Phoenix

This is one of those films that somehow falls under the radar and languishes undeservedly in obscurity. In a fairly convoluted plot, Ray Liotta plays an honest cop with a gambling addiction who comes up with a plan to rob a loan shark in order to pay off his debts. He enlists the aid of three of his colleagues (Daniel Baldwin, Jeremy Piven and the unappreciated Anthony LaPaglia, who gives a film-stealing performance here) unaware that one is sleeping with another's wife and is under investigation.

Although the story unfolds a little too slowly at times, writer Eddie Richey's script has a lot of depth, lending some diversity to a bunch of what could otherwise have been genre-stereotypical tough guys. The quality of the writing is high, with some off-the-wall dialogue and unique insight into such diverse subjects as King Kong, Three-on-a-match, Looney Tunes cartoons, and Dostoyevsky's gambling addiction. Brit director Danny Cannon creates some arresting images (an alternately sun-scorched and rain-sodden Phoenix in monsoon season) and manages to create loads of atmosphere despite often selecting extreme close-ups to emphasise the thoughts and emotions of the characters. There are no weak performances but, together with LaPaglia, the ever-dependable Ray Liotta stands out in the lead role.

The ending is probably weaker than it should be because it takes a little too long for all the strands to be neatly tied, but this is still an impressive piece of entertainment that deserves to be better known.

Harry is a police officer - he is also a degenerate gambler in debt to bookie Chicago for $32K. That's basically the plot, it seems simple but it is enough to drive the film's core once it has been surrounded by plot twists, tension, strong performances, interesting characters and good dialogue.

Hats off to Danny Cannon - he was the great British hope once after making Young Americans and going to the US he then messed up with Judge Dredd. But here he shows that he does have talent to lead a dark thriller successfully - albeit he is helped greatly by the plot and his actors. The film follows Harry and his 3 colleagues as they revolve around several loan sharks and bookies whilst also trying to have lives and relationships. The main focus is Harry's addiction to gambling in all areas of his life. There is also a subplot involving Angelica Huston which is meant to represent Harry's potential redemption, but this is not well developed and is secondary to the main story. The story eventually turns into a heist-gone-wrong movie but even then has enough twists to keep the interest.

The main strength of the film lies in the actors that are assembled together here. Liotta plays the role well, making it possible to like this person but also making his gambling side believable - it's hard not to feel for him and his bad luck as the film progresses. Anthony Lapaglia, Daniel Baldwin, Jeremy Piven are all excellent for different reasons as his colleagues. Piven good as the cop drawn into things he doesn't want to do and Baldwin and Lapaglia are as solid as every in corrupt roles. Both Ribisi and Huston are capable of great performances but neither have a lot to work with here in terms of time or plot involvement. Giancarlo Esposito is as good as ever in a small role as Louie the loanshark - but then I've never seen him put in a bad performance, even in a bad film.

Overall the plot is similar to many other crime thrillers out there. What makes this rise above the normal TV material is a dark atmosphere from Danny Cannon, a strong lead in Liotta with uniformly great support from the rest of the cast and tension an twists throughout.

"Phoenix" is a hidden gem. I've seen it over five times. For some reason, it never gets old.

Harry (Liotta) is a cop with a gambling problem. He can't stop. He owes money to "Chicago" (Tom Noonan) and he if he doesn't pay up, he dies. Harry's partners Henshaw (LaPaglia) and Nutter (Baldwin) are dirty and are becoming "collectors" to bookie Louie (Giancarlo Esposito). Harry needs money fast and the only way is to rob Louie. Everybody goes along with the plan until there's a double cross.

There's not a lot of action in the movie until the end, but it's not needed. Ray Liotta is excellent in the movie. But the supporting cast steals it from him. LaPaglia is fantastic as Henshaw. He makes the character come alive. Baldwin, Esposito, Kari Wuhrer, and Anjelica Huston all get their time to shine.

"Phoenix" is a gritty crime movie that Liotta and LaPaglia fans must see.

