The Heavy

With a new TV for Christmas and having viewed most of the new titles out there, I was looking for something new and visually pleasing with some potential action to spice it up. After reading terrible reviews almost across the board for this movie, I came across one review that said it was a good action movie to just sit back and enjoy and that the story wasn't terrible...the reviewer must have been thinking of another movie. I was looking forward to at least some quality acting based on the cast, but it was one corny line and terrible camera angle after the other. The action was extremely limited which made the long stretches of poor story and character development even more unbearable. When the action did show up, it was quick and made even worse by the cheesy matrix style(camera following slow motion bullets with trails) it was edited with. Avoid this one if you value 2 hours of your life that you could be doing something much more productive with. I felt cheated in the end.

"The Heavy" was not as bad as some say. It is definitely a thriller; leaving the viewer wondering if what they think really happened. I will admit there was not enough closure, but it was a pretty good ride. The movie is slow to develop, but it gets to the point before it leaves you hungry for more. Gary Stretch was very good as the lead character. Adrian Paul also played his role very well. If you are looking for a movie that will make you want to see it twice, just to make sure you followed it correctly, then this is the one. I give it a 7/10 because I enjoyed it. The ending could have been better, but all in all, it was a decent movie.

I had high hopes for this movie. The plot was a man out of jail working as a debt collector for a local business who was asked to do one last job, in order to get out of it all!! then you have his brother Christian (played by an awful Adrian Paul from the Highlander TV series) who was responsible for putting him in prison who wants to make amends for what happened. When i say "make amends" it certainly doesn't pan out in that way. More on this character later.

Gary Stretch who plays the lead character Mitchell Mason, has a good on-screen presence, but he is not a leading man. He is surrounded by some heavyweights and some seriously bad "lightweights" that actually make him look like Robert De Niro at times (no offence Bob). He tries his best but even Vinnie Jones as the corrupt cop makes him look like a cardboard cut-out as he hams up the "bad cop" role like a spit-roasted pig.

Christopher Lee and Jean Marsh are on show (yet i can't see what possessed them to want to be part of this?) play the parents and some of their scenes are so painful to watch as they are put in scenes with such awful acting that you feel embarrassed for them!

Stephen Rea does his best as an upper class bad guy but you still cringe watching the drivel script he has to deal with. Then you have Sadie Frost as a local Bar Owner (i'm not sure what this part of the film's purpose was, as it was pointless).

Then you have the worst acting I have seen in a long time. Hang on, 2nd worst!

Adrian Paul who plays Mitchell's brother Christian, simply CANNOT act, and that is an understatement. I have seen dead people show more emotion and talent than this guy. I think the director actually did him a favour in hiring the actress to play his wife as she is even worse, and that must have been tough. The acting by these 2 characters would've been perfect in an Olaf Ittenbach horror movie. Yes, its that bad!!

The storyline is all over the place as it tries to be cool and modern by going back and forth in the timelines. I think the film would have worked better if they had just done it from first date to last. I think new directors must think this works in gangster style movies but in this one it fails.

On a plus point, the scenes with Shannyn Sossamon (Claire) are the high points of the film. If only they had put more into this than they did, it could've actually been a good film. There is definitely a chemistry there between the 2 characters and they should have focused on this a lot more. I would say Shannyn's performance is one of the better ones overall.

The last 20-30 minutes of this film are actually not bad, if you can endure the first 70 minutes. But don't expect anything special with this film. You won't get it!! Best thing to do? go and dig out Going Off Big Time. Similar film but better acting, script, plot, etc.

Appalling acting as Freeride said, Stretch is an unappealing anti hero, the guy playing his brother is the worst actor i have seen in many a year, you don't really care what happens to any of them, the story line flies past at 1 mile an hour, Geoff Bell must have been stuck for work same as Christopher Lee, and Vinnie will take on any role as long as it keeps his mush on the silver screen.Avoid at all costs and save your money towards a tooth extraction, it will be more fun.

This should have gone straight in the bin and not to DVD, it is time i will never get back, and i kept thinking i have to turn this rubbish off, but i just had to see it through, it was that bad. Never tell a boxer( and the guy playing his insipid brother) he can act i think is the moral here.

One trend in movies I am not a huge fan of is the antihero who talks very, very little and shows nearly no emotion. It might work occasionally, but too many films create guys who seem this way. This is THE major reason I did not enjoy "The Heavey", as Boots Mason (Gary Stretch) barely talks and his face is like stone. This gets VERY old, very quickly.

Boots is a thoroughly disgusting, violent and remorseless guy. When bad things happen in his life, he blames others instead of looking at himself. So, when he learns his brother is dying and needs bone marrow, Boots refuses, as the brother didn't do anything to stop him going to prison...though Boots was sent there because he killed someone. Much of the early portions of the movie consist of him beating up folks for loan sharks and killing people. Later, the film gets even nastier and there's apparently a contract out on him and his brother. Why? I really didn't care.

You really have to like seeing violence to get into the film. There is a scene where a guy is chopping off fingers...and you wonder why they show as much as they did. Mind you it could have been worse...but for the average viewer it's more than bad enough.

Overall, a film which I didn't enjoy because of the monotone and unlikable character. I also felt that the plot occasionally made no sense (such as why the woman who Boots is holding hostage HELPS him...and none of her actions made any sense). Not a film I'd recommend.