looie
Joined Apr 1999
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Reviews13
looie's rating
A movie based on a novel is not intended to be a video transliteration of the text of that book. The implication that it should be, always strikes me as bizarre.
We watch a film to see what the director, actors and others make from ideas they find in the book. A movie is a melding of the efforts of a group of people to a defined end; and that end may be changed in the very act of its achievement. Many great movies have been based on mediocre or even terrible books.
All that said, this movie is a decent murder mystery as it stands. You probably won't be surprised at any of the plot twists. It's refreshingly free of romantic subplots. Jeffrey Dean Morgan carries the lead role well. It was worth watching on a quiet evening.
We watch a film to see what the director, actors and others make from ideas they find in the book. A movie is a melding of the efforts of a group of people to a defined end; and that end may be changed in the very act of its achievement. Many great movies have been based on mediocre or even terrible books.
All that said, this movie is a decent murder mystery as it stands. You probably won't be surprised at any of the plot twists. It's refreshingly free of romantic subplots. Jeffrey Dean Morgan carries the lead role well. It was worth watching on a quiet evening.
Comparisons of this film to Taken are so wide of the mark that I have to wonder about people's critical skills.
This movie couldn't be made in America, where heroes have to wear clean shirts, have snappy retorts, and have unlimited ability to fly anywhere in the world. Imagine Liam saying, "Damn, I don't have credit on my card to buy a ticket to Paris." Yeah, you can't.
Leo, the protagonist in this film, is barely holding on to a threadbare reality, dealing with PTSD and survivor's guilt, when his young daughter is kidnapped. The film is not just about his ill-advised rescue attempts. It's about the whole package - family, memories that will not go away, self-respect.
As is often the case in these movies, the melodrama is applied with hammer blows. It's in a good cause: redemption. Unlike Taken, it's about real people. People you can imagine meeting in a bar, on the street, at your church or your kids' school.
It's not a great movie, but it's one worth watching.
This movie couldn't be made in America, where heroes have to wear clean shirts, have snappy retorts, and have unlimited ability to fly anywhere in the world. Imagine Liam saying, "Damn, I don't have credit on my card to buy a ticket to Paris." Yeah, you can't.
Leo, the protagonist in this film, is barely holding on to a threadbare reality, dealing with PTSD and survivor's guilt, when his young daughter is kidnapped. The film is not just about his ill-advised rescue attempts. It's about the whole package - family, memories that will not go away, self-respect.
As is often the case in these movies, the melodrama is applied with hammer blows. It's in a good cause: redemption. Unlike Taken, it's about real people. People you can imagine meeting in a bar, on the street, at your church or your kids' school.
It's not a great movie, but it's one worth watching.
Atmosphere carries a film like this. This one was a bit lacking in that respect, but Boseman's performance keeps it above the level of fail. Inscrutable in visage and reticent in words, he makes the most of the lead's mysterious presence. Silences are as important as dialog here. The confessional urge is refreshingly absent.
It departs from the norm of modern US noirish films, in its showing of violence as the ugly, painful business it is. There's nothing heroic or manly about it, it's not showing strength or proving superiority - it's people without compunction inflicting pain in the act of injuring or killing other people.
Those who like to watch this sort of family revenge drama taken to the top, or over it, are urged to watch Soderbergh's 1999 film, The Limey, with Terence Stamp in the title role. Message from the King shares many characteristics with it; Soderbergh's film hits the highs that this one just misses. Although, we're likely to come away thinking Jacob is a decent man, while Wilson is a monster. Which is okay.
It departs from the norm of modern US noirish films, in its showing of violence as the ugly, painful business it is. There's nothing heroic or manly about it, it's not showing strength or proving superiority - it's people without compunction inflicting pain in the act of injuring or killing other people.
Those who like to watch this sort of family revenge drama taken to the top, or over it, are urged to watch Soderbergh's 1999 film, The Limey, with Terence Stamp in the title role. Message from the King shares many characteristics with it; Soderbergh's film hits the highs that this one just misses. Although, we're likely to come away thinking Jacob is a decent man, while Wilson is a monster. Which is okay.