Passion Play

Don't know why most of the critics have lambasted the movie. It was a nice and entertaining movie, good story, all the actors have played their part beautifully. Megan Fox for once have shown some acting skills, Mr. Rourke is good and Bill Murray as always was excellent. The story was good, a bit predictable about the action Rourke will take. I was a bit surprised with the ending but that last smile on Mickey Rourke's face was enough to tell what was going through the entire movie.

I have read about what happened with the movie in TIFF and what Mr Rourke have said about the movie. But if anyone is thinking to watching this movie should first through these comments out of the mind. Watch this movie without any prejudice. All in all if someone will spend his one and half hour to watch this movie that will be spent good.

Seedy bar trumpeter, Mickey Rourke, gets gets hit over the head outside the bar, gets dragged to the desert to be shot, presumably for some shady misdemeanour. His captor gets shot instead, by shadowy figures, dressed in white.

Nate Poole (Rourke) trudges on through the desert and into the night, where he stumbles on a travelling circus. Rhys Ifans is a sort of compère and then, Nate's eyes fall on a young woman, in a red outfit and who has wings. This vision of beauty (Megan Fox) has him enthralled and he tries to speak to her afterward.

As Messrs Ifans and Co gets riled, Lily Luster (Fox) decides this show has used her too much and needs to break free and drives them both out. The pair sort of go on the road, Rourke all lived-in and leathery rough and Fox young, enticing and fresh.

Passion Play scores a mightily measly 4.4 on the IMDb, and as a rule, I don't even bother with films on Sky Movies that score less than 5 - and that's 5/10, hardly a great starting point.

Mickey Rourke not so long ago was on Oscar nominated form in The Wrestler and whilst he's (apparently, I've not seen them) been in some awful movies in the past, was this an unfortunate return to that form for him?

Well, for a start, the fantasy elements are crudely done, with hardly any sense of magic to them. It's as if director Mitch Glazer hadn't even tried to convey any sense of wonder, so Lily's character never comes across more than a rather timid kid who's got a secret to hide. Mickey Rourke, doesn't seem to immerse himself in the part fully, generally avoiding looking into the camera at least at first, opening up as the film progresses. As a supposed grizzled junkie musician, he seldom delivers the expected wisdom, bitterness and nostalgia that a fully developed character might. He's still in great shape though, as the generous amounts of him appearing shirtless shows.

An almost unrecognisable Bill Murray, whose appearance I was looking forward to, is completely wasted, talent-wise as a ruthless gangster that wants Lily for himself, to use as a novelty act.

There's nothing so terrible in this movie that makes you want to switch it off, but next thing you know, it's half way through - and what has the film achieved? We don't feel as if we know these two people any better, even though they've been waffling on about themselves quite a lot.

I was wondering whether the director and the film itself was trying to emulate Wim Wender's beautiful and enigmatic 'Wings Of Desire' and failing at almost every level. This is Mitch Glazer's first directorial, he's normally a screenwriter (he scripted this film, too) and this lack of experience shows. He did possibly have some great ideas but to mould them into a living, breathing movie is another thing and with two first- class actors, maybe he has been too star struck to get the best from them.

I would suggest that only devout fans of Mickey Rourke check this out - he will always be a larger than life character in any film he's in and he's not actually bad in this, he gets better as the film develops. As for Bill Murray; he could be anybody, played by anybody.

As for Megan Fox, she just tends to look rather awkward and appropriately rather glum, with her CGI'd shoulder adornments. There are hints that Lily's character might develop into a Natalie Portman one in Black Swan; troubled, deep etc but that may be just down to the music and atmosphere that surrounds her at times.

It all moves onto a scenario where three people are vying for Lily's skills and potential dollars, as Rhys Ifan's tracks her down and says that he 'discovered' her. The ending wasn't totally unexpected and was fitting and neatly rounded off this rather oddly and clumsily put- together romantic fantasy.

I know it's hip to slam 2010's "Passion Play," maybe because Megan Fox is an easy target, but the film doesn't deserve it. This is a reverent drama with outlandish aspects and a profound ending.

THE PLOT: Nate Poole (Mickey Rourke) is a down-on-his-luck musician in the Southwest who gets on the bad side of a mob boss, Happy (Bill Murray). In his flight he stumbles upon Lily (Fox) at a carnival, a "freak" with wings. They discern a deep connection and take off together with Happy & his hoods on their trail.

