Give 'em Hell, Malone!

I expected this to be my Christmas turkey - but it is actually pretty darn good. The first 8 minutes (no spoiler intended) are excessive - your granny might not like it - and overall the film is raw in places - though not squirmingly so.

It is a good pastiche of the 40s film noir nothing too smart or dumb, some humor, with a psycho arsonist and the obligatory Japanese girl with knives, a high body count, a hardboiled hero, a femme fatale, a decent enough plot, and all in all the time went by very fast indeed.

All in all, an uber violent and cool attempt with comic book sensibilities that fans of Sin City, Shoot Em Up, Wanted, and The Tournament will lap up.

Give'em hell Malone is cool, but the Matchstick character is a little too close to Heath Ledgers's character from another Movie. Besides that I like it! I script could have come directly from a DC-comics, comic. It has all the elements of the genre, except the leading lady's hair falls short of the classic style of the day. I particularly like the mother catch phrase, and title of the movie. The real star of the movie, in my opinion is the car, I believe it is a 1948 Pontiac, that has had some work done to the front end. None the less a cool car. These a-typical period items like the Pontiac, and characters like Franky the Crooner really set the seen, the mix of modern setting and characters add's an extra element like the Aisian assassin who keeps dropping in and out.

During the beginning shootout scene I could sort of tell what style of movie I was in for, as the movie progressed it is just way more silly and wacky than I expected it to be. It basically is a over the top and ridiculous ambient of film-noir. The acting wasn't that good, but really annoyed me is the character Matchstick who is basically a wannabe Joker. The movie has it's moments and I liked how it didn't really take itself seriously. Thomas Jane who played Malone was okay with his role, especially cause of his voice which has the noir detective feel to it. The characters basically have a cartoon feel to it and not developed very well. And the setting is a mix of the 50's and present, I guess it's cause of the budget or for the younger audiences. The script isn't very well written, but the twist was okay since I didn't see it coming since I thought it was going to be predictable. For a straight to DVD movie, it's pretty good overall.

6.8/10

Lots of gory effects and nice idea about throwing them into ambient of film-noir. That's about it for this movie.

As for acting, I only liked supporting actors French Stewart and Leland Orser (Frankie and Murphy) as rest of the cast was mediocre at the best. Never felt any spark between boring Elsa Pataky (Evelyn) and not-so-believable-as-unbuttoned-drunkard Thomas Jane (Malone). Malone does get a cool voice, that seems to be a standard for cinematography these days :)

Characters are cartoonish, we can see bits of Sin City in it, unfortunately they are clumsily developed and often over the top. World is mix of 50s and cell-phones, music is scarce but appropriate and pleasant. There are few fresh spots and lot more clichés and borrowed places. Too bad, with more creative freedom it could be fun flick.

Overall movie looks good, it just doesn't have good enough script. I doubt you could say who actually hired who to do what and why when you finish watching.

The only reason I watched this was because the guy at the video store handed it to me and told me it was really good, and I would've looked like a wuss if I had thrown it back at him & rented "Sense and Sensibility" instead. I mean, it's tough enough renting a Hugh Grant flick without the added pressure.

So I got back home feeling a bit conned & not expecting much. Boy was I surprised. From the first 30 seconds I could tell this was no ordinary action flick.

Yes, as other reviewers have noted, this film is strongly rooted in film noir. But what makes it so interesting is that it's noir without the noir. Sure, we have the lantern-jawed, emotionless anti-hero who's everything we would expect from Bogie. We have the mysterious femme fatale and the late night saxophone music to add to the mood. But the visuals, pacing and presentation is something very fresh, very vibrant & colourful, and so over-the-top violent that you can't help but feel the strong contrast against the typical 40s film noir. This was deliberate on the part of the director, just like he deliberately throws in lots of playful anachronisms: 1940s cars driving alongside modern minivans, and old time cityscape that suddenly blends into modern streets (from what I understand, that's what the city of Spokane is really like), and the list goes on. Other interesting contrasts include the tough-as-nails hero who's loving mother drops in at unexpected times. The flow of this film is anything but predictable, and that's what really keeps you hooked.

But my favourite part was the insane lineup of villains. It's so surreal, like something out of Dick Tracy. I particularly liked the character of "Matchstick", a deformed, psychotic sicko whom you gotta fall in love with. Then there's the cute/slutty lolita girl "Mauler" who can carve a man up faster than a ginsu knife commercial; yet she complains that she can't get a date. And lastly we have the incomparable Ving Rhames playing the cold-hearted assassin who slips into Gandhi-like moments of introspection and wisdom. What a wacky bunch! This is definitely a fun film. Even the excessive violence is so exaggerated you gotta love it. Here we have the best gore clichés in the business: the guy who gets hit in the mouth and spits a gallon of blood, the guy who gets knifed in the leg and gushes blood like a hose, and don't forget the best one... someone getting their heart ripped out of their chest while they're still breathing. There's a lot of tongue-in-cheek fun going here. It's almost like an action flick that makes fun of action flicks. But at the same time it's subtle enough that you can take it as a straightforward action flick. Either way, you're in for a wild ride.