Precious Cargo (2016) User Reviews

Precious Cargo: a lower than average action movie.

[niutta-enrico · 5/10 · 23 April 2016]

An action movie with some good scenes, some good lines (best of them being a drunk Nick Loeb asking 'What brings you to Thailand?' and Mark-Paul Gosselaar replying 'Thailand? We are in Mississippi man…'), some good ideas and some good characters (Logan, played by Jenna B. Kelly above all).

In the end, however, the cast fails to catch, the plot doesn't entertain and the film doesn't work.

Probably Claire Forlani shouldn't be older than MP Gosselaar, surely some key scenes (the boat chase, the final showdown, the heist…) should be more convincing.

And the presence of Bruce Willis only worsens the things because it heightens the expectations. A few more films like this and his tough-guy character risks to become laughable.

Usual average low budget film

[wycherleyp-960-470658 · 4/10 · 7 June 2016]

For a low budget film it's not bad, it's not great but still it's not bad. It is your usual run of the mill cat and mouse chase where a job goes wrong and the bad guys hunt them down. Bruce Willis obviously is the bad guy and plays the role as a p****D off mobster well. As I started this review of with the words of low budget which cost just over 10 million to make which I'm guessing Bruce Willis is getting half of that so that left 5 million to make the film which shows with some average acting, the action scenes are like it's been made for the channel SYFY and some of the lines are just awful. But despite all the faults above the film is only 85 minutes long so it's not really going to take up your time if you want to watch it.

This is nothing that is amazing or something to rush out and see, but this is something to rent and lay back and enjoy.

[cosmo_tiger · 5/10 · 26 May 2016]

"There's no calling the police." When a heist goes wrong people get upset. Karen (Forlani) is put in a position to fix it or deal with the fallout. Left with no other option she goes to the only person she can trust; Jack (Gosselaar). Now the two must do whatever they can to complete the mission, but when personal issues get in the way things get even more complicated. This is becoming a standard Bruce Willis movie. He's in this for about 5 minutes and looks annoyed that he is even in this movie. That said, the rest of the actors and story are actually not that bad at all. Gosselaar does a really good job carrying this movie and even though this is a low budget B movie it was entertaining, exciting, and really fun to watch. This is nothing that is amazing or something to rush out and see, but this is something to rent and lay back and enjoy. Overall, one of the better low budget action movies to come out in a long time. I give this a B.

Save yourself the aggravation and don't watch this movie.

[Ripvanvinkel · 2/10 · 27 April 2016]

This is a movie that suffers from a bad script, acting, directing ... just a bad movie overall.A movie so bad it makes bad look movies look good.

There is absolutely no acting from anyone of the actors. The Story line is lame and the acting even lamer. Each actor looked like they had to have their teeth pulled to utter their lines. Claire Forlaine looks old enough to be the lead actors Mother. I have no idea what Bruce Wills was doing in the movie and Jenna B Kelly cant act to save herself. The rest of the cast was there in the movie to make sure a bad movie stayed bad.

The boat chase scene is the only scene that is barely watchable. Jenna B Kelly except for looking good cant do anything else. I have seen novices act better.

Seriously save your self the trouble and skip this movie.

Had to sit it out just to see if it could get any worse.

[nyrn · 1/10 · 22 April 2016]

Boy, did wisecracks degenerate pretty severely since Die Hard and the good ol '90s. This faceplant reeks of cheap thrills, direct-to-DVD actors and, of course, a 150 year old Bruce Willis. I'm about 2/3 into the movie and I've already forgotten half of the plot. Mark-Paul Gosselaar, the Michelangelo of Thieves apparently, acts with the kind of confidence only a guy who thinks Wakeboarding is an extreme sport would. And did I mention every girlfriend is a sniper? Granted, no adults were involved in the making of 'Precious Cargo', or it wouldn't have been made at all. This train wreck is what happens when subpar directors try to make movies for millennials – the most unlikely-to-happen plot in the universe right now.

Just.... no.... just don't!

[saburaukami-645-566777 · 1/10 · 1 May 2016]

This movie is god awful. Id rather let my children talk to strangers than let them watch this. Who ever wrote this movie should be shot. Not just because the dialog, story-line, and everything in the movie sucked, but because I was wondering if the writer even knew what a writing was.

Action movie with horrible gun acting. Hardly any recoil, and at one point some of the slides of the guns were cocked back or not even closed fully. I could go on for about an hour about the crappy gun stuff, but you would want to shoot me too.

