The Bannen Way

A slick, sexy, action-packed show about Neal Bannen, a charming con-man with a police chief for a father, a mob boss for an uncle and a weakness for beautiful women, who wants to turn his life around and leave the criminal lifestyle forever. Let me get this off my chest right off the bat. A huge problem I have with these web series watched on Crackle is that you're forced to watch about 90 seconds of ads before you watch the 6 minute show. And let's not forget that the titles are at least 30 seconds, maybe a minute. What becomes worse is that once you get the pilot behind you, these bozos add about another minute to 90 seconds of flashbacks for each episode because they think you son't remember what happens in 5 minutes of footage you just watched! Oh, and there's another minute of titles at the end. So the actual programming is about 4 minutes or less. It's so annoying. OK, on with the review. Truth is, there is nothing special about this show. It follows the same boring tired format that all these shows want to follow.

Pretentious lady's man gets in and out of trouble. Lots of narration to explain the plot because the producers think we're too stoned to understand. I'd rather they not make this trash than waste out time. This show is no better or worse than any of the others. And that's not saying much. Hint: when you try so hard to be kewl, it just means you're not kewl.

Neil Bannen is a tall, good looking, smooth talking, seemingly happy go lucky but self-centered girl chaser. If there's a hot body in his radar, everything else takes a back seat. And while he's been able to squirm out of it in the past, he's not between a rock and a hard place with a choice to make about going the straight path or even deeper in a mob....

There is a sexy, beautiful girl who walks into his life and is a mystery. Colorful bad guys and gals, practically cartoonish at times. There is also a family angle thrown in... His father is a cop, his uncle is a mobster. Something happened and the question is where do the two intertwine and what will it take to unravel this mystery and a resolution. He's got a little high tech geek cadre who help with his jobs. And did I mention there are a ton of characters and that backstory and character development are really not a priority in this film?

I'm giving this a very generous 5, since the performances are all mostly good from a surprising cast that has several well known names and faces you've seen before. There are a number of chuckles, the actors are well cast and do well with their roles and the movie is not boring... although it does become noticeably more dull after the shiny, grinning veneer of our lead character rubs off and he's left to being a confused shnook that must parade himself between numerous characters to wind up where he started.

The problem is that you've seen everything before and the film takes a few too many liberties like you'd see on TV, where characters can do things without consequence and walk away just for laughs, forgotten long before the story continues with another episode next week. This movie finds itself in between. Villains are well acted but they are cartoonish, over the top, and you're not sure whether they are supposed to be part of a parody on cliches.

If you've seen Guy Ritchie's "Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch" you know instantly that so has this director. I was also reminded of "Burn Notice" to reasonable degree. He gets a lot of production value out of the film, which looks good for the budget. And while there are some chuckles and the movie moves you along, it becomes all too clear that it's just a series of events tied together with the script, each resulting in some unforseen even that will descend to save our heroes and roll them into the next set piece.

So I'll give the team high grades for effort, a reasonably entertaining if very familiar work but not the thriller you'd expect to enjoy seeing again.

I caught this movie on TV.

It might be a movie but it feels more like an episode of some TV-series. (update: Now I'm reading that is actually a 16 episodes web-series!) The Bannen Way, has a "hype"(not necessarily a good thing) and it takes some "creative liberties" that we have already seen in other movies or series. At some point (like in the presentation of the characters) it even resembles some Robert Rodriguez films.

My main objection though is about the cast. Although there are a few (relatively) well known actors, they haven't the weight to support all the "hype" I previously mentioned. The main actor (Mark Gantt) doesn't fill the screen with his presence. The "hot" women aren't that hot either, and Robert Forster (Mr. B) looks more like "grandpa" in "Last man standing" (with Tim Allen) than a threatening mob boss.

Anyway it isn't very interesting and it is only mildly entertaining, but if you don't have to pay to see it and you have 90' to kill, check it out...

hot chicks and a semi charming anti-hero. Bannen a thief who's father is a prison warden, and uncle is a king mob-boss has a weakness for the ladies and the cards, both which plays fast and loose with. He struts around with his charming smile as both his shield and sword. but will it be enough to protect and kill the 3 hot (KILL BILL) assassins out to do him in. With the help of another hot thief (Who I think is his sister) we'll find out. I'm not done watching it, but I will watch it. Anyhoo that charming smile fades and cracks under the harsh light. So does his slick veneer, as we see he's just a scared little boy who wants his mommy. But he does have a lot of rough sex with hot babes.

When you consider that this "movie" is really a collection of back to back webisodes, it is quite an achievement. This movie is really a Season 1 DVD played back to back, so of course there will be harsh transitions and rapid fire pacing in keeping with the style of all webisodes.

There were 13 episodes, and each ep was about 5-6 minutes. When you consider the origin of this "movie", this is a marvel. It has style, it has pretty decent dramatic pacing (esp. for a web series)- I think it would be better if this thing is viewed as a Season One disc rather than a stand alone movie, because that's what it is. Is there anything "new" or cutting edge? Only that it was a web series and a successful one at that. I am not sure how one gets all those actors to star in such a thing, and I am sure the writers were in the middle of uncharted territory, so I would be interested if this series continues. As it stands, don't view the Bannan Way as a clichéd mob movie but rather an indication of things to come from the world of web series.