Under Hellgate Bridge

I have to admit that I'm a sucker for movies about New York street life, but that doesn't mean I sit through all of them. This one I did, with pleasure. Under Hellgate Bridge has plenty of the prerequisite grit and guns and that's fine, but it's also got A STORY. Actually a very compelling story. Surprise. Some substance behind the style. It's fun to find yourself actually wondering what's going to happen to these characters instead of wondering how they did that 20 minute dolly shot.

This is an excellent film, a must see. Michael Sergio's direction is the best and the cast is topnotch! Michael Rodrick does a fantastic portrayal as Ryan, former bad boy turned hero. Jonathan LaPaglia is the perfect villain and the gorgeous Jordan Bayne was wonderful as Ryan's love interest. The rest of the cast, Dominic Chianese, Vincent Pastore, Frank Vincent, Brian Vincent, Careena Melia, and Kristen Lee Kelly rounded out the film with their great performances.

Ten minutes worth of story stretched out into the better part of two hours. When nothing of any significance had happened at the halfway point I should have left. But, ever hopeful, I stayed. And left with a feeling of guilt for having wasted the time. Acting was OK, but the story line is so transparent and weak. The script is about as lame as it could get, but again, stretching out the ten minute plot doesn't leave a whole lot of room for good dialogue.

I was attracted to this garbage by the information button on sky tv which said "Uncle Junior and Big Pussy of the sopranos star in this film." Absolute tripe their roles are small and non essential, both play easily dispensable characters and i have the feeling these two very fine actors were simply added to promote a film which has no real originality and nothing to teach us. This film has alot of dialogue which could have made the film more mental that physical but the speeches are unsatisfying and repetitive.

Poorly made, made me poorly

Why no one has realized Jordan Bayne's talent on a way larger scale is beyond me. The others are good, they have a little ninch in the entertainment 'world' but wow.. Jordan Bayne RULES!

The movie, for it's limited budget, was obviously a work of the heart. It's also obvious, with movies like this, that it shows just who has and who doesn't have talent. These kinds of movies are very telling as to whether a person has a true ability or if they're just a temporary 'flavor of the month'.

I have to admit to being disappointed that the Indy film avenue is letting the more mainstream actors/actresses in on these films. I do not watch movies to see Friends or Tom Cruise's ex wife. I watch Indy films to watch the REAL talent. Someone needs to hit the talent in this line of film actors and actresses with a spotlight because they totally rock.