Arsenal

This is a very good action movie, love the slow mo make all the shootings look sick. Really enjoyed this 🙂

I really didn't know anything about the movie and so I didn't have any high expectations. Not like people who actually looked at the cast and saw John Cusack and Nicholas Cage there. Yet it still disappointed, with the slow boring script and the pointless scenes.

This should have been the side story in a police procedural episode, not a standalone film. There were interesting shots, especially at the end, so I can't fault the director too much. The acting was OKish, mostly from Adrian Grenier and Johnathon Schaech (man, when did he get so massively ripped?!). Nicholas Cage played one of his wacky roles, but he wasn't interesting, threatening or amusing, simply weird. And Cusack is a supporting role, just as Cage, to get people to watch the film in the first place.

Bottom line: the subject alone has been done to death, so the film needed something extra to make it interesting. They tried with the cast, but without a good script, it is just a waste.

Nicolas Cage portrays another over-the-top cartoonish character here, as he plays Eddie King, a sadistic and psycho mob boss who talks like he's always constipated and sports a horrific looking hairpiece. He decides to kidnap the screw- up brother (Johnathon Schaech) and extort his straight arrow successful brother (Adrian Grenier) for 350K.

Often in the film, there's extreme brutal bloody violence, sometimes in slo-mo, and, as expected, lots of explicit language and on screen drug use. The movie is directed by Steven C. Miller with a first-time screenplay from Jason Mosberg.

Overall, unless you like intense bloody violence or wants to laugh at Cage's character here, I don't really see the point in one viewing this flick.

Call it a brother love, blue collar descends to crime collar movie. Cusack and Cage obviously slummed to do this. If blue collar life now equals drugs and one or less parents, lets hear it for Hollywood stereotyping. I can see why Cusack maybe had to do this. He isn't seen much anymore. But Cage still seems to be working. The whole reason for this movie, is a big question mark. Is it to feature this new actor Grenier? Who knows? The script tries for Tarentino and fails. The Grenier character, J.P., somehow has unexplained combat skills, even though he just owns a construction company. His business partner has a neck brace on later into the movie, but that is never explained, just inferred. And the brothers get away with what they get away with at the end without, well, any explanation at all. Is it worth the watch? Only if there isn't anything better to watch. Or if you have anything better to do Cage's and Cusack's presence are what no doubt will lead people to watch this. But you will be disappointed if you want to see something up to the level of these stars.

"Oh, you think we're even you and I? I know of way we can both earn what we deserve."

Nicolas Cage is known for his wayward choice in terms of films recent years. His career had some ups and downs. As a result, the opinions on his acting talent in the world of film lovers are rather divided. His performance as Eddie King, a manic, coke-snorting, aggressive underworld figure, who's also not afraid to handle opponents in a rough and cruel way, is an exceptional case. At first sight it isn't a thunderous acting performance that he delivers and it tends to be rather ridiculous. A kind of cartoonish character whose tantrums and neurotic behavior comes across as exaggerated. At first glance he looks like a parody of Tony Clifton (an Andy Kaufman impersonation) with a weird wig, a walrus-like mustache and glued on fake nose. Let him wear some over-sized sunglasses on his fake nose and you'd swear it's Roy Orbinson. But at the same time I thought he was incomparable. In other words, it's hard to define Cage's acting as being woefully bad or masterfully brilliant.

Unfortunately this isn't sufficient enough to assess "Arsenal" as an excellent film. The story on its own isn't really brilliant or innovative. To be honest it's mostly boring and meaningless. The main characters who actually carry the entire film, with Cage in the background acting as an accessory to flare up the tension with bloody and highly aggressive scenes in slow motion, are JP (Adrian Grenier) and Mikey (Johnathon Schaech). The beginning shows how the two experienced their childhood. A not so rosy picture of two future-less teenagers who spend their time hanging around in an arcade, because it isn't so pleasant to be at home. One day Mikey comes home and makes a shocking discovery. That's a crucial moment. From there on their path go into opposite directions. As you can witness when they are adults. JP is the person who walked the honest path. He's the owner of a successful construction company. Mikey on the other hand, has chosen the side of Eddie King and ends up as a small-time gangster. After being robbed and losing a package of valuable drugs and not being able to pay of the money he owns Eddie, the latter has this masterful plan to arrange the matter. Now the truly honest brother must pull out all the stops to save Mikey. And that's what this movie is all about.

The whole movie revolves around the loyalty between the two brothers. Even if Mikey is a loser whose life is a concatenation of making wrong decisions and crime, yet JP remains faithful to him and he does his utmost to free him. And this with the help of Sal, a sort of undercover agent played by John Cusack who's wearing a bandanna and holding an e-cigarette. The only purpose he has is to provide JP the necessary clues so he can track down those who are responsible. Trust me, it sounds more fascinating than it looks. The initiative to fill the film with bloody, raw violent scenes with lot of blood flowing freely out of inflicted injuries from the victims, won't ensure that "Arsenal" rises to an acceptable level. And may I also inform the sports fans for a moment? There's a lot of kicking around, but the film has nothing to do with the famous soccer team.

Ultimately, "Arsenal" didn't become the thriller it intended to be. The story was too simplistic, the violence too excessive and the characters too one-sided and uninspired. Strange but true, the only bright spot in this film is the exorbitant and crazy role played by Cage. Normally, the failure of a film is mostly due to the failure of Cage's contribution. "Arsenal" is in my opinion a low-budget movie with kinda sounding names participating in it. Yet another proof that this isn't a guarantee to get an excellent end result. Finally, the most striking fact I saw in this film. Despite 23 years passed and the two brothers grew into adult men with graying hair and beard, Eddie King still had the same appearance. Apparently sniffing hallucinogenic drugs has a preservative effect.

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