Postmortem

Albert Pyun's directing seems to be improving with age. This is a perfectly respectable thriller, a movie that you would hesitate to call "inept" in any way - unless of course you're a personal enemy of Pyun's. However, it's also a bit too long and sluggish, and not as exciting as it should be. It jumps to life only occasionally (mainly in the chase scenes). Charlie Sheen is not very convincing as a boozing, worn-out, depressed yet brilliant writer/ex-detective; he's both too young and too clean-cut for such a role. (*1/2)

If this isn't a warning against substance abuse...Mr. Sheen, who, last time I checked, was officially a movie star, suddenly appears in an Albert Pyun film! Pyun, my new favorite director, seemed to be realizing he might almost have the opportunity to make a "real" film, and directed on his best behavior, ignoring his usual aesthetic choices of incoherent editing and mumbled dialogue for a relatively straightforward (and blah) style. Basically a dull rip-off of silence of the lambs & manhunter & such, although Sheen certainly isn't bad and possesses a star quality that does compel you to watch. The Scottish locations are different, but the film is slow and doesn't capitalize on certain intriguing plot strands. Sheen needs to take a juicy supporting role in a good film and work his way back up. As for Mr. Pyun, a little less steadicam, please!

In "Postmortem", Sheen plays a burnt out ex homicide detective from San Francisco who, while hiding from his past in Scotland and booze, gets caught up in a serial killer mystery. The flick is okay artistically though at times so ponderously morose and dark as to have the appearance of an old Frankenstein flick. Sheen wears out the one serious expression in his repertoire of nuanced visages; taught lipped and frowning. The flick doesn't quite make it over the bar on major plot issues such as the spent cop dealing with demons; the investigation becomes a bit convoluted; and the ending is predictable, anticlimactic, and could have been better. Etc. Nonetheless, "Postmortem" makes for an okay watch for Sheen fans, serial killers, and the idle with an appetite for macabre stuff.

I sat and watched this film a few nights ago with my family; every time the female police officer spoke, we couldn't stop laughing - her accent was terrible! This film made us really embarrassed to BE Scottish, the fact that we were represented like this; I think we're capable of solving murder mysteries without the help of Charlie Sheen (and his very poor performance). The dialogue is doctored for an American audience and it ruins any effect for the audience. To quote my dad - "Its just as bad as 'Plan 9 from Outer Space', except its not even funny".

Charlie Sheen's career has had many highs and lows and back in the late 90s he found himself out of favour with Hollywood's elite. Before resurrecting his career on television he was only able to exploit his star power in direct-to-video releases. In an effort to be taken more seriously, Sheen tried formalising his name for films such as Postmortem. Nobody noticed. Directed by Albert Pyun, the serial killer thriller was arguably a career low. Sheen plays a borderline alcoholic ex-cop drawn back into the field of serial killer profiling when a girl is found dead. Although this sounds fairly standard, the film's location is unique. Postmortem was made in Scotland! The sight of Charlie Sheen wandering around bars in Glasgow is pretty surreal. Featuring a supporting cast of local talent and various unknowns, what Postmortem lacks in Hollywood production qualities (it's cheaper looking than an episode of Taggart) it at least makes up for in curiosity value.