The film is very similar to 2008's "The Wrestler," which also starred Roarke. In both films Rourke plays a languishing has-been. In both films he struggles with his love for a young woman. In "The Wrestler" it's his daughter; in "Passion Play" it's an exceptional young woman with whom he has a love connection.

What surprised me is Fox' acting. She's known for playing the stereotypical hot chick, but here she plays a sweet, innocent woman struggling with an abnormality, and she does it very convincingly.

Also, Rourke (Nate) and Fox (Lily) have good chemistry. Yes, Nate is about 30 years older than Lily, but – it doesn't matter – their connection is real, sort of like Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson in "Lost in Translation."

The score is reverent and moving and fits the tone of the film.

The ending is both surprising and effective, even though there are obvious clues. See "COMMENTARY ON ENDING" below.

The film was shot in New Mexico and runs 94 minutes.

GRADE: B

***SPOILER ALERT*** (Don't read until you've seen the film)

COMMENTARY ON THE ENDING: Although some interpret the ending to mean the bulk of the story is Nate's death dream, it more likely indicates that Nate was in some type of purgatorial spiritual realm where God offers a second chance for the lost. Nate passes the test and is ushered into eternal bliss. Since it's some type of spiritual realm where God is sovereign, the reality may be set-up in a holographic sense, similar to Star Trek's Holodeck. In that case, the people Nate experiences aren't real at all; they're there simply as a part of Nate's test.

At any rate, the ending gives the story purpose in an eternal scope. Instead of some silly fantasy about a hard-luck musician meeting some ultra-beautiful woman with wings who learns to fly while simultaneously delivering the man from some serious heavies (why sure!), the story becomes a tale of eternal redemption for a languishing dumb bastage who foolishly messed around with a mob boss' wife.

At the end you see Nate smiling with true joy as the angel sweeps him off to heavenly bliss. God gave him a second chance at redemption and he escapes this piece-of-sh** world.

How is it that I never heard of this one? A fine movie... Megan Fox CAN act after all and many times I had claimed the opposite. Even though this movie was quite predictable, IMHO, it was still a great watch and we were spared the over-the-top violence that so many other lesser movies rely upon. The only murky part of the film was the whole sequence when Nate hooked up with that over-Inked junkie but I don't want to come too close to Spoiling. I mean I understood what and why it all went down but still... I haven't done a review here in eons but I saw the 4.5 rating for this and felt compelled to get people to give this a shot, well worth it. FWIW, also felt Mickey was the perfect Nate... not sure Bill M was a great Happy but not terrible either. BTW - MFox is only semi-nude but gorgeous as ever.

In Reno, the former successful trumpet player Nate Poole (Mickey Rourke) has one night stand with the wife of the powerful and ruthless mobster Happy Shannon (Bill Murray) and one gangster of his gang abducts Nate to kill him in the desert.

Out of the blue, Nate is saved by Indians and he walks through the desert until he reaches a side show owned by Sam Adamo (Rhys Ifans). Nate asks if Sam has a telephone to make a phone call to his friend Harriet (Kelly Lynch), but he sees a beautiful woman with wings called Lily Luster (Megan Fox) and he asks a drink to her. Then he invites Lily to move with him to Reno. However Sam kidnaps Nate to kill him with a snake, but Lily rescues Nate with a truck and they head to Reno.

Nate plots a scheme to raise some money, offering Lily to Happy. Along their journey back to Reno, Nate falls in love with her and he decides to call off the agreement with Happy. But the criminal finds Nate's hideout and abducts Lily and keeps the angel with him. Nevertheless Nate is decided to rescue Lily from Happy's fortress.

"Passion Play" is a weird film with an awful story, with Mickey Rourke absolutely miscast in the role of a washed up musician that falls in love with an angel performed by Megan Fox. In the 80's, Mickey Rourke was cool and one of the most handsome actors of cinema; but recently, he is deformed and one of the ugliest actors. Therefore, his romance with Lily is absurd and hard to believe and there is no reason for the gorgeous Megan Fox to fall in love with the old Mickey Rourke.

There are also inconsistent situations, especially when the conclusion is disclosed to the viewer. Last but not the least, there are many fake reviews promoting this flick. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "O Anjo do Desejo" ("The Angel of the Desire")