Backflash

To make a great movie sometimes all you need is a good director;not big stars, or huge special effects.The problem of this movie is this;the lack of a good direction.The idea and the story is good and Robert Patrick is enough for this one.But there is no one behind the camera to put it all into an order,to shoot memorable scenes or to create strong characters.In the screenplay there are a lot of logical mistakes but they could be put into a right way with someone who knows what to do.

Director wants to make a movie about crime,lie,people who can not be trusted or can not trust each other.And also he wants to add some kind of romance.We all see how this type of film-noir can be done perfectly by Tarantino,Coen Brothers and absolutely 'Red Rock West' by John Dahl.Besides all the mistakes in the script,lack of character analyzes this movie needs memorable dialogs,quotes,and a song.Sometimes a dialog or a song makes you remember a movie.But this one misses all of them;script,dialogs,music,characters.Speaking of characters am I the only one who is looking for a strong femme-fatale character?

I think this movie is more like to be watched to learn the things not to do in a film-noir.A good idea is not always enough and this one shows everything to turn this good idea upside down.

The camera loves Jennifer Esposito in this dark comedy. Great acting and directing, this film takes you on a ride through crime and sick humor. Melissa Joan Hart is hilarious in this film. If you like Quentin Tarantino films, you'll love this one.

I'm barely ten minutes into this movie when I start thinking, "This is one of those movies where some naive bulb (Patrick) shacks up with the wrong person (Esposito) and gets burned in the process". Well after twenty minutes that's definitely the road this movie was heading down with Patrick playing the everyday joe who's fearful of being a failure and the sexy ex-con Esposito who tries to twist him around her little finger to fulfill her plans.

Patrick and Esposito's chemistry works fine enough and the film features a couple of funny bits, but the story gets pretty convoluted as it reaches into the third act and by the end it has only gotten worse. So when it's all said and done, Backflash has played out like any number of typical straight to video quickies. There's adequate atmosphere and it features some recognizable faces in the supporting cast, but there's little freshness in the story department. As a movie on it's own merits, it's average, but Robert Patrick fans will probably want to check it out.

A massive missed opportunity by the makers of this movie. What should have been a sizzling tale of betrayal and intrigue is turned into a by the numbers 3a.m TV slot filler. Robert Patrick coasts his way through the movie, putting in a bare minimum effort to draw his paycheck. Jennifer Esposito is shockingly under-used by the director, when she should have been setting the screen alight as the sultry temptress. Colm Meaney is reduced to comic relief when he could have been much more sinister.

At the end of the day, with a spring clean of the script to tighten up the dialogue and a decent director, you could remake this movie with exactly the same cast and turn a rating of '3' into a '9'. Sorry Mr Philip J Jones (Producer/ Writer/ Director), trying to do it all yourself was a wrong move.

In this film, Melissa Joan Hart leaves Sabrina behind and gives a hilariously sarcastic and sexy performance as a wise-ass, hard-drinking, prostitute-turned-back room mortician. Unfortunately, Melissa's screen time is limited and the viewer is left with a film that mostly comes across as an edited-for-television version of itself. Think Wild Things with all the sex removed and Bill Murray's screen time cut dramatically. My recommendation is to use scene select to watch Melissa prove she can really deliver as an actress, then go watch Body Heat.