The Maker

for starters, a movie with mathew modine as a career criminal and a bad influence on a young "troubled" teen can be summed up before viewing the film as crap. this could be deemed ignorant, but heh? whatever. the writing was reminiscent of a "troubled" idiot who seems to have a bit of "trouble" with plot, seeing as how there is little to none of it here. the acting is far below satisfactory, the directing was lackluster at best, the ending was laughable, as was the attempt to convince viewers that this was a touching story. honestly, i'm shocked that any one with the time to enter a comment would be so devoid of knowledge or good taste. "tell me how to be the maker." throw me a bone here! that's ridiculous ( to say the least). anyhow, i wanted everyone to know that the above are stupid and this movie really is bad. a "hot" star and a "hip" soundtrack do not amount to a good movie... the fact it made its permier on cable will amount to that. i can't think of a good cable movie.... ever! there... i said my piece.

I saw this movie solely because Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Fairuza Balk are in it, but it turned out to be worthwhile on its own merit. Of course, the performances by Rhys-Meyers and Balk do help. The crime story angle of it isn't terribly interesting. Whooo, lotsa shooting and squealing tires. (Yawn) The story of a teenager idling in life and waiting for it to happen to him rings true, though. Modine makes a sufficiently oily criminal trying to extend the "family business." The sequence where Josh finds out what happened to their parents is unnecessarily overblown, but it was bearable. Balk is, as usual, a hidden gem. Mary Louise Parker I didn't even recognize for a while, and her character seemed to be a plot device, but she did fairly well. I was floored watching Rhys-Meyers, thinking all the while "THIS is Brian Slade from 'Velvet Goldmine'??? Without the makeup and with his natural hair he looks at least five years younger, and it strikes you "heh, he's just a kid." One that can act, I've decided. His American accent is perfect, tinny and hollow and more authentic-sounding than those of some of the real Americans in the movie. I've rarely if ever heard a foreigner evoke so perfect an imitation of American speech. Anyway, this is a worthwhile movie. A little generic sometimes, but overall it's very decent. Ignore the misleading video box, but watch for the humorous parts, like when Rhys-Meyers gets pulled over by his dream girl in blue for running a stop sign.

Sleeper alert: A straight-to-video-cable flick that upon closer inspection is a very intriguing character study. Ignore the generic video box cover and the ubiquitous straight-to-vid Madsen: note the talented cast, (modine, parker, balk) and director (hunter, "river's edge) and allow yourself to give this movie a chance. A troubled but gifted teen confronts his 18th birthday with his troubled and lost friends, when a stranger (or is he?...) enters his life. Low-key, well played, with a bit of generic warehouse shoot-out footage probably a necessity to get funding...the filmmaker's make a real effort on a scant budget, and despite flaws, any accomplishment however small shouldn't be overlooked in this time of cookie-cutting filmmaking. See it!

For the most part, the only things that brought me through the whole film are that it was very difficult to get the loan of a copy of the film via interlibrary loan, and it has Rhys Meyers (as he spelled it for this film) in it, who is always nice to look at. Although there is a good premise for an interesting film and story, there was not enough continuity and plot development to keep me interested and engaged. There were a number of subplots and minor characters which and who really didn't add anything of value to the story. I think that if you are a fan of Rhys-Myers or Modine, you may want to see the film in order to get to see them in an unreleased-for-theaters film, but otherwise, it really isn't work your time or trouble. If you're planning to enjoy looking at Rhys-Myers' skin, you can do a lot better with some of his other work. Tangled may not be an excellent film, either, but he drops his pants for you in it, and that is worth something you won't get out of "The Maker."

There were so many good things here -- interesting characters, good details (like the Minnell's perfect home being right next to an ugly industrial complex), and the potential for a nice dramatic movie about troubled brothers reuniting. The filmmakers had lots of good ideas and no way to weave them together into a coherent movie. Modine was sadly unconvincing as a bad guy, Madsen was an unnecessary scenery-chewing addition, and how Balk's character was written off was a crime. The scenes between Bella and Josh were the best. Jonathan Rhys Meyers was excellent! (He does a good American accent.) He brought a very genuine, believable feel to the character Josh. It's a shame the movie let him down by becoming increasingly implausible, and finally just a low-budget action climax cliche. Good cast & good ideas make this worth seeing.