The actors, may be great. but the writing was so bad its hard for any actor to act with the lines. Did not fit situation and was really uncomfortable. I feel bad for some of these actors as this movie will seriously hurt them. Even for Willis, this was one of his worse films, and it all comes back to the writer. How could you act well when you have these kind of crappy lines.

Filming was just as bad as everything else in the movie, I felt like they enjoyed green screen a little too much, forgot what good lighting consists of, and some of the camera angles were a big sign that boasts of a low budget film.

Save yourself, save your friends, save random strangers, save the cute old lady across this street. be a public servant and don't bother with this movie, just don't.

A low point for everyone concerned

[Wizard-8 · 13 July 2016]

A few weeks have passed, and that of course means we get yet another movie from the sausage factory that is of schlock producers Randall Emmett and George Furla. This is yet another effort of theirs that stars Bruce Willis. Well, actually it's hard to say that he "stars" in this movie, because once again he appears in a movie where it's clear he knocked off his few scenes in just a couple or so days of shooting.

It's just as well, because Willis gives yet another lazy performance that further shows he doesn't give much of a darn to his few remaining fans these days. Actually, Willis' sleepwalking comes across as Olivier compared to some of the other actors. It was hard to say who gives the worst performance in the movie, but ultimately I give the award to Jenna B. Kelly, who plays Logan. She doesn't seem to be trying at all to add emotion or any other signs of acting to her lines.

In fairness to Kelly and the rest of the cast, they have to deal with a screenplay that is packed with gawd-awful lines of dialogue that even the best thespians would have difficult selling to an audience. What's worse is that some of these lines of dialogue are intended to be funny, and not only are they not funny, they seem to be mocking the audience who is watching this movie.

As for the (limited) action, it's routine at best, and flat and uninteresting at its worst. You may be wondering if there is ANYTHING good to say about this movie. Well, some of the camera-work does impress at times - I wasn't expecting the sometimes elaborate moves by the camera for a straight to DVD movie such as this. Especially one that is bad in every other way you can think of.

Mindless But Amenable Nonsense

[zardoz-13 · 7/10 · 7 July 2016]

Writer & director Max Adams' profanity-laden, formulaic action fodder about double-crosses and shoot'em ups is snappy enough nonsense to be interesting and some of its dialogue is amusing. Once again Bruce Willis takes top billing as the urbane villain named Eddie in this fast-paced, sometimes surprising, but often straightforward thriller. One of the good guys uses spark-plugs fired from a shotgun to penetrate the windows of an armored car truck. Mark-Paul Gosselaar of "Heist" makes a serviceable action hero named Jack, and Claire Forlani is the deceptive female who persuades Jack to help her get rid of Eddie. Jenna Kelly is a female sniper who keeps the bad guys from putting bullets into our rugged protagonist. "Precious Cargo" refers to the valuable jewels that our hero and heroine are after and that villainous Bruce wants. Max Adams displays a modicum of flair and knows how to keep the action moving ahead of the gun play. Daniel Bernhardt makes an excellent second-in-command villain named Simon who repeatedly tangles with Eddie and gets him a hard time. Lensed on location in Gulfport, Mississippi.

Stolen preciousness

[TheLittleSongbird · 2/10 · 26 October 2018]

Saw 'Precious Cargo' because Bruce Willis has done good films and given good performances in the past, 'Die Hard' is a genre landmark and his performance is iconic in that. The title and poster also intrigued and similarly the idea for the story sounded sort of interesting, despite a lack of originality. Expectations were not high though, because Willis has been past prime for a while (several bad films and has looked tired and disengaged a lot) and has been in a lot of stinkers lately.

'Precious Cargo' is yet another not good representation of him, if not as bad as 'Vice' and especially 'Reprisal'. 'Precious Cargo' is a better film to that while having similar, actually even the same, faults. It fails in the action and thrills stakes, faring very unfavourably in relation to other films seen in the genre, lots of silliness and endless predictability. Not hating it with pleasure, it's my honest opinion and my negative feelings towards it are regrettable.

Not much redeemable here, with the best thing being the promising opening scene before the film quickly goes down south in quality and not only doesn't ever recover but it gets worse.

However, for someone highly billed, Willis is used poorly (again, am seeing a pattern here), he looks tired and like he didn't want to be there. Claire Forlani also looks disinterested. The worst performance comes from Jenna B Kelly, whose performance is an awful mess of being obnoxious and generating little personality.

