A Day to Kill

This may be the worst movie I have seen so far this year. Weak narrative, a plot that goes nowhere. So poorly written you cannot decipher the actual story line from the deranged thoughts of one of the characters.Sort of like a weak wanna be Donnie Darko. It's sort of like 4 bad mini movies put together to form an hour and a half stinker..Before watching this you may wanna weigh your other options of how to waste an evening.... ...... ......... ....... ........ ... ........... ..... ..... ... ... ... .......... ..... .... ...... ..... .... ....... .......... .... .... ..... .... ... .... .... ....... ....... ..... ...... ....... ..... ........ .... ...... ..... .... ..... .......... ........

My title is how I feel about many of the other people who've rated this film on here so far. Currently a 4.9/10 rating? Almost unbelievable, but then I remember how few people are actually able to handle real life challenges in our modern world, or how many hate when their thinking is challenged, even just a little. This film will challenge you, that is if you even dare to think about what the film is saying much at all. Many people today however have conditioned themselves to cower, hide or run from things that challenge their minds. In my view, this is simply far from a healthy choice.

This film is based on a novel by Eric Bogosian. Partially written for the screen by none other than Vincent D'Onofrio, who also has a role in the film. Personally I found this film to be far better than its rating here on this site. Gina Gershon gives quite a great performance, and the film is simply thought provoking. It's an interesting film in my view, and one that still has gotten so little exposure. People that enjoy uniquely delivered and/or intellectually challenging or provoking films will likely find this at least worth a watch. My rating...

7.5/10.

I made it exactly to the 44:41 mark before I couldn't take anymore. The "special effects" in this film are completely out of place and give the movie a D- feel. Special effects are meant to enhance scenes. They aren't meant to be randomly strung about. The endless and extended monologues at the beginning sound like your typical 22 year old that gets high and feels so "enlightened and smart" that they need to give everyone a big speech. This film is beyond pretentious and it shows. They tried to thrown in known actors, but even they can't save this mess.

Oh dear lord, this kid and his "observations." At first I thought it was supposed to be funny, but after a while, it just got annoying. He was seriously the most obnoxious character in the movie, so it sucks that he was the lead. The writers really nailed the pretentious, "above it all" high school tool who never goes anywhere without his copy of The Catcher in the Rye and an inflated sense of self-worth. He's so full of wisdom! So deep and enlightened! He's there to put the sheep in their places, since he's the only one who knows what's going on! This is like stoner 2.0, the kind of stuff that these guys think sounds so life-changing, like it's never occurred to anyone else, and their sole duty in life is to redirect the miscreants. I'm still not sure this was supposed to be part of the odd, dark humor that seemed to exist throughout the film. If it wasn't, though, I have to imagine the writers *were* that kid.

I didn't know B.K. Cannon was in this movie! I was excited to see her for her brief cameo, despite the creepiness of the scene. Vincent D'Onofrio was fantastic, of course, and his scenes, as painful and uncomfortable as they were to watch, saved a lot of the movie. I feel like the entire bit with the bored housewife should have been cut. It added nothing to the movie and played out more like a clunky attempt to metaphorically represent a boy growing up and coming into his sexuality. The pacing died, and I found myself doing other things with the movie playing in the background. Honestly, if all of that had been removed, it would have been a much better film. Those scenes really dragged, and they were so jarring whenever they occurred, total change in tone and atmosphere. It's like you're in the middle of a car chase scene, then it cuts really quickly to Antiques Roadshow.

As much as I hated the beginning with the pseudo-intellectual babble, I actually really liked the ending. That saved it a bit. Overall, the film was trying too hard to be artsy and complex, but it did have some interesting moments and some legitimate humor. I give it a resounding "could have been worse."

To be very honest, I only bought this movie because Cameron Monaghan stars in it. I figured that he played Jerome/Jerimiah well in Gotham, and Ian Gallagher in Shameless. Boy was I mistaken. The start of the movie was a cheap B-grade entry, then as it progressed I felt like the characters were reading their lines off of a script board. Cameron Monaghan wasn't the greatest actor to my disappointment, but he was still better than the rest of the lame characters. I need to be wary of watching movies with cute actors in it, because sometimes they're just crap.