tangmusi

I'm a fan of noirs, and this lands on lists of great neo-noirs.

I was blown away by how it was shot. People have definitely updated the venetian blinds shadows thing from 40s noirs, but you start to see those style updates over and over, like the neon from Drive.

So it just blew me away how Mann and Thorin used the grain and distortions of 80s film tech to create similar effects. It's another way to keep that noir style alive but updated, and I'd never seen anything like it before. I just love it.

Plus, I moved to Chicago years ago, but long after this film was made, and the way they lean in and draw out the grit I've heard about but not really seen is just wonderful.

The acting is great.

But I thought the plot was just about the stupidest thing I've ever seen. Basically, I thought it was just a self-aggrandizing macho fantasy that tries to pass itself off as gritty and realistic.

I'm not an agenda-ed or political person. I just want things to ring true to life.

It reminds me of how prestige pictures of other eras often age badly. The passage of time makes it easier to see through the BS and see stiltedness.

Here, the BS is that anything about how crime worked then, how someone survives, recognizably real motivations for most of the characters besides the protagonist.

And just like how it's upsetting to have a movie presented as prestige be thoughtless, it's upsetting to have a movie that's mostly vain fantasy pass itself off as gritty and real.

I do think the underlying theme about how prison changed him and how he's trying to catch up rings true.

Yes, the cast is great. Yes the first ten minutes or so, up to and including the first twist, is a great movie.

But after that it goes so completely insane in a way that's super not fun or campy or bombastic. It somehow manages to be both boring, and implausible. The plot folds in over on itself. It's just very, very bad writing.

Right now, this has an average of a six. I just think that's way way too high. This deserves a four at best, and so I'm on here to try to push that to happen. I love noir, and I've now watched so many, to relive the high of first seeing the greats. I've seen so many bad ones. This is the worst one I've ever seen.

Unlike with the City that Never Sleeps, I didn't recognize a single Chicago location, unless you count still photographs. I think this was made in LA, and I'm bummed because I watched it to see old footage of my city.

It's well acted, and well structured, but the story hinges on a plot point, and some pseudoscience, that are so loopy they would be camp, if it were not for how straight everyone plays it, like a police procedural. If you get a kick of how old science plays out in old movies, or dated, or incredibly fictional science, that might be fun for you.

Plus, the State's Attorney re-examines something on the flimsiest possible basis. We're all used to that, every time someone says they have a hunch in movies, sure. But this is more like "someone who is biased yelled at me," and "leave no stone unturned to the point of being ridiculous."

So, this is a well acted, well structured movie that hinges on a couple of incredibly goofy plot points.

However, it's a blast to see Jack Lambert in this. I always think of him as the Lee Marvin who never made it big. He's similarly born to play toughs.