Horas de angustia

I am a big Mickey Rourke fan from his string of hits in the 80's. I kind of fell off the bandwagon during the 90's, finding his choice of films to be somewhat uninspiring. Still a great actor, just seemed to be having some trouble picking quality projects. Seeing 'Sin City' brought me back (great role, great acting, great film!), so I picked up 'Desperate Hours' and watched it last night. While the supporting characters could have been better written (Kelly Lynch & Mimi Rogers' characters fell flat), the scenes between Rourke & Anthony Hopkins were wonderful! Elias Koteas as Rourke's brother was forgettable, but David Morse's character of Albert was very interesting. Somewhat like a big dumb 'Lenny' to Rourke's 'George'. Like another reviewer I was reminded of Humphrey Bogart's 'Duke Mantee' in the 1936 film 'Petrified Forest', but Rourke's 'Michael Bosworth' was a little more homicidal and more of a loose cannon. If you like Rourke & Hopkins, you will enjoy watching 'Desperate Hours.'

Michael Bosworth is on trial and clearly not a nice man in the courtroom. When he goes to another room to talk with his beautiful lawyer Nancy, he steals a gun she has hidden under her skirt (how anything can be hidden under THAT skirt is a mystery) and escapes, joining his brother and another man.

Meanwhile, Tim Cornell, a lawyer whose family lives in a nice house, is trying to make peace with his wife Nora after an affair, but she is convinced the marriage is over and she is in the process of selling the house, as the sign out front makes clear. Bosworth and his associates show up and take the family hostage, and they use whatever information they can find for their benefit.

There are several exciting scenes in the beautiful wilderness of what is said to be Utah. Nancy is chased because she is suspected of helping Bosworth, though exactly what happened with that chase is not clear. We only see what happened later. And the process of finding out what happened to Bosworth is fasscinating.

Mickey Rourke does a good job, thoroughly evil in court but calm and almost kind with the family most of the time. Anthony Hopkins also delivers, keeping his cool throughout most of the ordeal and coming across as intelligent and even caring. Mimi Rogers did a great job as well playing Nora. Despite their problems, it was clear this was a loving family and they all cared about each other.

This is not a particularly violent movie, though at least one person does die. This is more of a psychological thriller than a Schwarzenegger action movie, though at one point a comparison to an action movie would make sense.

Lawyer Nancy Breyers (Kelly Lynch) is defending robber and murderer Michael Bosworth (Mickey Rourke) for killing a guard in prison. She helps him escape but she falls behind. Albert (David Morse) and his brother Wally Bosworth (Elias Koteas) drive the getaway. Brenda Chandler (Lindsay Crouse) releases Nancy to track down Bosworth. Tim (Anthony Hopkins) and Nora Cornell (Mimi Rogers) are splitting up their family with their children (Shawnee Smith, Danny Gerard). He's broken up with his girlfriend and looking to reunite but she insists on selling the house. Michael and his men take over the house and keep the Cornells hostage. He makes contact with Nancy as he waits for her to join them.

Director Michael Cimino remakes the 1955 film. He's trying way too hard to be stylish. Some of the acting is too over-the-top. If he could dial some of it back, the movie could be an intense crime thriller. Micky Rourke can be an intense bad guy without any help but Cimino insists on pushing it. Everybody is overacting. The worst is probably Lindsay Crouse. Cimino is using every camera move and dramatic music. It's a little ridiculous to release Nancy but the call to her apartment is a little more ridiculous. The cops could easily be listening on the other end. It's not as if the message is in code. The movie could have been great but Cimino's relentlessness squanders the work of some great actors.

Wow... huge fan of Mickey Rourke here, and all I can says is this was really NOT a good film! A thriller with BOTH Rourke AND Anthony Hopkins... how could it be bad? I was stoked when this came up as a recommendation. I'm sure I saw it years ago, but I really didn't remember anything. This is before Rourke destroyed his career (well, right in the middle of all this) with bad behavior, boxing, botched plastic surgery, and just plain bad decisions.

The Razzie nomination for worst actor was well deserved... he was unconvincing as a psycho in this. The rest of the cast were pretty awful as well. The only bright spot was Hopkins, and let's face it... he wasn't given much to work with.

Bad story, bad directing, bad casting.

Mickey Rourke avoids going to trial and holds Anthony Hopkins, Mimi Rogers and their family hostage in this amazingly dull motion picture. Michael Cimino's prodding direction turns what could have been a "High Noon"-styled film into a difficult viewing experience. The film's greatest asset is the fact that it runs less than two hours. 2 stars out of 5.