Styx

I'm watching this movie right now and...wait, hold on...Okay, so I'm not watching the movie anymore. What does that tell you?

Somebody should have told the camera guy to STOP MOVING SO MUCH! My sister made better movies when she was eight and decided to tape herself dancing.

Good actors acting badly, loose plot, annoying camera work, and sub-par directing. A real hoot.

This movie was a terrible waste of good talent. I have seen Peter Weller and Bryan Brown in much better movies. This is sad that they had to stoop this low just to make some money. Better luck next time guys. I have seen some bad movies in my day, but I must say that if I were a school teacher and were to give this movie a grade, it would probably be a D-. This isn't a B movie it is a D- movie. Sorry this is so cruel but I can't think of a worse waste of time and money than this movie. The plot of the movie was interesting, but very poorly laid out in script. It lacked a lot of organization that is necessary for a movie or a play to be successful. All this movie was, was a lot of murder, mayhem and sex. None of which make it a movie that I would enjoy. My family did not enjoy it either.

Nothing really new and spectacular in this British-American 2001 co-production. A bunch of gangsters are robbing a bank, but during their escape they have got a fatal car accident, only a few survive. Later on, they find together again and are planning their next coup... and all those things are gonna happen that you except from such a standard gangster coup movie - brothers in arms, a blonde femme fatale, a groovy sex scene, a well-planned coup with too many people involved, some more gangsters and shootings lots of revenge, of course...

At least "Cold Revenge", as the movie was titled on German TV, avoids copying the fake coolness and hipness of many post Tarantino gangster movies of the last ten years, and Peter Weller and Bryan Brown are doing a fine job, too, but the director fails to find an own, individual style for his gangster drama. There are some nice camera ankles and a thrilling bank robbery in the beginning of the movie, but later on, it all becomes boring and standard in this movie... and just like the tired Weller and Brown, who had their best points of their careers in the late eighties when they starred in the successful "Robocop" and "FX" movies, you are losing interest during this movie... and even Weller's cool Robocop sunglasses can't change that. A missed opportunity.

Nelson (Peter Weller), Mike (Angus Macfadyen), and Art (Bryan Brown) are part of a crew. They do an armed bank robbery. It doesn't go exactly right and a guard is killed. They are about to kill the incompetent drug-addicted gun hire when he shoots first. They crash and Art is injured. Afterward, Nelson tries to move on with a normal life. Mike gets into trouble over gambling debts and Nelson is pulled back into doing one last job.

This starts with a promising action section. It's inferior cinematically and is more fitting for a TV movie. There is still an explosion, a car chase, and some hope. It is soon obvious that it's not good enough. The action looks more like 80's TV. It's a lot of slow motion and bad dying. These are solid actors. I'm left with the conclusion that director Alex Wright and his South African crew are up to the task of making top rate movies.

Weller is at the center of "Styx" playing a safe cracker who is coerced from retirement to help his brother (MacFayden) pay off gambling debts. A typical Weller B-movie, "Styx" is full of unrealized potential. The beginning, end, and story backbone are strong but the middle tries too hard for the serious drama when it should have just stuck with the proven B-flick action/sex/nudity titilators. The result is a marginal small screen watch at best. (D)