The Death and Life of Bobby Z

Paul walker, who died in 2013. He had made all those fast and furious films. He's tim kearney, just out of prison. Agent grusza (laurence fishburne) wants him to pretend to be the dealer bobby z so a hostage swap can be made. It's all pretty silly. The bad guys are all just terrible shots.. .they never seem to hit kearney, his horse, or bobby's son. And it moves so slowly...long pauses. And who says "he's heading south by southwest" ?? No-one. Maybe sailors. Most of the script is just silly and unlikely. And the feds don't really want kearney to succeed, for some reason. And it's so convoluted, we can see why. Imdb states this was filmed in 2005, but wikipedia says it was released in 2007, and went directly to video. Not usually a good sign. Directed by john herzfeld. Based on the book by don winslow. I'll give this one a "just okay".

While it's no worse than much of the action movie junk that makes it to theatres, Bobby Z, originally entitled The Death and Life of Bobby Z, is a action thriller with Tim Kearney (Walker) as our hero. Kearney is a convict who's an ex-Marine and clearly not so much a bad person as one who has frequently found himself in trouble due to circumstance rather than intent. This gives director John Herzfeld, whose own career hacs been on less than an up-tick since the appropriately named 15 Minutes came and went in about that long, a premise for having a good guy hero who still fits the label of a tough convict.

The slightly convoluted storyline sees Kearney – whose life is in peril since he killed a biker gang boss in prison (self defence, of course) – offered an opportunity to walk free, as long as he's willing to impersonate a drug kingpin who happens to look just like Kearney, and who has just died. Fishburne plays the Drug Enforcement Agency cop who puts Kearney up to this task.

Before you can say 'gunfights are fun', Kearney is being shot at by the cops, manhandled by Mexican drug thugs, pursued by the bikers, and generally in demand by everyone, regardless of whether they think he's Kearney or Bobby Z. Our hero, of course, dodges the bullets, battles the bad guys, befriends Bobby Z's son (who has never met his dad) and romances a beautiful woman (Olivia Wilde) whose relationship with the bad guys is a bit hazy, but clearly quite intimate.

Filled with head scratching twists and cornball dialogue, this is not exactly a brilliant film. Yet it's got a slick look and at least a few passably enjoyable action scenes. And Walker, while never likely to be mistaken for a Shakespearian thespian, has the good looks and charisma to lead the way here. At least his character isn't loaded down with as many stupidly threatening lines as Fishburne's. Wilde also does a passable job as Kearney's conflicted love interest; she's mainly called upon to look good (which she accomplishes rather easily), but also doesn't muff her lines when she does have something to say.

Movie was funny, entertaining and I enjoyed it.

Let me just start off by saying that i am quite an admirer of Paul Walker even thou he is not such a good actor i kinda like his style, this particular film had in my opinion a horrible script and a lot of pieces that didn't fit at all but it was really entertaining at least for my part. I gave it a 7, even thou i think i might have over rated it,the actress thou that played Elizabeth, i don't know her name yet but i will check it out after i post this comment, is a complete knock - out and i would see this film again just for another glimpse at her beauty-full face.

In an other of business i was quite surprised by the distribution of Lawrance Fishbourne in a secondary part like the one he had, i consider him a pretty good actor, a lot better than "macho man" Paul Walker.

In the end i'm just gonna say that i think they casted P. Walker just because he is a good "moaner" seeing him doing almost the same "battle sounds" in every film he had played in GrrrAAaarRRr (watch and listen closely). Cya

There is nothing much to be too excited of at this movie, but still entertaining. I wonder why it made its way to the silver screen because it's not better than dozens of Straight to Video productions. Storywise, you will get nothing more than you'd also get if you rent a Jean-Claude Van Damme Film. Same goes for "character development". There are some nice shootouts and fights, but nothing remarkable. It sometimes feels as if you were watching a film from the seventies: there is nothing really stylish or spectacular in the action scenes. Although it feels good to see movie that doesn't use the much common and enough-seen style of today's action flicks, the way this film shows the action seems out-dated. Also the film's pace should be higher, again it feels 70s-ish. As usual these days, there are some nice twists and turns in the story. Paul Walker does a decent job, but not as convincing as in "Running Scared". Laurence Fishburne he fails to put any life in his bad guy role. I am not impressed of Olivia Wilde in the leading female role. At least she tries hard to be more than decorative. 5/10

I don't know if the story was intended like that but for half a movie things are vaygly explained to the point one would think the movie is bad, even dough everything is explained I believe they could have done that differently. There are some scenes where Director, John Herzfeld, was careless and it shows for example the relationship between the main character and the boy progress very unrealistic and rushed. More love could have gone in the script.

What can we say about the actors, legends. Paul Walker is right at home with the character, Laurence Fishburne is a bit out of his usual role here, but he manages it just fine and Olivia Wilde my God that Olivia Wilde's beauty is simply unmatched back in those days, she fits the role greatly and is not just show and no go, she does great.

There are very little special effects here and are all practical effects so that's a plus, but the camera work is average at best, some poor angle choices and camera stills, there are a couple of "that will do's" here and there.

This is a pizza movie in any day of the week, I don't think it's a weekend movie.

Enjoy!!