Directed by and starring Kiefer Sutherland, this one's about a washed up boxer (Sutherland) who's one punch away from retirement due to brain damage. One evening his old flame Mädchen Amick walks back into his life asking him to take her back. He's a sucker, so he does. But she's still married to an up & coming boxer, who she's trying to get away from, and Sutherland's just the fall guy she needs.
This one's great, pure noir. Based on a short story by Ed McBain (credited under his real name Evan Hunter), it is the classic tale of the guy who knows he shouldn't listen to the pretty dame, but who he can't resist. Sutherland looks all beat up (like Mickey Rourke in Sin City) and speaks with a thick Irish accent reminding of Orson Welles in 'The Lady From Shanghai', you really need to pay attention to his words, also as he does quite a bit of voice-over narration. Amick is hot, smoking hot, and she is great in a classic noir era femme fatale role (and she looks 'classic' too). There are also some really good lines in this episode, including this one that oozes noir: 'There was a dead man in front of me, and a dead man behind me... But all I could think about was Trina.'
The episode starts off in black & white but moves to a fairly bland color scheme, which is one of the few negatives here. There are some scenes where Sutherland really could've worked with light very effectively, as his boxer uses a single dangling lightbulb to do some shadow boxing, except there's too might extra light for those shadows. But overall this episode, which ends with an ironic twist, is really nice. 8/10
This one's great, pure noir. Based on a short story by Ed McBain (credited under his real name Evan Hunter), it is the classic tale of the guy who knows he shouldn't listen to the pretty dame, but who he can't resist. Sutherland looks all beat up (like Mickey Rourke in Sin City) and speaks with a thick Irish accent reminding of Orson Welles in 'The Lady From Shanghai', you really need to pay attention to his words, also as he does quite a bit of voice-over narration. Amick is hot, smoking hot, and she is great in a classic noir era femme fatale role (and she looks 'classic' too). There are also some really good lines in this episode, including this one that oozes noir: 'There was a dead man in front of me, and a dead man behind me... But all I could think about was Trina.'
The episode starts off in black & white but moves to a fairly bland color scheme, which is one of the few negatives here. There are some scenes where Sutherland really could've worked with light very effectively, as his boxer uses a single dangling lightbulb to do some shadow boxing, except there's too might extra light for those shadows. But overall this episode, which ends with an ironic twist, is really nice. 8/10