Visually, the film does lack cohesion, is pretty sloppy in camera work and editing and the colour scheme is so unappealingly murky. The music is too loud, should have been used far less and some of the placement is inappropriate. The direction is suggestive of inexperience, there is just no energy, momentum or finesse, the non-action oriented parts are handled so indifferently and the action is shot in a way that can be difficult to follow.

Dialogue from the very start to the predictable climax is riddled with clichés and cheese, with toe-curling howlers aplenty, and what little there is of the story has no surprises, fun or tension, is very pedestrian in pace and fails to make sense or have signs of maturity. Tension and suspense are non-existent. 'Precious Cargo' goes overboard on the ridiculousness and lack of plausibility and at other points it takes itself too seriously. What there is of the action is clumsily choreographed and routine at best, too reliant on convenience too and with not much exciting or tense. The characters are not compelling or easy to get behind, too sketchily written and with character behaviours and traits that frustrate. Do not expect every character in every film to be likeable when characters in numerous films purposefully aren't, but it is an issue if there are characters meant to be rootable and 'Precious Cargo' has that problem.

Altogether, other than the opening scene a very bad film. 2/10 Bethany Cox

Flawed, Full of Clichés but Also Funny and Entertaining

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 10 January 2021]

In Mississippi, the gangster Jack (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) is selling arms to a dangerous gang and is betrayed but saved by his partner and friend Logan (Jenna B. Kelly), who is a great sniper. Then Jack meets his girlfriend, the veterinarian Jenna (Lydia Hull), who believes he is a businessman that loves dogs. While making love with Jenna, they are surprised by Jack's former girlfriend Karen (Claire Forlani), who is a manipulative thief and is pregnant. She explains that she had double-crossed the powerful crime boss Eddie Pilosa (Bruce Willis) in a heist, and she needs to pay twelve million dollars to him. Otherwise she will be hunted down by Eddie's gang. Jack learns that he is the father of Karen's baby and still has feelings for Karen, and decides to rob a cargo of precious gems with his crew to help her. But soon he learns that he is involved in a network of betrayals.

"Precious Cargo" is a flawed and full of clichés action movie with a funny story of betrayals. The clichés and flaws are part of the funny side of the story. For example, there is no police or people working in the harbor. If the viewer watches this film without reading the bad reviews and with low expectations, he or she may be surprised with an entertaining film. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Carga Preciosa" ("Precious Cargo")

Cheesy movie

[stanleypires · 1/10 · 25 April 2016]

This movie was intended to be a total action flick. There are some good action scenes however the acting by the cast were really sad. Mark - Paul being the lead hero was trying hard to be funny whenever the scene came up to it. And model Jenna really was so annoying trying to play a bad ass chick. She really didn't live up to the role and I guess really needs to stick to modeling or really needs to go to a decent acting school.There were scenes intending to be funny but because of the bad acting and cheap dialogs I was trying hard to even get the joke!Every other cast member is forgettable. Besides Bruce Willis and Claire Forlani,everyone were pretending to act. The story-line could have been better even the ending was cheesy. Really a waste of time watching this movie.

So enjoyable !

[edddy-1 · 8/10 · 1 November 2019]

Contrary to other reviewers I couldn't stop watching this film once I started. A real gem. Really enjoyed the character developement over the course of the film and all the hollywood formulas and cliches carried out so beautifully straight up and in the best of humour. Has the makings of a cult film. I was left so uplifted and wishing I could watch a sequel.

this movie is not bad at all, a lot of action

[jim_gun · 7/10 · 28 May 2017]

because of the low rating, then i watched this movie with low expectation.. And i was surprised with the low rating because i think this movie is not bad and full of action from the beginning until the end.. it's not as great as "Die Hard", but worth to see... Just dun expect too high and you will enjoy this movie..

Too much of everything, yet too little of substance

[arriva · 3/10 · 23 April 2016]

Warning: very mild spoilers ahead.

This movie tries to be a comedy, an action film with tough guys, and a love story and it fails spectacularly at everything.

Its love story is very sketchy and it never brings to fruition because main characters are not developed enough (not to mention that main women characters are in their thirties), and we are not given enough background. As a comedy it fails because there are very few good jokes and others just make you shrug. Its action part is probably the worst even though it's the essence of the film. As a viewer you never get any sense of danger and you never really root for characters, because shootouts look way too toyish and even actors do not pretend that they are even remotely scared for their lives and let me warn you that there are many very graphical deaths with brains literally splattered on characters' faces.

