Criminal Activities

Criminal Activities has a good cast for talent in the main roles with Michael Pitt, Dan Stevens, Christopher Abbott, Rob Brown, Edi Gathegi and John Travolta. The premise of the film is four old friends come up with a financial investment plan to make a small fortune but they need $200K in seed money which one of the four old friends arranges to get a loan for. When their financial investment plan quickly goes south their anonymous financial backer comes forward and demands his $200K back immediately plus another $200K in interest, or else their heads will be handed to them, literally. The loan arranger is connected to the mob underworld and he tells his four patsies that he will wipe the slate clean of the $400K loan if they agree to kidnap another hood and hold him for just 24 hours.

So the kidnapping plan is set in motion with the four amateurs and although it hits a few snags they eventually get the kidnapping completed and they keep the mob hostage tied up for their loan shark waiting to get the green light to let him go.

What follows is about 60 minutes of continuous blather by all cast members including a whole lot of four letter words that rhyme with the word "PUCK". Most sensible film goers would at some point get up and ask for a refund but since I purchased the Blu Ray I chose to bear with the directors master(less)piece and although I was becoming very irritated with the endless blather of totally useless dialogue by the six main characters which I assumed was necessary to fill an otherwise empty void to completing a 94 minute movie I hung in there and I was rewarded with a better than average film end.

I don't want to spoil any film goers surprise ending or personal experience with Criminal Activities but to summarize the film in three acts I would rate: Act One (1) with a "C" rating, Act Two (2) with a "D" rating, and the final act, Act Three (3) with a "B+" plus rating.

So if you can hang in there through a pretty boring middle half of the film with a lot of useless four letter word dialogue you may be pleasantly surprised with an above average decent film ending.

No spoilers!

This is a fairly basic Hollywood story of how things take a turn south really fast in peoples lives and keep getting worse by the minute. I've always liked "gangster" movies like this, kinda simple but yet funny characters and unexpected twists you really cannot predict. It's the small things that can make an average movie turn in to a good one and this did that for me. About half of it is just plain average but then things start to happen so don't stop watching.

The writing and characters have clear influences from Tarantinos Pulp Fiction, Guy Ritchie's Snatch(and others) and the ending is quite "Usual Suspect's" type but so what if we've seen it before, it still works. For it's budget I'm happy with what I saw.

Too much of movies these days throw money away in effects and other useless crap, they still haven't learned that a billion dollars worth of effects won't make a bad script good. Save that money Hollywood and make a hundred of these types instead. Put the money towards good writers and casting and that will save you a lot.. and make a better movies at the same time.

All the guys proceed well but the actors, including the scene-stealing, acquit themselves quite amusingly, as does director Haley, who also plays one of Travolta's henchmen. Working from a chatty script not as cleverly hatched as it likes to think it is, Haley whips it into something decently entertaining even as you begin thinking about how truly great "Get Shorty" and Travolta's Chili Palmer were midway through those double-crossing criminal activities. Criminal Activities is overall a sneaky, snaky little crime thriller with some pretty impressive plot twists with some stylish touches and committed performances which enliven this otherwise not special crime thriller.

Just finished the movie, and I was captivated the whole time. I was surprised to see that the entire cast put together a very convincing performance. The script and plot were also clever, and somewhat original for a change (which was refreshing to see). It did seem a little Tarantino-esque with some of the music, dialog, and situation. But I guess if you're going to model your work after anyone, QT is probably the guy to go with.

Overall I enjoyed the movie, and I do recommend checking it out. It probably is not for everybody but if you are a fan of Guy Ritchie and Quentin Tarantino's work, I imagine you will probably enjoy this too. Jackie Earl Haley did a fine job in his directorial debut, and I look forward to seeing more of his work.

7.5/10

A good script! Love the plottwists.

The acting however is a little less than expected and that makes me give the movie a 6 and not more.