Sin

Sin is known as the B movie that Gary Oldman did, and he himself has bad mouthed it on occasion. Back then though, this was the only kind of movie like that he had to explain away. These days he has quite a few more of this type in his filmography, so he can't really talk. It really isn't the best movie, and functions as well as its limited budget and mediocre script will allow, but I must say there are a few moments, ones with stars Oldman and Rhames, that are just killer, and one in fact that borders on greatness. Rhames plays Eddie Burns, an ex cop or military man who lives estranged in the country, until the organized gang rape of his sister (Kerry Washington) coaxes him back into Reno Nevada. This heinous crime (a scene which borders on exploitation, to be honest) is orchestrated by Charlie Strom (Oldman), a nasty pornographer and drug kingpin who has a decades old bone to pick with Eddie. The film has some lonely atmospherics to it, the eventual confrontation between the two playing out in a poetic, if contrived fashion. For all the two bit moments in the script (and there are a lot), there's one showstopper of a scene between Rhames and Oldman, that is reminiscent of Michael Mann's Heat, and is quietly but surely affecting in its sadness. Brian Cox blusters through as Eddie's former police boss, Bill Sage hangs out for a bit as a detective, and the one, the only Gregg Henry appears as a sleazy informant who feeds Rhames Intel. He also gets the best line of the film, exclaiming "I haven't even had my morning fattie" after being rudely awakened Rhames. Watch for Alicia Coppola, Daniel Dae Kim and Arie Verveen as well. There's some genuine ambition in the script, delving into the complex moral conundrum that exists between protagonist and antagonist, and how the two archetypes aren't always so clear cut. Conscience and lack thereof is explored as well, with surprising results. I won't lie and say it isn't just a trashy b movie, but I won't pretend there wasn't some moments and aspects which I greatly enjoyed. It's somewhere right in the middle.

I watched this movie for two reasons; The amazing Gary Oldman and for the music by Michael Giacchino of whom I'm a fan ever since his "Medal of Honor" scores. The movie was not completely a waste of time but it also was far from good.

Man to blame is I think director Michael Stevens, you can tell by looking at this movie that he is just too unexperienced. There are some well executed sequences but there are way more scene's that are just poorly done also due to some weird and dumb camera positions and some poor editing. Michael Stevens tries to impress the viewer with some shots of nature, it only works distracting and doesn't do much good to the pace. Maybe he should consider a career as documentary maker?

The story is also quite a problem. It takes a while before you understand what the movie is all about. Once you pick up the story the movie is actually not bad, it's just that it has been done about a hundred times before.

Ving Rhames tries but he just ain't no good leading actor, I liked his costume but that's about all the positive I can say. Gary Oldman is in his element as psychopathic villain. He played a lot of roles like this before but in his case you just never get tired of it. Brian Cox is also excellent in a small supporting role. And keep an eye on Arie Verveen, I expect great things for him in the future.

If you can ignore the bad dialog, story, plot-holes and directing you'll see that there is some good in this movie and that it is a watchable one that is fairly entertaining as an action movie but not a must see in any way.

5/10

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Sin takes an average revenge story, adds in rape and pornographers, and ultimately turns into an average revenge story. At the very least, the plot thickens near the end of the movie when we realize that the bad guy (who is a really bad guy and the movie absolutely will leave no questions about that) turns out to have a reason for his actions throughout the movie beyond just being a really bad guy. It is odd, however, that a movie can take such talented actors as Ving Rhames and, especially, Gary Oldman and turn their performances into run-of-the-mill action clichés.

Rhames utters the phrase 'she's my sister' so many times in the movie that by the end the movie has turned the phrase into a cliché all by itself. You messin' with my family you messin' with me, and so forth. I think that most of the reason that so many people hated this movie was because it raises your expectations because of the people involved but did nothing new within its genre. It's a standard revenge movie with standard plot points and turns and even the standard plot thickening in the third act.

Where the movie does not wallow in clichés, however, is in some of the characterizations. No one is as good or bad as they initially seem to be in this movie. The evil was heaped onto Charlie Strom, Gary Oldman's character, so heavily in the first half of the movie that it's difficult for him to escape from underneath the mountain of badness that he is under even when we see the reasons for his actions, but the good guys in particular, are not as good as they seem. Eddie Burns (Ving Rhames) lost the use of his left arm in the line of duty, but also played a role in the death of an innocent man that could really amount to murder. Bella, played by Alicia Coppola, is someone that we want to root for but may hesitate because of the, ah, sinful nature of her occupation.

There is, however, a lot of forgiveness in the movie, and I respect that. At one point, Eddie discusses some of the finer points in life with Strom over cups of coffee, despite their mutual desires to kill one another. Later in the movie, Eddie is attempting to save Strom from a pool of quicksand in the middle of the Nevada desert. I didn't know there was quicksand in the middle of the Nevada desert, but no matter. The movie's not about where there is quicksand or how fast you can get from large freeways in the middle of Las Vegas to open desert without even any discernible roads, the movie's about you messin' with my family you messin' with me. And who better than Ving Rhames to return the messy favor?

Rhames could take these people out with an arm tied behind his back.

I saw this movie only because Gary Oldman was in it. And once again he was great. Too bad he wasn't in the movie as much as he needed to be. The story is an Ex-Cop is looking for his sister who has entered a life of Sin, hence the title of the movie. The title is the basic theme, every character has done something bad that they either regret or embrace. While the cast wasn't bad, it was most likely just the story and the editing. I have to say this movie had some of the worst editing I have ever seen in a movie. It's almost like they spent all their money on the cast, the film, and the sets. And they couldn't afford much for music and editing. Gary Oldman is still great, but because this movie was so boring, I have to say this is his worst movie. Yes, even worse than Nobody's Baby. If you're a Gary Oldman fan, then you may have to see it. But other than that, it's not even worth renting.

There were way too many holes in the plot to make this movie worth watching for everyone that likes the actors or genre. The only reason I watched the entire movie was because, as a woman, seeing the massive revenge against rapists was very satisfying. One of those rare moments in which the woman isn't continually re-victimized. I thought Oldman's performance was a little more natural than that of Rhames, but his was still decent. I can't say all women would gain anything by seeing rapists tortured. It's dicey. I gave it a 3 out of 10. My feeling is that veterans such as Rhames and Oldman should have seen all of the mistakes in dialog and plot consistency and maybe passed on it altogether. If you're up and bored in the middle of the night while it's on a movie channel, you might as well watch it.