Most of the time actors look convincing, however the source material is too shallow and too unbelievable to resonate with you.

This could have been an average action movie in the 80s. In 2016 it just fails to deliver. You may skip it safely - don't waste your time.

Another Fraudulent, Deceptive, Bruce Willis Poster Paycheck Picture

[LeonLouisRicci · 1/10 · 2 August 2016]

There should be a Rule. If an "Actor" appears on the Cover of a Video, He or She has to Appear in more than Five Minutes of Screen Time. Bruce Willis, in another Poster Paycheck Role might just make that cut in this Overly Slick DTV, but Barely.

The other "Actors" in this Badly Written and Conceived Movie seem to be as Disinterested as Willis. Striking Goofy Tough Guy and Gal Poses Delivering Lame Lines and Trying to Look Pretty, makes this a Cringe Inducer and an Embarrassment to all concerned.

It's one of those that's Played as Tongue-in-Cheek to make it all seem Forgivable Fun and the Bottom of the Barrell is the End Credits where it Presents Side-Bar Hilarity with Characters that didn't have Enough Charisma to warrant Caring about in the Previous 90 Minutes.

It's Forgettable Gloss, Painted with Bright Colors, Little Suspense, and the Gun Battles and Chases are Ridiculous. Half of the Wasted Budget must have been Spent on Bullets coming from Guns Fired by People that are Firing Range Deficient.

A Movie so Thin that can only be Tolerated by the Lowest-Common-Denominator Fan that asks nothing of a Film and that's Exactly what They Get with this one. Nothing. Bruce Willis has become a Deceiving Decadent Whore.

This proves Hollywood has no imagination

[danreyessat · 1/10 · 23 April 2021]

This proves Hollywood has no imagination, It was nice to see Mark Paul Gosselaar but this movie has been done 10 million times before and with a much better supporting cast, writers and videographers!

Mindless...but perhaps you will enjoy the action sequences.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 2 May 2016]

At the outset, you should be aware that I am not a huge fan of action films. However, I do enjoy a good and well made action film...such as "Die Hard". And, speaking of "Die Hard", Bruce Willis co-stars in this one...but in this case he is not the action hero but the crazy and mega-dangerous villain. As for Precious Cargo, it was exciting and was filled with explosions, gun fire and stunts...but not a whole lot else.

When the film begins, Jack (Mark-Paul Gossalaar) is working a mission with his team. However, he is nearly killed in the process when his deal to supply weapons to some baddies runs amok. It seems that he and his friends are criminals...cheating other criminals. But now that this case is over, it's time to relax...but this break doesn't last long. This is because Jack's old evil girlfriend, Karen (Claire Forlani) arrives...right in the middle to Jack making sweet love to his new sweetie. Talk about awkward! So why has this evil succubus of a woman returned? Well, Jack doesn't have time to ask because before you know it, a group of nasty assassins arrive and blow the crap out of his home...and Jack and the two women barely escape and then proceed to have a long chase using speedboats. This boating sequence is rather reminiscent of some of the James Bond films, by the way.

Soon after miraculously dispatching all the baddies chasing them, Jack learns that a maniac mobster, Eddie (Bruce Willis) is behind the attack. Eddie is trying to kill Karen as this conniving woman has cheated him and he's willing to let bygones be bygones...after he and his men kill her. Unfortunately for Jack, he just happens to be in the way. He's also an idiot and keeps falling for Karen's lies and manipulations.

At this point in the film, I wasn't particularly disappointed in the movie. While the characters were all very one-dimensional and underdeveloped, the stunts were crazy exciting. However, soon the film started falling apart for me...just because the writing became insane. Having Jack and his gang of misfits decide to steal $500,000,000 worth of diamonds from the CIA was just idiotic. You can't just steal this much from the government this easily!! Plus, should the viewers be rooting for people who are thieves...and rooting against some other thieves?! Well, it certainly is confusing and the film just stopped making much sense.

So was there much I liked about the film? As I already mentioned, the stunts were impressive. Additionally, Willis made for a very menacing villain...and I liked seeing him in this sort of role. I also liked seeing the nice Mississippi coast location shoot. Otherwise, I thought the film could have used less stunts and more in the way of hashing out its characters and plot.

For the person who loves action, action, action, this isn't a bad film. For anyone wanting more from a movie, you could easily find better.

