The Immortals

Surprisingly, Quentin Tarantino is not the only man that can create a criminal movie, with an interesting plot. With good casting, and meaning, The Immortals tell a story of a series of robberies set up by Jack(Eric Roberts), to bring together a group of small time thugs, with nothing to live for. In short, Chris Rock is hilarious, the action is stunning, and although the script isn't "Reservoir Dog"-ish, The Immortals can challenge it for best Mexican Stand Off in a movie.

This is a memorable movie full of those actors that even a casual movie watcher will recognize. You'll love the hook of the plot. I thought it was another crappy "Made for Video" movie, but as it had Chris Rock I decided to give it a try. Was I surprised. Very good stuff with lots of action and sweet cameo's and it let's actors that normally steal the show anyway, be showcased. Worth a rent.

A surprisingly well-known and talented cast help to make this an unexpectedly enjoyable film. In particular, Roberts and Pantoliano are solid as usual, and Chris Rock has some funny moments, as you would probably expect. Things do slow down midway through the movie, but a wonderful plot twist breathes new life into the film towards the end. The ending scenes are all too typical, but by the final minutes, there had already been enough clever writing and creativity to keep me happy. Despite some slow spots and a routine finish, this is still a movie that is definitely worth a look.

Enter Eric Roberts (American Strays, Purgatory, The Grave) a manager of a mobster owned (Curtis) high-rise hotel and eloquent casino. He arranges eight individuals, all unknown to each other to rob the other four casinos that also belonging to Curtis. Pairing them off, he sends them out with similar masks at the precise time of casino collections. Thus begins ninety minutes bloody shoot outs, humor and an interesting plot that catches the viewer off guard at the end. Chris Rock and Tia Carrere make an interesting team. Forsythe is superb as he lies shot and bleeding profusely and decides, `This is as good as time as any to take that last hit of acid I was saving.' As the plot thickens, they all realize they have more in common than just being robbers. To say anymore would give it away as that movie dude did with `The Crying Game.' And we don't want that, do we? On a scale of One to Five, I would give it three and half stars purely on the fact I think Roberts and Forsythe are great actors. But as the critic I'm not (laugh Barb) I'd probably give it four.

Although this movie had an intriguing premise, and a few good ideas, it overall just didn't work. The directing and editing were really sloppy, and I didn't care for any of the characters. It looked cheap as well. Tony Curtis was the best thing about this movie, though sadly he only appears for a few minutes; his scenes and a funny scene in the nightclub kitchen barely save this from being a total bomb.