The Fan

I had every expectation of this film being terrible and mearly a paycheck for De Niro. But, it was great. Snipes and Del Toro are fantastic. De Niro is scary as hell as well. There was not one explosion in the entire film. That was great. Short, to the point fight scenes. That's all you need in a suspense thriller. It was much smarter than expected. The plot never made you feel sorry for De Niro. The idea of him being a sad stoned cold man was there. But, not dwelled upon. The focus was on his obsession with the game of baseball and that became more important. Snipes had his entire sideline story that eventually involved De Niro. But, the two stories themselves were great. Benicio Del Toro is sneaky as hell and you never understand his true personality until he is offed. It makes you look at him completely different when he was not around.

Is it just me or does this film share so many of the aspects that the King of Comedy made over ten years earlier? Both of De Niros characters are losers who have a dream, both are unlucky in love, both have short tempers when pushed, both have obvious disorders within their mind and both are obsessive 'fans' of bobby rayburn and jerry langford, respectively. Stalking and kidnapping occurs in each film by De Niro, of his respective hero but neither hero actually gets hurt. Though in the King of comedy he is funnier and probably a nicer guy!

Gil Renard is an unemployed knife salesman who has one burning ambition in life -- to be exposed as baseball's biggest fan, or, more accurately, as hitting sensation Bobby Rayburn's biggest fan. He will go to any length to protect his hero from the media and all other ramifications that stem from being paid an excessive $40,000,000 a year to play with the Giants. And this dedication to perfection, as his ex-boss puts it, is what leads to his partial schizophrenia and almost complete absorption into the world of an over-hyped celebrity. But when Renard realizes that his efforts and 'kindnesses' are not appreciated by his #1 idol, he turns on his role-model and viciously hunts him and his family down to the film's final climax.

7/10

Gil Renard (Robert De Niro) is a failing knife salesman, a SF Giants fanatic, a divorced father of a boy, and a very angry guy. Bobby Rayburn (Wesley Snipes) is a new sign to the ball club, and the hope for savior. Both men's lives go downhill.

Director Tony Scott has made a movie filled with flash and sizzle. It doesn't accentuate as much as distract. When there is a master thespian like Robert De Niro, all the extra fireworks just take the focus away from the real show. And Wesley Snipes isn't likable enough. A less stereotypical selfish black athlete may help. His scenes with his agent Manny (John Leguizamo) are annoying and tiresome. This could have been a creepy character study like the iconic 'Taxi Driver'. But it never allows De Niro any peace and quiet to do his work properly.

Sports and Robert DeNiro together. I was in heaven...until I saw the movie It seemed like a great idea, but it just didn't quite work. A bit of a combination of an ordinary, if not over-necessarily creepy storyline, and an ordinary script. The movie revolves around Robert DeNiro's character, Gil, an over obsessed sports fan who decides he wants to play an active role in the career of Bobby (Wesley Snipes), in a performance that will be mentioned in the same sentence as "Passenger 57". Gil cracks when problems with his family and job explode, causing him to focus all his energies in Bobby. How far will Gil go to get what he wants? See it to find out.

Pretty disappointed with this movie, although it features one of my favourite scenes ever when Gil and Bobby have a little game of baseball near the end.