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There was no shortage of 'cool' crime thrillers released on the success of Goodfellas in the nineties, and while I wouldn't say that this is one of the very best of them; it's certainly one of the better ones. Phoenix benefits from Scorsese's leading man Ray Liotta, who takes the lead role in this film as a gambling addicted copper. The plot focuses on crime as you would expect, but the gambling side of the plot is what really makes and sets it apart from most of the other nineties crime flicks. Ray Liotta is Harry Collins, a cop with a gambling addiction; and, like most gamblers, a money problem resulting from it. He owes money he doesn't have to his bookie, a man who calls himself "Chicago", and after being given a few days to pay; he soon realises that he's going to have to take steps to raise the money. This prompts him to set up a plan with his fellow coppers Mike, James and Fred to rip off local pimp and all round bad guy Louie. Naturally, the plan goes tits up and pretty soon all four of them are forced to pay the consequences...

The film is never really brilliant (though in fairness, this sort of film doesn't usually turn me on all that much), but it manages to keep a fairly good pace going throughout and doesn't get boring. Ray Liotta has played this sort of role many times before and since, and as you would expect he is well at home with the leading role in this film. British director Danny Cannon (also director of rubbish such as Judge Dredd and I Know What You Did Last Summer) has recruited a decent cast of below a-list stars, which includes Anthony LaPaglia, Daniel Baldwin, Jeremy Piven and Xander Berkeley, as well as one of my favourite B-movie actresses, Kari Wuhrer. Anjelica Huston also appears, but is horribly miscast as Liotta's love interest. There's plenty of what most people will have come to expect from modern crime flicks; we have car chases, shootouts, sharp dialogue and all the rest of it. I'd have preferred the film if we'd have got a bit more of the gambling theme thrown in, but that's not too important as overall, this is a more than passable effort and I'm sure crime fans will enjoy it.

Once in a while you come along a movie that, even though it is already several years old, you have never heard of before. "Phoenix" is such a movie. The only reason why I gave it a try and taped it is because there is a famous actor in it who I usually like to see playing (Ray Liotta) and because I hoped that the story might be something nice (most of the time I like crime movies). And because I really didn't know what to expect from it, it's only good that I didn't see that cover photo first. That ugly thing doesn't really give a good impression of what this movie is like. When watching that picture, my first impression is that this will be a typical action flick, Stalone or Jean-Claude Vandamme style, while in reality that certainly isn't the case.

"Phoenix" tells the story of Harry Collins, a cop whose life isn't exactly going all too well. He's a hopeless gambler who only loses a lot of money and never wins anything. But that's not how he sees it. He considers gambling not as something to make money with, he sees it as as an honorable tradition which he has inherited from his father. He gambles on anything he can possibly think of and he really sees a hidden tip in everything: the name of a girl, a conversation with some people who he considers to be lucky... Pretty soon he has a lot of debts with a loan shark named 'Chicago', which he can't possibly pay. When his colleagues suggest that they could arrest or even kill the man, he is shocked. There is no honor in doing such a thing, but from one thing comes another and soon Collins and his colleagues find themselves in a downward spiral of corruption, deceit, murder...

A movie with Ray Liotta in it is always worth watching, no doubt about that. Even a movie that isn't that good can be saved by his appearance. But this movie didn't need to be saved at all. This was actually a very nice film with some well-developed characters and a nice storyline. I might even say that this entire movie was a big surprise to me, as it kept my attention from the first moment until the last. And not only Ray Liotta is worth mentioning. Anthony LaPaglia, Daniel Baldwin, Jeremy Piven,... all did a very nice job in this movie. Still, in the end I'm not surprised why so little people know this movie. OK, it has a cast with some famous people in it like Anjelica Huston, Jeremy Piven and Ray Liotta, but this is also the work of the same director who gave us movies like "Judge Dredd" and "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer". I'm really wondering what made that man decide to do this project in the first place and where he ever found so much excellent inspiration. Anyway, there is one thing that I'm absolutely sure of: I will definitely recommend it to everybody who wants to hear it. I give this movie at least a 7.5/10.