Not bad for a VOD release

[jellyneckr · 30 July 2016]

In the past few years, Bruce Willis has found himself in a series of direct-to-DVD action flicks that have come out of nowhere. Some of these have been terrible, while others have been mildly watchable, but none of them have been necessarily deserving of Bruce Willis' talent. Precious Cargo, while certainly not a great film by any means, is definitely the best of Willis' recent crop of features, and certainly a whole lot better than its Rotten Tomatoes score would imply. It's neither a disaster or an undiscovered gem. It's simply a fun 90 minutes.

I suppose it was inevitable that I would enjoy Precious Cargo. As a fan of both Bruce Willis when he's in action movies and Mark-Paul Gosselarr in pretty much anything, I was probably bound to get some enjoyment out of the flick no matter what. It's entirely due to the two stars that Precious Cargo is the fun watch that it ends up being. To director/co-writer Max Adams credit, he doesn't have the two stars play their usual predictable roles. Bruce Willis is not playing a John Mcclane type, and Mark-Paul Gosselarr is not playing a Zack Morris type. Willis plays the bad guy here, and while he doesn't quite chew the scenery, his performance is not exactly subtle. He knows he's not acting in something that was going to win him an Oscar, so he isn't afraid to occasionally go a bit over the top. Really though, Willis is more of a supporting character. The real lead is Gosselaar, the hero of the story, and he successfully brings his two-dimensional character to life with natural charisma and charm.There's a lot of jokes/one liners in the film, ones that could have been downright groan-worthy, but Gosselaar sells them as legitimately funny. Other actors in the film aren't so lucky, and deliver some horribly bad dialogue that they look absolutely embarrassed to be uttering.

Precious Cargo obviously didn't have a huge budget and parts of it are quite cheesy, but that's a big part of its overall charm. The action scenes, despite not being particularly innovative, are well shot and edited in a much better fashion than 95% of the action pictures that are given a throwaway VOD release. The action scenes are the highlight of the film, and are generally cool to watch with limited CGI. However, other production values are not as strong. The cinematography is way too orange for my liking, though it's never quite distracting enough to ruin my enjoyment of the overall film. The music also could have been a lot stronger. The entire score feels like it supposed to be temporary for a test screening or rough cut but was never changed. At least the music itself is never terrible or completely overbearing.

Precious Cargo is no classic. It is nowhere near the top of the list of best Bruce Willis movies, or even the best of action movies released in the past six months, though it is still quite entertaining, despite some of its lesser production values and cringe-worthy moments of bad dialogue. It's a quick 90 minutes of fun action, a stupid plot, and a few intentional and unintentional laughs. If this were a wide theatrical release, I'd give this a 5, but as its one of the better VOD/direct-to-DVD releases I've seen recently, I'm giving it a 6 out 10. Recommended to action fans.

Lots of twists, Reasonable Action Movie - Decide for Yourself

[docm-32304 · 7/10 · 12 January 2021]

Firstly, Bruce Willis is used for the draw as it's really not his movie, it's Mark-Paul Gosselaar's. Other than the ridiculous amount of totally unnecessary f-bombs which I find detract from any movie, this is a very good action movie with lots of twists and turns. The lead is very likable and you root for him. His team is good also and the queen b of the movie is really detestable. Love the ending. I have no idea why the bad ratings and in all honesty, anything below a 4 for this film is probably because there were no Marvel Superheroes in it or the usual propaganda. It's just an action movie...no politics, no high aspirations...just relax and put your brain on enjoy mode.

Ugh

[bsimpson189 · 4/10 · 23 July 2018]

I was able to hold out to the boat chase scene. Just as the chase starts, good guy pulling away in a boat. Bad guy with assault rifle shoots then puts down rifle grasbs hand gun and shoots. Um, no, rifle was the better weapon of choice. Bad guys get in another boat and catch up to good guys. Why didn't the good guys take the faster boat? They arrived first and had a choice so they chose the slower boat? Nope, I'm out.

Makes you wonder..

[social-407-952959 · 6/10 · 25 December 2018]

When you live by yourself and own 2 motor boats and 2 jet skis, in which you leave the ignition key at all time... why take the slowest boat when running away from people who want to kill you?

Precious cargo in a crap movie. What a contradiction in terms. Because of Jenna B. Kelly it's not entirely a crap movie.

