Hard Luck

'Hard Luck' is one those many half baked direct to DVD movies that Wesley Snipes starred in after the third 'Blade' movie. Not definitely the best one, but one of the most interesting from the bunch. Snipes stars as an ex-hustler gone straight, but with the string of bad luck he ends up as a witness for a deal gone bad. Throw corrupt cops, striper, stolen money and couple of serial killers into the mix and you get quite interesting over the top and action packed thriller (that lacks the actual thrills). Although the film has quite usual premise that is liven up with some ohter interesting subplots, the uneven tone and occasionally rushed screenplay hinders the film grow into it's full potential. As the film was trying to be serious and hilarious at the same time, it was little hard to feel for all the characters and take some of the actions seriously even in the context of the movie. In that sense, 'Hard Luck' felt like someone's first experiment as feature film director, but by that time Mario Van Peebles had became quite experienced filmmaker with some critically acclaimed works under his belt. And they had 56 days to shoot? The most entertaining part of the film was Cybil Shepherd as demented serial killer - her performance was so wonderfully hammy that it would have been perfect fit also into Tarantino's universe.

Not the usual Wesley Snipes movie, but nothing very exciting either.

Hard Luck is a dark comedy about a pair of serial killers that meet up with a dancer and a guy named lucky who fell into some money. Lucky tries to get the money and skip town with mobsters hot on his trail and picks up a dancer who gets in the way more than once. When Lucky meets up with the serial killers, he almost buys the farm. Pretty good action and dialog that is helped by good actors. Lots of purple comes through and livens up the action. Not meant to be an intellectual film, it has its moments. I think I liked Snipes better in US Marshals type movies. Van Peebles has made a movie that really relied on Snipes to create the draw. What are friends for anyway…. If you like action, some sick serial killers, and some T&A you'll like this movie.

Look what happened to me on the same week. In one day I watched "New Jack City" who happens to be directed by Mario Van Peebles and it also happens to be a great movie about the dangers of the criminality in the New York of the 1980's and 1990's. A few days later I had the chance to watch this one "Hard Luck" also directed by Peebles and with Wesley Snipes in the cast. Result: this movie has nothing good to show except that are some twisted minds wandering around in the world.

Wesley Snipes plays Lucky an bad luck ex-convict who crosses countless and weird situations after some obscure negotiation involving an old friend (Noah Fleiss), some corrupt police officers and a gun dealer. While trying to get away of a shootout he kidnapped a beautiful dancer (Jacquelyn Quinones), stole the money of the negotiation and run away from the police. On the road he's gonna meet a psychotic couple (played by Cybil Shepherd and James Liao) and some other strange people in a mosaic and boring film.

The action scenes are annoying, weak and there's nothing special about it and Snipes was wasted in that department but in the dramatic scenes he is better than some of the supporting actors. The story presents too many characters and situations trying to be a action flick mixed with some mosaic film such as "Magnolia" where everybody and everyone is connected although we don't know how and when. About the psychotic couple...well they are presented in the beginning of the movie and you keep trying to understand what they're doing all the time, torturing people they find on the streets and you keep thinking what's the connection between them and Snipes? Only in the end you're gonna find out!

I'm truly disappointed with this film because it had some potential, it had a social denounce in the beginning (Snipes character survived the Hurricane Katrina) and the movie totally forgot that and moved to an ordinary and crappy action movie. I miss the great director of "Panther" and "New Jack City" who knew how to work with explosive themes and some good action scenes in the middle. A good cast was wasted (except Luis Guzman who was real funny in his only scene), money was wasted and my time was wasted. 3/10

Wesley Snipes stars as a con-man gone legit (You know the type) who is involved in one more deal, done as a favor to a friend, however that deal goes awry and Snipes ends up with the money and then runs into backwoods serial killers led by Cybil Shepherd. I must admit I give Hard Luck points for trying, this movie is so chaotic, haphazard and so over the map that it becomes enjoyable on a surreal level. The fact that I expected a typical ' Former thief ends up with cash finds himself running from the mobsters who set him up' style movie but in the hands of Mario Van Peebles, so much is thrown at the wall and the completely different plot lines are thrown together with so much disregard toward the main plot that Hard Luck become inadvertently entertaining. Also helping factors is that this wasn't made in Romania and Snipes seems more into things. As does Shepherd who delivers a credible performance as the former model turned serial killer. Sure the main story is underwritten and Van Peebles doesn't make a fully coherent story out of the scenarios he intersects, but make of this what you will, Hard Luck is the best film from Wesley Snipes since Blade II.

* * out of 4-(Fair)

Continuity, was a bit lacking, as the movie opens the obligatory car chase is going on, and our hero is being chastised, by the love interest, in English, yet later in the film as this scene is expanded he is being screamed at in Spanish!

I was left feeling that the story could have done more with the "Serial Killer" duo, I liked the humor of the Diner scene when a Halloween costumed kid comes up and says "Yahhh! I'm a Serial Killer!" & Cybill Shepherd comes back with "Well, I'm a Serial Killer, too!!!" All the cops and robbers, and bad boy trying to go straight has been done to death, and as for getting a pole dancer to strip, so that she "won't run into the street, naked"... Really!!! There are interesting characters like the Gay XXX movie producer "Latinos are the NEW Exotic" Cass the Serial Killer "Imagine the worst thing that can happen to you, and I will show you how limited your imagination really is". Could have been a 'good' movie...