Vice

(2008) Vice CRIME DRAMA/ ACTION

Written and directed by Raul Inglis with undercover drug and sting operation goes wrong with cop, Max Walker (Michael Madsen) accidentally shooting and killing a pedestrian in a parking garage after chasing one that got away. What makes it even worse is that when he shot the innocent bystander, he did so on front of another former cop, Salt (Daryl Hannah, also credited as executive producer). Max also orders a cover up getting Salt to plant a gun on to the killed bystander's hand to make it appear he had no choice but to kill her in cold blood. Max Walker also happens to be the narrator and his life becomes complicated when the cocaine that was confiscated 40 thousand went missing and that any cop who was part of the undercover sting operation becomes targeted and killed one by one.

Michael Madsen is an actor who seems stuck to the "Mr. Orange" role he played in Tarantino's masterpiece Reservoir Dogs, and that's not a tradition he breaks here in Vice. The cover looked promising, with Madsen holding a shotgun and Daryl Hannah below him. Looked good and was good.

Madsen plays Max Walker, one of those tough 'personal-demons' cops who fills a mysterious hole in his life with prostitutes and booze. His partner, Salt (Hannah), covers Walker at the beginning by planting evidence. Even before that, Walker has a long conversation with a prostitute, that ends in the obvious. The other members of Walker's department are equally as corrupt, or dubious as to the corruption. Suddenly, a string of murders are committed and Walker finds himself in the middle of it.

The plot sounds stereotypical, and it is. The film is a collection of classic clichés that somehow cinch together masterfully. Nothing about this movie sounded good, I only watched it to numb my brain after a tough day. I found myself increasingly glad I watched.

The acting is great. Madsen knows he's playing a scumbag and plays a great one. He's Mr. Blonde again, but it's a role he knows well and it showcases his talents. Hannah is a bit of a bait-and-switch, but what screen time she has is fine. The supporting cast also remarkable, including Mykelti Williamson (Bubba from Forrest Gump), John Cassini, and the always fantastic Mark Boone Junior.

For a film that is 70% talk, the dialogue is really good. I was interested in these characters and their lives, especially the lines given to Madsen. He does a great job with the lines he's given, which are noir one-liners that fit great with the source material. The pacing is slow but the dialogue and action make up for it.

Overall Vice was an enjoyable little action film that gave me what I wanted; Noir Crime with Mystery and a great main character to follow. Enjoy.

Classic bete noire: The genre persists in many forms.

Vice is not a "slow" movie, nor is it pedantic. Vice does require intense attention to each participant and the environment, as it should, for the writer and director show common people in extraordinary circumstances.

Madsen and Hanna may not seem "common", but see them at the bottom of the ladder in their environment. The acting is exquisite, the sets sublime (in the sense that they disappear and yet contribute a force on the viewer), and all is wholly believable.

Vice is paced to the stark reality of an undercover existence, of competing loyalties, of personal trust and values, of redemption. Best of all: It takes until the very end of this film, but there is resolution.

A hard film, but well worth the effort.

I'm a little shocked that Michael Madsen was in this movie. He is one talented actor. He could have done much better than getting involved with Vice. I tried to keep from stopping the DVD player to pull Vice out. But that's what I did. The movie is sloooooooow. It moves at a crawl. Super boring action. I don't know when I officially had to turn it off before it put me to me sleep. I do recall Daryl Hannah talking to Michael Madsen in car then getting out. Daryl Hannah is way hotter with curves than she was in Wall Street. She's a timeless beauty. Even Michael and Daryl could not save this one. The plot written on the DVD sounded like it was was going to be smoking like a inferno of action. It was more like a match of boredom. The DVD was only playing 20 minutes before my GF asked me what's this about. It was taking so long for a plot to develop that it lost us. If you need help going to sleep one night rent Vice. It will do the trick.