Urban Jungle

Even famous actors today had to start somewhere. It's not to say that this is their best work or the work that pushed them into the spotlight but not many people come out on top the very first time anyway. For the most part, including myself, this movie caught my interest because within its cast was a very young Angelina Jolie and Johnny Whitworth. I didn't care much of what the story was about; that is until I finally reached the rolling of the end credits. Quite honestly, I don't understand why people can't find the value in this movie. It is certainly not rock solid entertainment, but it hits harder than most low budget dramas.

The story may not be about the most common of situations but it is relateable to an extent. A group of friends made a bad decision by trying to pull a robbery and end up causing friendly fire and another friend goes missing. This leaves with one of the friends, Johnny Miles (Mekhi Phifer) being jailed, and the other two, Gloria (Angelina Jolie) and Patty (Johnny Whitworth) to deal with family issues. But it's when five years later that come around, that old wounds will open but will also be cleansed for the final time.

The majority of performances are well done. Whitworth, Phifer, Jolie and even Rosanna Arquette, who plays Jolie's mother, all give real-human performances for the kind of drama these characters have to go through. The only character I didn't find that human was Lou Reilly (William Forsythe). He held the same facial expression through the entire film. Not one smile. And what's with his hair? But I digress. I also liked how Tony Cinciripini wrote how each subplot would tie the loose ends by the end of the film. It was nice to see the end result of the film because it combined everything into one. That's not to say every subplot was well written though.

When it came to family/friend issues, yes I felt there was a real story being told. But when it came to Miles wanting to box, there wasn't much explained about why he wanted to do boxing and how he met Lou Reilly. Plus, when Miles asked Reilly to be his agent, Reilly refused but by the next scene, he was being trained to box. I don't get it, where's the transition? Why did he change his mind? What made him change his mind? Why, why, why? There was also no recompense for the actions of various characters. There would be scenes of criminal acts or threats and yet no one would get in trouble for it. I find that hard to believe.

As for music, the composer Joseph Arthur did not provide a theatrical film score, which is understandable for the budget that was provided. But I was actually not so displeased with the turnout. Throughout the film, acoustic songs will be played. There is also a song that is played every now and then, so that could be considered a theme. What I liked about it is that it gave a human characteristic to the story. This made it feel a little more down to earth, so perhaps an orchestral score would have made seem less realistic. Either way, it's a fairly decent film.

The performances carry the right emotion and the music assists in making the drama feel that much more real. Unfortunately, the writing has its weak points and doesn't allow for any explanation.

I saw this film for the first time today and I was often in tears throughout. It was very slow at the beginning and I was contemplating turning it off. I'm glad I didn't, Once the initial scene had been the set, the cast began to shine. Mekhi Phifer is particularly convincing (it was also refreshing to see a black man not being portrayed as a gangster)as a man who makes a mistake but wants to get on with his life. Angelina Jolie is very "real" despite her having to take a more subtle and more in the background approach to her character. The soundtrack is very beautiful and appropriate to every stage of the film and its development.

Its well worth watching, just stick with it through the slow parts in the beginning and you'll enjoy it.

I found this movie to be solidly entertaining. I was fascinated by the character of Johnny Miller. This was a guy surrounded by ugliness who, with one misstep, could have been consumed by it. However, simply by being who he was and doing what he knew to be right he redeemed himself and those around him. A lot of people in the world would do well to follow his example, and I hope a lot of people will see this movie and enjoy it.

... about the American b-movies of the 90's that isn't exactly placeable anywhere. my own very young background is literary with movies as adiaphora, but it's a damn necessary one if today's society is to be at all comprehensible (which even then doesn't insure us of its comprehensibility for all that). the movie reviewed is a mish-mash of emotion, all misdirected, but sure as hell standing in their own right; that is, as open to ridicule. an honest look, however, at the 'private' life of modernity rarely entails one linear chain of events, affects, that can be deduced 'logically'. confusion is not only permitted and encouraged, but sustained throughout its madness, meaning as banished as the howls of the afflicted discordant and the 'possibilities' being presented are using us for its own instrumental reason without ever including our 'human potential', so why not put in the breaks and vegetate? seems to be the message of modern-day cynicism. sure as bunkers, you can't either blame or pity these neo-nihilists, put in their rightful place by a society all-too-much-like a Russia of the late 19th century. a simple "no" is not the truth but at the same time not an "affirmative" of what you in your heart of hearts suspect of untruth (covered up with courteous witty banter). there is no hypocrisy in such play-acting, but even those who refuse to intellectualize (don't believe in any form of "rationalization" whatsoever) and give way to the scurvy feelings and blurry outlines of their being, vaporize the untruth of a society as well as any truth makes its intellectual form ever. the one is descriptive, the other normative. this movie portrays how most human relationships are actually played out from beginning to end and it should give rise to wonder, if not awe, in humility. the sheer bulk of madness transforms itself before our very eyes into an intelligible quality, which we begin to fear. i'm willing to go as far as to say it's cathartic, but in the modern sense, which, unlike tragedy, doesn't anesthetize your defeature with a supplementary cord of meaning. as always, it's the raw fact of death that shines a light on life and serves as the usual wake-up call for the lazy 'human'. (jolie is great, by the way)

This is certainly one of the best films I've seen lately. It's a good surprise, once it doesn't seem to be so good when you read about it. The plot is basic in the beginning, but it turns into a fascinating drama and a breath-taking thriller. Angelina Jolie is again very well in her role.

The songs we hear all through the movie are very good. They're also a good reason to make this such a good film. We have a bit of everything here: rap, rock, folk... This is really something you can't miss.

I have to talk about the direction too. I think it's brilliant and remarkable.

my rate 8/10