Blood and Wine

BLOOD & WINE (1996) *** Jack Nicholson, Michael Caine, Stephen Dorff, Jennifer Lopez, Judy Davis, Harold Perrineau. Fine devious neo noir and serpentine twists along the way with slick wine salesman Nicholson partnering with chronic, oily Caine (gleefully enjoying his scumbag role) for a get rich quick diamond necklace heist that only gets botched (natch) when his stepson Dorff starts to add up the heinous acts they've committed. Nicholson's attack on Caine is scarily funny. Directed by long-time Jack Packer, Bob Rafelson.

Jack Nicholson and Michael Caine are so good in this movie. The temptation to chew up the scenery must have been overwhelming, but neither did. Neither grandstanded, and each played their vastly unappealing characters right down to the last detail.

Caine plays an aging and ill thief looking for that last big score on which he can retire. Nicholson plays a middle-class wine distributor locked into an unhappy marriage, failing business, and a young girlfriend to support. They unite to rob one of Nicholson's clients, an act they feel will solve all of their problems. Of course it doesn't and everything that can go wrong, does. And then things begin to turn ugly.

Dark, noirish, this is not a feel-good caper flick. It's definitely not "The Sting". What it is is well acted, directed, and filmed. Highly recommended, I'm just puzzled why it was overlooked at the Academy Awards.

Another twist on the heist gone wrong movie. Alex (Nicholson) and Victor (Caine) plan to rob jewels from a house safe. The robbery goes off fine but Alex's wife leaves him and flees the abusive relationship with her son Jason (Dorff) accidentally taking the jewels. Alex and Victor give chase leading to a double-crossing finale of greed and deception.

This is not what it appears - to compare it to the many "heist gone wrong" movies around now is quite unfair. Rather, this is a character driven piece where the diamonds become the signpost to the characters' true form rather than the reason d'eitre for the whole film. Nicholson plays the main character who seems OK on the surface but is paranoid, greedy, abusive and frustrated underneath. Caine is more sleazy and obviously violent, while Lopez, Dorff and Davis all play supposed innocents sucked into the crime.

However the truth is that the film reveals the greed inside each of them, only Judy Davis as Nicholson's wife comes off as anyway sympathetic, but even she has a drinking problem. Lopez and Dorff display their greed gradually and their characters develop during the film to be as unpleasant as Nicholson. All the main performances are strong and the monstrous sides of their nature are easily believable. Any redemptions are tarnished with lingering greed, greed turns to suspicion turns to deception turns to murder. Human nature is an ugly thing and this element of it is played out at every level here.

As a crime thriller it doesn't work as well as it could have - it is often treated as a plot driver rather than the plot itself. However the characters and performances are all strong and it is this that drives the film. Depending on whether you want a crime thriller or a character piece with big names, you'll either be disappointed or pleasantly surprised.

Michael Caine gives one of his greatest performances, and that really is saying something. How many times have you seen someone overshadow CJck Nicholson? Well it happens here. Caine's character is at times pathetic, at others funny, and at others deeply nasty, and always believable.

Jennifer Lopez looks astonishing in this but her character is a cypher. The script is so-so, as is the direction, but it is worth watching once for the Caine masterclass.

"Five Easy Pieces" is closed to one of the best movies ever made. I never finished watching "The King of Marvin Gardens" (It got too ponderous and uninteresting)and "Blood and Wine" is no improvement. Rafelson was much better off when he didn't get influenced from other directors and just stuck to what he did best like in F.E.P., which was about genuine characters facing genuine problems.

The characters in Blood and Wine are not realistic. They're a cliche. They weren't interesting enough to be sympathied with, even Stephen Dorff, who is supposed to be portrayed as the film's hero. Charmless, humorless, and overall bleak movie lacking any style or substance.