The Killing Jar

Entertaining movie. Pressure cooker thriller. In theory the movie has all the ingredients of Reservoir dogs. Gritty storyline and a cast that includes Michael Madsen and Danny Trejo. But the movie falls short... Madsen is brilliant as always and Harold Perrineau delivers a good performance, but they are unable to make-up for Amber Benson's disappointment. Danny Trejo has a total of two minutes of screen time, and he is never shown fully (he is shown through a kitchen window)... Noreen, the central character played by Amber Benson, was the weakest link. Also, the pressure is let out a bit too prematurely... In all, a movie that has potential, but fails. That said, for a direct-to-DVD movie, this is very good. It is not an excellent movie, but a decent one at the very least. If you have nothing else to do, this might be a decent pastime movie.

The movie plays in a little coffee-bar only, different people come together. It's an interesting play of tension and violence. The movie is professional done while it's still a rather cheap production (probably the salary for Michael Madsen and the other actors was by far the most expensive thing). Good actors in this movie, good acting by them. It's by far not a brilliant movie, I wouldn't even say it's very good. It's a good movie, an OK movie, that is quite entertaining and let's the time go by fast. You will want to see it through to the end after the first 20 or so minutes at least that's how it was for me. A must for Michael Madsen Fans, and still a possibility for everyone else.

Any movie that boasts amongst its actors Michael Madsen, Danny Trejo, and Jake Busey definitely gets some points of merit even before the movie starts rolling. Though those points aren't as much as you might think, because Trejo's part is small and very insignificant, and Busey's role isn't that much better. I also had some other problems with the movie. The photography is pretty bad, with dark and muddy colors throughout. Also, the movie takes a LONG time to get going - more than a third of the movie goes by, to be more exact. Still, I will admit that once the movie gets going, the rest of the movie is fairly compelling - though I had a good idea of how the movie was going to end some time before that ending actually played out. So there aren't exactly any surprises to be found in this movie. However, I will admit that I have seen far worse direct-to-DVD movies.

Some real bad acting, lots of cheesy lines and situations (especially the ending) - but it's all delivered in a way that you feel like you're watching a small play, and it just manages to let you kick back and see where the story goes. You're simply watching a movie, finding out what happens next. It's a very basic and "by the books" film experience, and it seems to know it.

What really saves it is nearly perfect pacing and editing.

It won't impress you, but it won't drive you nuts. "It's just a movie." That phrase actually fits this film really, really well.

6/10

I've been clear in the past, I very rarely like it when a film opens with a scene from later on in the story. Even though the scene 'The Killing Jar' chooses to show us isn't from very far into the movie, it completely ruins the suspense and mystery of the opening 20-30 minutes of the film. A terrible decision.

As far as B-level casts go this is a pretty interesting one. Lots of names who have turned in some pretty iconic performances over the years, but have faded away a bit lately. We know that all of them have the potential to be very watchable though and for the most part they are here. Everyone seems to commit to the project pretty well and it shows.

The film has a mystery element, however it doesn't do a very good job of hiding its secrets very well. Even someone like me, who makes a point of not trying to work anything out and just going along for the ride, was able to see pretty clearly who was who and what was what.

I enjoy single-setting films and I love some good old-fashioned violence in my films. This film has both. There's some good stuff and some not so good stuff in 'The Killing Jar'. Give it a chance and it might just surprise you how much you enjoy it. 6/10.