Pavement

This film starts out with Sam Brown, (Robert Patrick) tracking a wild killer of a wolf in Alaska and is attacked by the wolf while on the phone with a call from his headquarters that his sister has been killed in San Francisco. Sam arrives in San Francisco and finds out that his sister was murdered in a very horrible way and he decides to track down his sister doing it his way. Sam meets up with a police woman, Buckley Clarke, (Lauren Holly) who thinks Sam is crazy with his methods of tracking a killer like a wolf in the wild. However, Sam's method starts finding results in this murder and quite a few other crimes that are similar. The relationship between Sam and Buckley becomes very torrid and there is a very sexy love scene between the two of them. This film will hold your interest from the very beginning to the very end. Enjoy.

The plot, development and resolution of "Pavement" were excellent. The suspense kept my interest from start to finish. The characters were realistic and dimensional. The action was good too. I think the director was a little free with police officers as fodder for various occasions; but beyond that I liked what I saw. I enjoy those gritty, realistic, but not overblown cop films, and this is a good one. The element of the tracker as an imaginative addition to the plot was excellent.

I am a total Lauren Holly fan; and I thought she played her role flawlessly as a determined and professional detective, who is still very much a woman. She pulled it off with great aplomb. She is always a great pleasure to watch in anything she does.

If you like really exciting and suspense-filled cop movies, see this one. To say any more might spoil the impact of all the elements that come together in this intriguing film. Just sit back and enjoy it.

The opening credits combined with music do a nice job of setting the tone for the movie. Then we cut to the first glimpse of the city, and it becomes blatantly apparent it is being shot with an awful brown filter. I hate filters—they're nothing more than a cheap way to set the mood of the scene.

This is the 2nd HBO original movie I've rented the DVD of in the past two days, and they must be shot with digital cameras because the picture quality is astounding…it's as if you're in the film. The editing give you a sort of off-balance distorted feel which aids you in feeling what the main character is feeling—very impressive. The music is engaging and successfully established a feeling of suspense. However, the slow-motion love scene was a bit random and pointless.

I enjoyed the subtle humorous moments between Sam (Patrick) and Buckley (Holly). I couldn't help but wonder how Buckley is a detective when Sam does her job better than her. As a die- hard fan of "The X-Files", I am well-versed in how to make a seemingly unexplainable phenomenon make sense and have the appropriate facts to support it. Buckley's revelation on the road after they track the killer through the woods for the second time was impressive —it finally showed her true color as a detective.

The film's momentum is disrupted by the fact that Alex Duncan just can't act. As a result, the last scene felt corny and contrived. But the main characters push the story along, so this divergence, while highly noticeable, remains minor.

VERDICT: Adequate character writing, however the plot, while intriguing and thought-out, remains underdeveloped. Simple and yet surprisingly clever—it certainly maintained my interest. Recommended to anyone who likes crime mysteries, but if it's a thriller you long for, you should look elsewhere.

5.5 out of 10.0

~AleXa~

I doubt Film locations are Cape Town SA as stated in IMDB - but rather in San Francisco. I cannot place the mansion in the movie supposedly in Pacific Heights at 1923 Pacific Ave in the movie. Many shots are around different areas in SFO. The wolf attack early in the film is obviously a husky, much too small for a wolf and has wrong markings. Acting lacks chemistry between Lauren Holly and the tracker - leaving me with Direction/Production impression of 'Lifetime' TV movie feel - with a bit higher quality production could have been much stronger movie. Reflecting on dates, was made in 2002, so made just before original high def TV of 1080p in 2004 - yet not grainy or pixelated.

The oddly named PAVEMENT has a lot going for it: a bizarre serial killer is on the loose, which brings together an attractive female detective (Holly) and an Alaskan tracker (Patrick) hot on his or her trail. Patrick and Holly play very nicely off each other. The serial killer is certainly a piece of work, but you will have to see the film to understand why. The film was shot in South Africa and is a foreign production, so as a result it doesn't always work as well as it should. The music also leaves something to be desired. The incredibly suspenseful ending makes things worthwhile, however. Some blood, a touch of gore, but otherwise nothing we haven't seen in a million TV movies. A love scene between Holly and Patrick is nicely played, but the scene is mooted by the fact that they keep most of their clothes on! Say what? Holly is meant to be seen naked, while she's still got something worth seeing.