Give 'em Hell, Malone! - Falli fuori, Malone!

Give'em hell Malone is cool, but the Matchstick character is a little too close to Heath Ledgers's character from another Movie. Besides that I like it! I script could have come directly from a DC-comics, comic. It has all the elements of the genre, except the leading lady's hair falls short of the classic style of the day. I particularly like the mother catch phrase, and title of the movie. The real star of the movie, in my opinion is the car, I believe it is a 1948 Pontiac, that has had some work done to the front end. None the less a cool car. These a-typical period items like the Pontiac, and characters like Franky the Crooner really set the seen, the mix of modern setting and characters add's an extra element like the Aisian assassin who keeps dropping in and out.

Former Detective and now freelance vigilante (for lack of a better description) Malone (Jane) believes he was set up and he needs to find out why the box everyone is trying to get is so important.

Watching this movie was like watching a comic book come to life. The dialogue, costumes, and cars from the 1940s made it so. I know many action movies are based on comic book super heroes, but this was going a bit too far and I almost shut it down. And, as far as I know there was no comic book based on the Malone character (I could be wrong about it, but…….I'm just saying).

There is so much shooting and killing in the beginning, sleepy time was coming upon me. But, nothing else was on tap so I stayed with it. Actually, it was quite entertaining and not bad at all. Yes, the shootings and killings went on unabated, but there was a story in there too. Honest.

For those of you (and me too) who forgot who Thomas Jane is let me fill us all in. He is the Punisher in those other movies actually based upon The Punisher comic book. Well, he may as well have been the Punisher in this one too. But as he says, he is a hard one to kill and yet, he does take some pretty hard whacks, and gunshots too. But, not to worry his mother tends to his gunshot wounds.

This Malone character doesn't mess around and neither does Doug Hutchinson appropriately called Matchstick, who likes to light fires every place he goes to kill people. Ving Rhames is a mountain of a man and if I heard it right, his character, Boulder, used to work with Malone back in the day on the job (Police work). The only thing he is afraid of is the story he believes that Malone actually reached in and took the hearts out of the people who killed his whole family and ate the hearts. And, let's not forget Gregory Harrison (as Whitmore), from some medical TV show back in the day. Well, he's a meanie in here and likes to use a baseball bat.

This is non-stop action, shootings and killings,but there is a story in here. Honest. You just have to stay with it. Okay, some twists too.

A meaningless note: sometimes Thomas Jane sounds like James Arness You know from Gunsmoke back in the day.

Oh, one more thing. There is a note at the end of the movie that says: TO BE CONTINUED. Can't wait.

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: Yes, a brief shot of Elsa Pataky in the shower. Language: Yes.

As a matter of fact, it's a typical specimen of comic noir style, mixing traditional elements of ''Sin City'' and ''Dick Tracy'' films it portrays black & sharp humored, seamless, vivacious and agile detective story. In one breath, ''Give 'em Hell, Malone'' rapidly and aesthetically carries spectator through the subtle nuances of swirling plot, leaving pleasant impressions from what you've seen. Love, sharp humor, betrayal, cruelty, selfishness. Everything presents here in good supply.

Perfectly balanced characters like rollicking main hero Malone who's got two favorite things: drink and shoot. Sexy beauty Evelyn who trying' to avenge her killed brother. Big guy Boulder whose feelings wave between good and bad side. Charismatic evildoers such as Graceful Asian girl called Mauler who likes to play with sharp toys and Matchstick who always utters reckless wised expressions and crazy philosophy resembled Heath Ledger's character Joker from the Dark Knight movie.

Wonderfully made operator's work constantly absorbs attention. For only 15 000 000$ creators made a beautiful action that can compete to the dozens of high budgetary blockbusters. Astonishing result indeed. Yes, here we can find a lot of bugs and disadvantages in the script but it's not really a drawback of the film, there is no emphasis on a deep plot, everything is simple and ingenious, to keep you relaxing and funning. It's just a crazy and well stylized mess nothing more.

Even if you ain't got much grasp of noir, ''Give 'em Hell, Malone'' is a great movie for spending free time and taking some rest.

I saw this movie recently on bluray and I must say I was mightily impressed. Though I'm not usually a huge Thomas Jane fan,I must confess to be an aficionado of all things Ving Rhames. Frequently type cast as the heavy, it's expertly acted roles such as Ving's Boulder, than makes him the undisputed go to guy when you need a very scary henchmen/goon to strike fear in the hearts of audiences. Ving simply kicks ass in this noir thriller that's a tongue and cheek homage to the 40's style detective movies. Jane does a good job channeling his inner Humphrey Bogart and the action sequence are some of the best I've seen in a straight to bluray film in some time. I won't get into the particulars of the story, but I will say that the film is well acted for the most part(Jane obviously is having a good time in the role) and that there are a few plot surprises. Overall, you could do a lot worse than this with your Saturday evening.

I expected this to be my Christmas turkey - but it is actually pretty darn good. The first 8 minutes (no spoiler intended) are excessive - your granny might not like it - and overall the film is raw in places - though not squirmingly so.

It is a good pastiche of the 40s film noir nothing too smart or dumb, some humor, with a psycho arsonist and the obligatory Japanese girl with knives, a high body count, a hardboiled hero, a femme fatale, a decent enough plot, and all in all the time went by very fast indeed.

All in all, an uber violent and cool attempt with comic book sensibilities that fans of Sin City, Shoot Em Up, Wanted, and The Tournament will lap up.