[peterp-450-298716 · 2/10 · 12 June 2016]

"The fact that you borrow my dog in order to trick your veterinarian girlfriend to thinking you're an animal lover is pathetic. I am an animal lover, I'm just not an animal owner."

It's official. This was the last movie with Bruce Willis I wasted my time on. Whenever I expect a come-back from my eternal hero, I'm always disappointed afterwards and realize that apparently the check size was more important than the content of the film or an enthusiastic commitment. And probably the salary wasn't high enough after seeing the intensity of that commitment and enthusiasm. A head of lettuce in my father's garden shows more drama and empathy than Mr. Willis in this pseudo-action crime story. Look at his expression when Jack (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) blows up a car in front of his hotel. Painful. A horrible moment for a Willis fan like me. I would rather throw the lettuce from my father's garden towards the screen.

Eventually Willis wasn't such a bad choice after all, since the rest of the movie is as bad. When will directors finally realize that a crime movie gets the labeled "immortal" pinned on because it contains an unprecedented and fascinating story in which passionate and charismatic actors appear. And it's not the amount of ammunition that's used throughout the film that'll make you earn that label. The gunfights in "Precious Cargo" are so irritating bad and ridiculously exaggerated. I think they've used as much ammunition as during the landing at Normandy. Statistically speaking it isn't such a bad idea. They are all such bad shooters that they might have a chance to hit something after shooting so intensively. One stray bullet is sufficient. Even Stevie Wonder would be a better shooter. And every time I'm wondering what material most objects are made of, because they can withstand a huge amount of bullets every time.

Mark-Paul Gosselaar wasn't so bad. Although I didn't understand where he got the title "Michelangelo of Thieves" from, because he wasn't particularly intelligent. When you're so stupid to fall for a ridiculous lie of an ex-girlfriend and blindly consider an alleged pregnancy as true, you're certainly not blessed with a well functioning brain. Luckily I didn't recognize him immediately as the more mature version of Zack from "Saved by the bell", otherwise I would have given up much earlier, because this was one of the most annoying television-series from the 80'. Claire Forlani is an elegant appearance and tried her best to act believable as the pregnant ex (who could cope with hectic situations despite her condition). Needless to say she began to irritate me after a while as well.

Compared with this, "American Heist" was highly enjoyable. Expect a series of clichés. Like the macho-style and tough language used whenever possible. This leads to embarrassing moments like the one where Christoph Rob Rowen puts some silicone-filled blonde bimbo's in their place. The gang members keep appearing from every corner throughout the whole movie while their arsenal of weapons increases visibly. There's the semi-romantic entanglement between Jack and his ex on the one hand and on the other hand one with his new girlfriend, veterinarian Jenna (Lydia Hull) who imagined a romantic dinner quite different. In the end apparently she finds Jack's lifestyle just normal.

Is there really nothing positive to say about this film? Yes, there's still one bright spot in it. And that's Logan, played by Jenna B. Kelly. She's not only a dazzling beauty but also she expresses herself in an amusing way. Definitely she's someone to handle with kid gloves. But at the same time I'm sure she'll probably becomes extremely enjoyable as she starts to purr. If I was Jack, I would consider her to become my girlfriend, instead of the other two nitwits. Afterwards I noticed how many participating actors were also present in "Extraction". If I knew this in advance, I wouldn't even bother to watch this monstrosity in the first place.

More reviews here : http://bit.ly/1KIdQMT

Visual poetry - and a celebration of human resilience as well as an ode to the savage beauty of Saved by the Bell

[lawyer-85487 · 9/10 · 3 May 2016]

A lot has been said and written about this film, mostly about its troubled production - forget all that: it has no meaning whatsoever for the experience this film provides. A word of advice though: if you go in expecting a testosterone-fueled revenge thriller in the vein of 'Die Hard', you'll likely end up disappointed. It's simply not that kind of film - but that doesn't mean you won't enjoy it if you watch it with the right expectations. 'Precious Cargo' opens with a standoff for the ages; we see snippets of memories showing a peaceful life - and soon the loss of that peace, and the loss of life. The images change and we hear the soothing sound of shooting blanks as we follow the camera via a long tracking shot over a seaside crime scene; it's an image that seems to imply peace, evoking nature's beauty with an almost meditative quality - before the barrel of a rifle appears in the frame. Those first three minutes I just described (which are the only spoilers you will get in this review) set the tone for the film perfectly. It's a film that tells a story of harrowing circumstances through images that are breathtakingly beautiful; a film about survival and death and shocking acts of sudden violence - and yet a film that, despite all its visceral intensity, also has a quiet, immersive quality to it that feels almost hypnotic.

