Once Fallen

Brian presley (was on port charles, for years) is chance, just out of prison. Life growing up was pretty rough, and his dad, played by ed harris is also in prison. It's got some issues; we're twenty minutes in, and the plot seems to be that he has to take care of his kid, now that mom has taken off. And chance seems to owe someone money, although we have no idea who or why. They hardly ever say anyone's name, so we're never really sure who anyone is. The sound level is sometimes so low, we have to really crank the volume, which is annoying. Now it's thirty minutes in, we find out that dad is running a drug syndicate from inside prison, and doesn't want chance to be any part of it. It gets pretty messy. Swearing, blood, and violence. This has some pretty well known names in smaller parts... rance howard (ron's dad), sharon gless (cagney), alison eastwood (daughter of clint), amy madigan is rose. The story has legs, but needs a tune-up. Could have been better. The acting performances were fine. Written and directed by ash adams. Was on ryan's hope, acted a bit, and has moved on to writing and directing.

It is refreshing to see a low budget film like this out doing lot's and lot's of big name actor films of late. The story is solid, goes along at a good pace, acting is good (due to a well picked cast). A solid 8 out of 10 and a hell of a lot better film than some of the over rated B grade crap that I have seen coming from the over paid Hollywood production line for some time. Watch it as it is worth a view.

It is refreshing to see a low budget film like this out doing lot's and lot's of big name actor films of late. The story is solid, goes along at a good pace, acting is good (due to a well picked cast). A solid 8 out of 10 and a hell of a lot better film than some of the over rated B grade crap that I have seen coming from the over paid Hollywood production line for some time. Watch it as it is worth a view.

If you're a fan of independent film do yourself a favor and see Once Fallen. I've seen countless low budget films and this is one of the best I've seen. Writer/Director/Actor, Ash Adams should be applauded for putting together such a stellar cast with a budget of only $650,000. And his performance as a dirty cop is both captivating and terrifying. Once Fallen is a crime drama with a very touching theme about fathers and sons at the center. The strong performances of the cast adds to the raw emotion of the film. Watch the Blu-ray version so you can appreciate how good this film looks. This film deserves more attention!

Review: I'm usually a fan of Ed Harris's work, but I found this movie quite weak and the storyline pretty boring. It seemed like it was made for TV and you don't really get to see why Ed Harris is so feared in jail. You also don't get to see what happened to the corrupt cop after all of his evil doings and the ending was corny. I now know why I hadn't heard anything about the film before it came came because it's one of those low budget films that will be forgotten, even though there were some decent actors in it. The only watchable factor is that you want to see what happens to the main character whose trying to go straight, but apart from that, I didn't find it that interesting. Disappointing!

Round-Up: At the age of 64, Ed Harris is still churning out movies with great performances. From Pain & Gain to a brief role in Gravity, he still makes some decent movies but a lot of them go straight to DVD. He has a unique, cool way of acting which is great to watch but he has made some bad choices of late. I was surprised to see Sharon Glees, who used to play Cagney in Cagney & Lacey, but she only had a small role without much lines. I think that everyone thought that she would have been a bigger star than she was. As for this movie, it started off well and the storyline looked promising, but it went downhill after the main character came out of prison. 

I recommend this movie to people who are into their drama/crime movies about a guy who comes out of prison and tries to go straight, now that he has to look after his 5 year old boy, but he keeps on getting pulled in the wrong direction. 3/10

I should have liked this movie. It has so many elements that I normally enjoy: Ed Harris, prison drama and action, criminal brotherhood, and it's an indie film (which I tend to prefer to large studio movies).

Unfortunately, all of these elements were combined very poorly. The result is on par with a made-for-TV movie or, at best, some crappy Dean Cain or Casper Van Diem movie shown at 3am on TNT ("Starship Troopers" excluded, of course).

And though I feel like 2/10 is a harsh score (especially for a low-budget indie film), every time I reconsider the score my mind flashes to many poorly written, poorly acted, poorly directed scenes that are burned into my memory. It's a bad movie; 2/10 is fair.