Phoenix

There was no shortage of 'cool' crime thrillers released on the success of Goodfellas in the nineties, and while I wouldn't say that this is one of the very best of them; it's certainly one of the better ones. Phoenix benefits from Scorsese's leading man Ray Liotta, who takes the lead role in this film as a gambling addicted copper. The plot focuses on crime as you would expect, but the gambling side of the plot is what really makes and sets it apart from most of the other nineties crime flicks. Ray Liotta is Harry Collins, a cop with a gambling addiction; and, like most gamblers, a money problem resulting from it. He owes money he doesn't have to his bookie, a man who calls himself "Chicago", and after being given a few days to pay; he soon realises that he's going to have to take steps to raise the money. This prompts him to set up a plan with his fellow coppers Mike, James and Fred to rip off local pimp and all round bad guy Louie. Naturally, the plan goes tits up and pretty soon all four of them are forced to pay the consequences...

The film is never really brilliant (though in fairness, this sort of film doesn't usually turn me on all that much), but it manages to keep a fairly good pace going throughout and doesn't get boring. Ray Liotta has played this sort of role many times before and since, and as you would expect he is well at home with the leading role in this film. British director Danny Cannon (also director of rubbish such as Judge Dredd and I Know What You Did Last Summer) has recruited a decent cast of below a-list stars, which includes Anthony LaPaglia, Daniel Baldwin, Jeremy Piven and Xander Berkeley, as well as one of my favourite B-movie actresses, Kari Wuhrer. Anjelica Huston also appears, but is horribly miscast as Liotta's love interest. There's plenty of what most people will have come to expect from modern crime flicks; we have car chases, shootouts, sharp dialogue and all the rest of it. I'd have preferred the film if we'd have got a bit more of the gambling theme thrown in, but that's not too important as overall, this is a more than passable effort and I'm sure crime fans will enjoy it.

This is one of those films that somehow falls under the radar and languishes undeservedly in obscurity. In a fairly convoluted plot, Ray Liotta plays an honest cop with a gambling addiction who comes up with a plan to rob a loan shark in order to pay off his debts. He enlists the aid of three of his colleagues (Daniel Baldwin, Jeremy Piven and the unappreciated Anthony LaPaglia, who gives a film-stealing performance here) unaware that one is sleeping with another's wife and is under investigation.

Although the story unfolds a little too slowly at times, writer Eddie Richey's script has a lot of depth, lending some diversity to a bunch of what could otherwise have been genre-stereotypical tough guys. The quality of the writing is high, with some off-the-wall dialogue and unique insight into such diverse subjects as King Kong, Three-on-a-match, Looney Tunes cartoons, and Dostoyevsky's gambling addiction. Brit director Danny Cannon creates some arresting images (an alternately sun-scorched and rain-sodden Phoenix in monsoon season) and manages to create loads of atmosphere despite often selecting extreme close-ups to emphasise the thoughts and emotions of the characters. There are no weak performances but, together with LaPaglia, the ever-dependable Ray Liotta stands out in the lead role.

The ending is probably weaker than it should be because it takes a little too long for all the strands to be neatly tied, but this is still an impressive piece of entertainment that deserves to be better known.

I was expecting straight-to-video fodder here the kind you watch stupefied because it happened to be on late at night. It revealed itself to be a taut little thing that tries to create its own world.

It was caught in the Tarantino craze so we have small talk about cartoons, movies and music peppered throughout. It has, eventually, a heist in animal masks gone awry that makes poor sense and cookie cutter resolutions where we drive around to settle scores with a bunch of characters that were left hanging so that it's all neat by the end.

For a while it manages to strike some spark, most of it in the first half.

A man who we understand is trying to be upstanding while everyone around him is fickle, but he has a blind spot for gambling. It's not about the money, for him it seems to be a warped way of measuring himself up against the universe, challenging the fates to pave whatever way they have in store so he can have a mandate to abide by. He makes a mess, owing everyone in town, but won't take the easy way out because a bet is a bet; opportunity for self-worth.

So when the fates shuffle the deck and he's dealt the role of hapless stooge who loses everything, he goes through it with stoic persistence to settle debts. Ray Liotta is as good as he was for Scorsese in a similar twitchy role as fates conspire to crush him.

It's no Asphalt Jungle where the heist is the ritual that opens us from anxiety to dreamlike visions, but it beats Reservoir Dogs.

Noir Meter: 2/4 | Neo-noir or post noir? Neo

"Phoenix" is a hidden gem. I've seen it over five times. For some reason, it never gets old.

Harry (Liotta) is a cop with a gambling problem. He can't stop. He owes money to "Chicago" (Tom Noonan) and he if he doesn't pay up, he dies. Harry's partners Henshaw (LaPaglia) and Nutter (Baldwin) are dirty and are becoming "collectors" to bookie Louie (Giancarlo Esposito). Harry needs money fast and the only way is to rob Louie. Everybody goes along with the plan until there's a double cross.

There's not a lot of action in the movie until the end, but it's not needed. Ray Liotta is excellent in the movie. But the supporting cast steals it from him. LaPaglia is fantastic as Henshaw. He makes the character come alive. Baldwin, Esposito, Kari Wuhrer, and Anjelica Huston all get their time to shine.

"Phoenix" is a gritty crime movie that Liotta and LaPaglia fans must see.

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Sometimes I question why one movie gets theatrical distribution while another does not. To be fair, I think things generally swing the right way. Movies that call video their home do it for sometimes a much deserved reason: they stink. This is not the case with Phoenix however.

It's a breath of fresh air to take a chance on a direct-to-video quickie and have it turn out this good. The story is tight and look at all the recognizable faces in the cast. That helps me out. The whole police officer-gambling junky angle is different - Liotta as the lead carries it off well and Phoenix is just all around better than most cop boilers I've seen in the last six months. It sure ain't lacking in clichés of the genre, but that has come to be expected. Phoenix is just a well filmed, nicely acted piece of work from director Danny Cannon who makes amends for the theatrical bomb Judge Dredd. Worth a look on a slow night or for Liotta fans.