Rancid

I saw this film at it's world premier on the Stockholm International Film Festival 2004. It's a Swedish film made in English with (mostly) American actors, funded and produced in Sweden and (despite the New York-setting) mostly shot in Sweden as well. For me this was an incentive in seeing the film as i am always curious when it comes to Swedish film (even though it continually offers mostly disappointments).

The film is about a writer who has trouble with his inspiration ever since his loved one abandoned him for his school-time antagonist. Now there is a class reunion coming up and it seems he has a chance at getting her back, but nothing is what it seems and things soon spiral out of control.

Many times when i review films i think about what is actually worse: hating a film or feeling nothing at all about it. Because movies you loathe still had something that at least made you feel strongly about it one way or the other. Some films just don't have that, you don't really think they are that bad, but they're not really that good either. And Rancid is definitely one of those films.

Technically Rancid is well made. It's about as good looking a Swedish film as i have ever seen. The production values are high at the, in Hollywood terms, quite meager budget of $6 million. Among the cast there is one actor that really stands out. Matthew Settle really does a nice job in the lead and actually manages to lift the film a notch in my eyes.

The story is where i have a problem with this film. It simply doesn't grab a hold of you. I felt uninterested in most of the characters and their problems. Also the story felt rushed and some of the time spent with flowing overhead shots of New York could instead have been spent on making the script more cohesive. More background and more elaborated explanations on why the characters acted the way they did would have helped considerably. The way things happen now you can never really predict anyones actions, which is a bad thing since it makes the characters a lot less believable.

So is this bad? Not really. Is it good? Not really that either. This is simply one of those films that i don't feel very strongly about one way or the other. Watch it if you feel another "innocent-man-accused-of-murder"/cop-thriller is what you need. I rate it 4/10.

This movie reminds me of one of those plastic hamster wheels. It goes pretty fast, and gets pretty intense, but in the end, you're left in exactly the same place that you started. It starts out pretty slowly, and at first I wasn't inclined to like it too much. There is no noticeable soundtrack to this one, so it's devoid of a good atmosphere (which a good suspense/thriller needs), and this gives the whole package a very 'hollow' feel, like it's a low budget movie. The directing is lackluster in the respect that those damn camera zoom-ins get really irritating by the end of the film. I've never seen a movie that overused aerial shots like this, and that's probably because it's a bad idea. But despite all that, I enjoyed this movie.

The plot is rich and leaves a lot for you to ponder over while the cameras are rolling, and the characters all give off very memorable and believable performances. This is a very dark and gritty film, reminding me of what A Killer Within should've been, but wasn't exactly. The plot twists at the end are unexpected, and maybe they weren't executed as well as they could've been, but it's all fine and dandy with me. While most of the movie is a bit slower and building things up, with the romantic tension and such, the last half hour or so is very intense and bloody, and I'm left very satisfied with this film overall. While the rather open-ended ending left me feeling empty (that whole hamster wheel analogy), this film manages to build up a crescendo of surprising energy that left this movie as quite a good offering of crime/thriller action. Recommended to fans of the genre.

Rancid is an average thriller with a quite good story. There's not anything that's really bad with this movie, rather it's that nothing is quite great. As someone said, you're left with a small feeling of nothing. Now, this can be said of thousands of Hollywood films, too. The reason why they get a higher score is probably because they got a cast that's more mainstream and probably some cool action scene! The performance in Rancid is good. Well-casted and well-acted. Matthew Settle, Fay Masterson, Currie Graham and Patrik Ersgård are all doing a good job. Personally, I think Patrik Ersgårds character and acting lifts the movie a bit. Michael Wiseman and Siena Goines are the weaker links in this chain. The characters are interesting enough.

The dialog is without marks, actually quite good I'd say. The movie is rather fast-paced, compared to most Hollywood-thrillers. The editing is so-so. Music and overall "look and feel" is about average.

There's no reason to choose another thriller over this one. It feels authentic, and maybe that's the downside to it? It's just not enough "Hollywood" to give you that adrenaline. Personally, I prefer Rancid over any action-packed thriller. And that feeling of nothing I mentioned? Well, it's not a feeling of bad, is it? Go see it, rent it or whatever. It's worth it, if only to rest your eyes from all mainstream actors! 7/10

I wanted to watch this movie, because I'm European and was anticipating a real avant-guard thriller. No frills, no special effects just some good film making. I was shocked, it was wooden and the camera zoom became just annoying in the end. The acting was light, the character development ? let me say I didn't find it. The plot was so empty, the 'bad' guy never got a chance to rise above his stereotype, the 'good' guy was so weak and the 'twist' so clumsily enacted. Well what can I say, there are no spoilers because the movie spoils itself. A ill managed collage of bad dialogue, weakly acted, strung together with an amateur plot and directed by someone who should better stick to 'home movies'. It cannot get any worse.

Congratulations to the makers and actors of this film. It was really something else. Every one in a while a thriller comes along that leaves me searching for breath, and this was one of them. One of very few films I can honestly say I enjoyed in every respect.

Action packed, drenched with dark scenes, incredible execution of the plot, sizzling sexual and romantic chemistry between the characters, and a dark undertone of brutal justice.

It wasn't too clichéd for the die-hard thriller-buff, yet also was not too obscure for enjoyment by the average movie-goer.

Recommended.