Many critics and reviewers have pointed out the stark contrast between the film's poetic beauty and the ugliness of its violence - implying the director wanted to use this contrast to make a certain point regarding mankind's interference with nature. While that would seem pretty obvious (and it probably is at least partly true), I left the film feeling the director had shown a vaster, far too complete image of the clash between Zack Morris and the seedy crime underworld to justify such a simplistic interpretation of the events portrayed on screen.

Whether intentionally or not, the filmmakers shows the star of his film with a complexity and honesty that we normally don't get to see in these kinds of stories. And I'm not talking about Mark-Paul Gosslear here (who gives a no-holds-barred, crazy good performance and I'd love to see him win an Oscar for this film) - the star of this film is not a person: it IS the tits on the scene with the dumb blondes, plain and simple.

The revenge plot - which felt almost like an afterthought or a ploy to give the film a certain structure and a proper ending - is not really the film's main theme or strongest aspect, and it certainly isn't the reason that made this film so compelling to watch for me. Such stories have been told often enough - and often better - than in 'Precious Cargo'. No, what really made this film stand out for me is that I have NEVER seen a Hollywood film (any film, really - apart from documentaries) that showed speedboats in such an unflinchingly honest and mesmerizing way as was the case here. And the way I perceive it, the director sees his human protagonists as being very much a part of waterside existence as a whole - regardless of their destructive behaviour.

It's that refreshingly wholistic approach (which some viewers might perceive as nihilism on the director's part) that I found to be the film's biggest accomplishment: it depicts the people in this story as just another species trying to survive in that perilous frontier-world. The emphasis is not really on the moral aspects of the brutal injustice that the main character suffers or how the beachgoers are cruelly exploited; we witness all that - but Iñarritu keeps a certain emotional distance, as if he were shooting a documentary about predatory wildlife. And just like the boat attack, most of the violence in this film comes as a reaction of defense. Be it self-defense, defending one's offspring or defending territory and valuable resources. Even the character that comes closest to an actual villain is driven by fear - not hate, and his most obvious character defects were caused by a very traumatizing experience. As in seaside settings, there is a simple (if often brutal) logic to why most characters, men or beasts, act the way they do in 'Precious Cargo' (OK, maybe not the bimbos - but I didn't say the film was perfect, did I). And the boat attack was the most realistic depiction of a water-based attack I have ever seen on film.

All in all, this film felt less like a story of revenge and more like an ode to the visceral beauty of nature and the relentless, savage force that is life; it provides an immensely absorbing - and touching - experience to those who have an affinity for the wilderness, but it's also a visual masterpiece and a great piece of old-school filmmaking for lovers of Cinema. It's not perfect (especially during the last third of the film where I felt the pacing was a bit off), but it's a film the likes of which we will only rarely get to see - if at all - in the future. 'Precious Cargo' is visual poetry of the most primal kind, and it should be seen on the biggest screen possible.

Oh wait. I'm mixing this up with The Revenant. Yeah this film was kind of bad.

Good Production, Good Type Casting, Some actors Weak, Script not as bad as director and actors make it.

[curt_doolittle · 7/10 · 25 April 2016]

Kelly need a lot of voice coaching, mostly to slow down, because she doesn't carry off 'thoughtful' well enough for the part. (Common Canadian acting problems - bovine energy) Kelly and Hull roles would have been better reversed. Willis hasn't brought energy to a role in years, and you see it in his private life as well. He needs the humor and edge to carry off the seriousness and he's settled into this retired state of mind that's projected dead on the screen. Forliani does her job well and she continues to carry the screen. Never thought she'd keep getting better. Pacing is wrong. Director should have slowed them all down. It's noir dialog filmed at summer blockbuster pace.

25 PRODUCERS????

[fredcdobbs5 · 2/10 · 13 January 2020]

This rancid, festering carcass of a movie--for lack of a better word--was put together by 25 PRODUCERS??? 25??? They should have spent less money on producers and more on writers. Or directors. Or ANYONE who knew what they were doing.

There's nothing I can say about this . . . thing . . . that hasn't been said already. I watched it for about 15 minutes and decided to pop it out and watch a real, honest-to-goodness, professional, well-written, intelligently acted, solidly produced film by comparison--so I put in "Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol".

It was WAY better.