The Ministers - Mein ist die Rache

Barely Watchable and Almost Average Movie that is a Jumble of Laments on Religion, Revenge, Retribution, Loss, and other Such Things. The Cringe Factor is Close at hand and the Intrigue Waivers while the Sporadic Violence is just there.

What must have at first seemed a Challenge for Leguizamo seems Unattainable as Each Twin is Underplayed as to Their Respective Good/Damaged Characters. The rest of the Cast is Hit and Miss and the Plot, when it doesn't Veer off Course, is Interesting Enough to Maintain some Mild Musings as to Motive and Hidden Realities.

Overall it is not a Complete Failure but doesn't Amount to Much after all is Said and Done. In Fact, the Ending may be the Weakest Part in this Weak Film, although there are some other Vapid Sub-Plots that might also be a Contender.

When one watches a Frank Reyes film, one knows the movie will be entertaining and there will be plenty of action. Reyes is a disciple of John Singleton. One watches his films for entertainment and for escapism, nothing more. Thirteen years after her father was slain, and now a New York City homicide detective, she (the lead actress) sets out to discover the truth behind the gruesome murder. The movie has a kind of religious theme and is a psychological thriller with a nice arc from start to finish. Great acting from John Leguizamo, Harvey Keitel and Wanda De Jesus, who is a "regular" from Reyes films. Don't analyze every frame, just take it for what it is and sit back and enjoy the film.

In the flatfooted psycho-religio thriller "The Ministers," John Leguizamo plays Scripture-spouting twin brothers - one with a scarred face for purposes of differentiation - who've made it their life's mission to gun down those responsible for the deaths of their parents and brother, leaving religious tracts with the bodies as calling cards. Florencia Lozano plays a beautiful cop from the Bronx whose father, also a cop, was dispatched by the hood-and-mask-wearing boys years earlier for reasons that aren't entirely revealed till the end.

This Avenging Angel scenario has pretty much been done to death at this point, and "The Ministers" brings nothing new or interesting to the genre. Franc. Reyes is responsible not only for the contrived, melodramatic screenplay and lackluster, pedestrian direction, but also for eliciting some of the worst performances of their careers out of Leguizamo and that crusty, battle-scarred stalwart, Harvey Keitel, as a veteran cop with a secret. After all, with material this lame, it's rather hard to lay too much of the blame at the feet of the actors.

A New York City detective (Celeste - Florencia Lozano) searches for "the ministers," who murdered her father in front of her years ago, and who are still killing. She unwittingly becomes involved with one of the killers (Dante - John Leguizamo).

I came into this movie with low expectations. Nearly every review I saw of it made it look pretty bad, but I will watch pretty much any movie regardless of what the reviewers say. Unfortunately, I ended up having to agree with those reviews.

The acting in this movie just felt really awkward most of the time. Every time Harvey Keitel was on screen it seemed like they just shoved him in front of the camera and threw lines at him without ever letting him see a script. The one scene I'm talking about in particular is when he is crying and begging Celeste to not go...man, it was just embarrassing to watch. John Leguizamo was decent most of the time, but at other times it seemed like he was just goofing around.

The storyline was cluttered and confusing. It really felt like the movie was trying to be a mash-up of Boondock Saints, Se7en, and other crime movies that involve religion. There were too many things going on at once, and none of the elements ended up working.

The ending was HORRIBLE!! I know they were -trying- to be dramatic with it but it just came off seeming un-needed, forced, and cheap. Even if the rest of the movie was passable, the end simply destroys it.

Overall it was an -okay- movie until the ending completely demolishes it.

Final Score - 3/10

Harvey Keitel is his usual great self in this crime/action/thick-with-religious-fervor film about vigilante justice and highly motivated detectives trying tangle in the perps. The problem with this movie, in my humble opinion, is the less-than-coherent script, which falls short in its efforts to utilize underdeveloped characters and poorly directed scenes that do not seem aligned with the primary storyline.

Rotten Tomatoes correctly ascribes only 13% rating to a movie that tries too hard to unscramble some broken eggs. It's mainly the principal female lead working with Keitel. Few things in life are less attractive than a key character smoking a cigarette. It's totally unnecessary, so shame on the director/writer for making this a necessary part. Yuck. Movies need to END this disgusting habit, period.