Threat

i was lucky enough to see this film when it played in Montreal. i have seen other people cite the violence as what is so amazing or over the top about the film, but it's the character and subtlety i most enjoyed. here's a surprising example: one of the first scenes in the movie is nearly five minutes long, shot black and white in a very sparse room, with two talking heads: the main characters discussing philosophy of all things. what's so amazing about this? well the entire audience was wholly absorbed and engrossed in the scene. now that is film-making. if you can write and direct a scene where there's no action, there's not even color on the screen, and you can entertain with a philosophical discussion: then staging an exciting riot is an afterthought. i really thought the riot was just that: an afterthought to an otherwise very thoughtful and entertaining little movie.

'Threat' contains some of the lamest dialogue I've heard in a while. The acting is generally poor too. I got the distinct impression that the filmmakers thought they were doing something special. What a joke.

The only reason I saw 'Threat' was because I found out Slug (of the hip hop duo Atmosphere) is in it. But I didn't even notice Slug while I was watching it. Had to look closely at the credits and see that he was credited as 'Crusty punk'(!). Then I figured out who he was in the movie, but it doesn't look or sound at all like him. Moreover he was only on screen for all of 10 seconds.

The only positive thing I can say about 'Threat' is that the animation that is interlaced into the movie is not bad, and the editing is sometimes interesting. Despite the "real threat" alluded to above, I'm not entirely pessimistic about the next offering from the production group ('King's Mob').

I saw an ad in AP for this movie and was worried it was going to be like every other indie scene movie and just take people with tattoos or mohawks and put them into the same tired plot routines of every coming-of-age story for the past 50 years. After all we've been burned before by Bomb The System, Godmoney, you name it.

Threat ain't an Oscar winner but it's as hardcore a movie as there ever was. I hope these Kings Mob guys and girls don't make another movie, but not cause I think they suck but cause anything else they do is going to be a traditional movie and probably WILL suck since the whole point of Threat is that it's not a movie, it's an all out war. I don't want to see Kings Mob's version of Mallrats. Threat keeps it real.

I downloaded the movie thinking it was going 2 be cool, when I finished watching it, there was just one thing left to ask.. WHAT THE F*CK DID I WATCHED? I mean, really..what the f*ck? Straight edge "kids" ganging up on people and sh!t like that the homeless dude the crazy ass blonde b!tch i mean, come on..really even kids movies r better nowadays. besides the childish acting, the weird frame changes (I just think they did that because of low budget) crappy "efects" and switching from black and white to color..i mean..just what the hell was that about , u know? Jesus Christ I'm f*cking mad I'm going 2 watch Toy Story just for that. F*CK this movie.

when Threat works it's like the second coming of Martin Scorsese. when Threat fails it's like the second coming of Abel Ferrara. luckily for me, i like Bad Lieutenant just as much as i like Mean Streets, so i have nothing to complain about. director Matt Pizzolo goes for broke on this hard-edged film about how extreme philosophies can drive ordinary people to obscene lengths. using black & white film for daytime, color for night, and interlacing animation throughout, Threat runs like a comic book gone haywire. everything is over the top, especially the philosophy: "if the suit don't see you as a threat, then you are the suit" or "how many people watched those towers burn, and were really just (expletive) angry that somebody beat them to it." brave words. it's no surprise this kind of anger would be coming direct from the streets of NY, the biggest surprise is that it's taken so long in coming.