El buen ladrón

This was an excellent indie movie. Lance Kawas sure did an excellent job directing a first time writers script. The actors, although not known, really played their roles well and were believable and appeared authentic. From Jimmy Doom who played Honest Abe to Gary Brunner who played Felix I enjoyed seeing how all the characters helped move along the plot which was pretty intricate and had "cliff hangers" throughout. There were police chases, explosions, a madman running amok killing women, thieves, a traitor, etc. Every once in a while, the high intensity scenes are punctuated by a Shakespearean quote, reminding the viewer that this is a movie, while revealing the screenwriter's intellectual side and love of Shakespeare. But it was really the directing and the great camera work that impressed me more than anything. Seasoned director Lance Kawas did a great job of bringing out the action, fast pace of the plot, and the passion that the characters displayed. It is hard to imagine how Lance pulled this off with the low budget of the movie, but he did a magnificent job with the little he had to work with. It is refreshing to watch a new movie by an unknown author with a new perspective.

This was the most nonsense screenplay I've ever seen. Sure this is newb Aaron Sizemore's first writing and producing credit, but didn't anyone who invested money in this film bother reading the ridiculous script and the dumbest dialogue ever written before they wrote a cheque and green lit production?

It started off ok, thanks to good cinematography and decent directing from the experienced Lance Kawas, but didn't even Kawas shake his head at the nonsense as it was being filmed? The flashlight and its holder, Peter Donahue, were very dim bulbs. His acting wasn't the greatest, but everytime he turned that flashlight on, I cringed at him and the writer, for entering such a useless prop into the story. Once the plot-hole-riddled screenplay and horrible dialogue started, I still gave this overly predictable story a chance - only when I kept hearing Shakespearean quotes, expecting perhaps there was some Shakespearean reward with some meaning to all the nonsense in the final act. Nope. All the Shakespeare dialogue was just an out-of-place attempt at intelect for the dumb characters. It felt more like I sat through the last-place play from a 5th grade drama class production.

Aside from the horrible writing and dialogue, the conceptual idea of the story was inviting, but simply executed in the worst possible way. The normally comfortable 96 min runtime felt never-ending. The casting and acting overall was poor, with only "Honest Abe" and "Felix The Fence" being entertaining, and Robert Laenen and Melanie Mahanna being the closest to decent acting and convincing characters.

The score was actually fitting and decent for a B-film. Had it been your typical B-film annoying, loud and unfitting score, this film would've been unwatchable. The trailer and the score combined will make you think this is a primo production; that's the best you will see, and what fooled me into giving this film a chance. I mean even the title makes zero sense. It's a very generous 3/10 from me, all going to the score and fairly decent directing.

This movie is a gritty noir with nods to Diogenes, Shakespeare, street poetry, and baseball. Art within a work of art. It's a crime drama with a mystery. Well worth the watch.

For an indie movie, I thought it was amazing. The cast fit their roles, and definitely a breakout role for Jimmy Doom. He was the perfect combination of Karl Childers (Sling Blade) and Otis Driftwood (House of 1000 Corpses). It was suspenseful although flat in some scenes, it's actually very Shakespearean; especially how women are portrayed to the lead characters. Although some may suggest simplistic caricatures of certain ones, if you get it, you'll get it and like it. It is dark but no more than May or Repo: the Genetic Opera, it falls in that category of film.

Peter Donahue's character, Danny, borders annoying. But, his depth grows throughout the movie as his calculated and predictable behavior changes to show his capacity for love and emotions towards his sidekick and girl.

Overall, it's definitely something I would watch again, several times.

I was excited to watch this movie. The cinematography was excellent, the acting was decent and the soundtrack was well executed. However, 20-30 minutes into it I was becoming increasingly dissapointed.

The writing and dialogue is atrocious. The "flashlight" the "honest man" bit were absolutely absurd. The use of Shakespeare quotes was fine until the dialogue explains that they are Shakespeare quotes. I actually started feeling bad for the actors who had to recite the ridiculously awfull lines.

I really wanted to like this movie, I just couldn't.