Hard Luck - Uno strano scherzo del destino

HARD LUCK with Wesley Snipes, Mario Van Peebbles and Cybill Shepherd. Not bad but I think its a little late coming. It feels like it should have been released at least six to seven years ago. It is part of the post-Pulp Fiction style of movies of the last 12 years. It has that Tarantino, DePalma, David Lynch feel to it at times that I think Van Peebles(and Snipes I would imagine)wanted to try and capture. Its a very good attempt. Because its another straight-to-video flick it won't likely make any best of list or even honorable mention but I thought it was worth checking out. One goes in thinking its another straight forward action-thriller and you realize that it is an absurdist black comedy. An African-American take on Joe Orton or Harold Pinter. Not all the writing is at that level but definitely the atmosphere is. Very different kind of role for Ms. Shepherd. I don't want to spoil anything so you'll might be curious enough to see it. She made my eyebrows rise a few times. I felt it could have been better edited with a higher grade cinematographer. It just didn't have enough polish to give it a higher rating. I sensed that Mr. Snipes might have been a little nervous working on this kind of material that didn't position him in an familiar and easy to accept context. Its his way of acknowledging that TIME catches up to all of us. No matter how willful, handsome, charismatic or gifted we may be. Up to now Wesley has played easy to read heroes or villains and this guy was more of an Everyman. Not that he hasn't done regular guys in the past like WATERDANCE, ONE NIGHT STAND and DOWN IN THE DELTA. This character was an echo from his earlier work in NEW JACK CITY and SUGAR HILL but with far more apprehension and less cockiness.

Well, I've finally tracked down Wesley Snipes's worst film and it turns out to be this Mario Van Peebles-directed stinker that attempts to mix the small-time gangster genre with a serial killer flick. HARD LUCK is an appallingly shot, badly written B-movie that's so inept that you wonder whether Peebles went out of his way to make the worst film he could as part of a bet.

The film stars Snipes and the often-naked Jackie Quinones as an ex-con and a stripper who go on the run from the Mob with a suitcase full of cash. All very ordinary you might think, but then the plot takes a turn for the bizarre with the introduction of a serial killing couple played by Cybill Shepherd and James Liao. Yes, that really is Cybill Shepherd in this movie, although what she's doing here I can only guess.

HARD LUCK is shoddily made and particularly badly shot; all of the dialogue scenes and moments of exposition are acceptable, but the handling of the action is horrendous (a surprise considering Peebles's experience in the genre). The ineptness has to be seen to be believed: there's genuinely nothing good here, aside from a typically reliable Snipes, so how this got made or even released I have no idea.

Look what happened to me on the same week. In one day I watched "New Jack City" who happens to be directed by Mario Van Peebles and it also happens to be a great movie about the dangers of the criminality in the New York of the 1980's and 1990's. A few days later I had the chance to watch this one "Hard Luck" also directed by Peebles and with Wesley Snipes in the cast. Result: this movie has nothing good to show except that are some twisted minds wandering around in the world.

Wesley Snipes plays Lucky an bad luck ex-convict who crosses countless and weird situations after some obscure negotiation involving an old friend (Noah Fleiss), some corrupt police officers and a gun dealer. While trying to get away of a shootout he kidnapped a beautiful dancer (Jacquelyn Quinones), stole the money of the negotiation and run away from the police. On the road he's gonna meet a psychotic couple (played by Cybil Shepherd and James Liao) and some other strange people in a mosaic and boring film.

The action scenes are annoying, weak and there's nothing special about it and Snipes was wasted in that department but in the dramatic scenes he is better than some of the supporting actors. The story presents too many characters and situations trying to be a action flick mixed with some mosaic film such as "Magnolia" where everybody and everyone is connected although we don't know how and when. About the psychotic couple...well they are presented in the beginning of the movie and you keep trying to understand what they're doing all the time, torturing people they find on the streets and you keep thinking what's the connection between them and Snipes? Only in the end you're gonna find out!

I'm truly disappointed with this film because it had some potential, it had a social denounce in the beginning (Snipes character survived the Hurricane Katrina) and the movie totally forgot that and moved to an ordinary and crappy action movie. I miss the great director of "Panther" and "New Jack City" who knew how to work with explosive themes and some good action scenes in the middle. A good cast was wasted (except Luis Guzman who was real funny in his only scene), money was wasted and my time was wasted. 3/10

Faded/fading stars, newbies just out of school, a plot which makes little sense, clichés tired and banal, dialogue which adds insult to injury, performances which range from good jokes to bad, to just tired as well. You hope everyone was stoned and having fun enough to actually laugh at the mess they're making which at least aspires on occasion to camp, however hard it falls on its face. Dreck, grade D product with grade B- production values. Only the dregs of basic cable could pass this off as a way to kill a couple of late-night hours, which might work as you also do your toenails (and/or beat weed), listen to music, and chat online.

Hard Luck is a dark comedy about a pair of serial killers that meet up with a dancer and a guy named lucky who fell into some money. Lucky tries to get the money and skip town with mobsters hot on his trail and picks up a dancer who gets in the way more than once. When Lucky meets up with the serial killers, he almost buys the farm. Pretty good action and dialog that is helped by good actors. Lots of purple comes through and livens up the action. Not meant to be an intellectual film, it has its moments. I think I liked Snipes better in US Marshals type movies. Van Peebles has made a movie that really relied on Snipes to create the draw. What are friends for anyway…. If you like action, some sick serial killers, and some T&A you'll like this movie.