or more of the lead characters.

On the other hand, the plot left a bit to be desired. There are quite a few loose ends that never get tied up, including the massive loose end right before the final credits roll. There's a difference between being ambiguous and simply stopping the story in the middle of an arc. This is your basic 2.5-act movie.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie and the characters. There's virtually no character development, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. This is worth watching if you enjoy "small" stories about tragedy and get a kick out of a bunch of well-know actors suppressing their desire to be the center of attention.