maxwellsmart Reviews

Layer Cake (2004)

Stylish but by the numbers crime movie; a castrated version of the book

[6/10 · 6 March 2007]

Layer Cake is the first feature film directed by Matthew Vaughn, who made a name for himself producing the crime-comedy classics "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch". Vaughn abandons the cheeky and comedic nature of those two films and attempts to make a serious crime film. The results are decidedly uneven, as the movie is a stylish but hollow outing.

XXXX is a drug dealer who sees himself as merely a businessman whose commodity happens to be cocaine. He's planning on "getting out" but right before he can, he's called upon by his boss Jimmy Price to do two more jobs. The simple premise is so familiar that we already know basically what's going to happen, and that's fine, as long as the movie does something to distance itself from the crowd. Layer Cake, however, fails to really set itself apart from other movies in this genre

Matthew Vaughn guides the film in a cool, professional manner but it lacks the needed energy. This film lacks the vitality, humor and whiz-bang camera work of the aforementioned Guy Ritchie crime flicks. It also lacks the character development and drama to work convincingly as a straight-faced crime thriller. The problem is that XXXX as presented here simply isn't an interesting protagonist. Make him likable or make him detestable, but don't make him bland and anonymous. The side characters, with the notable exception of the commanding Eddie Temple played by Michael Gambon, are similarly underdeveloped.

All this is particularly disappointing given that J.J. Connolly himself adapted his novel for the screen. The novel itself is a great piece of pulp writing. Not only is the nameless narrator a distinct and dynamic character, he is surrounded by other well-defined characters, and the story includes heavy doses of humor and great intrigue and plot twists. Director Matthew Vaughn stated that many of the funny scenes from Connolly's screenplay were omitted in an apparent attempt to distance himself from "Lock Stock" and "Snatch". Additionally, some of the best characters from the book like Morty and Gene are underdevloped stock characters in the movie, although both George Harris and Colm Meaney do as good a job as could be expected with what they're given.

One issue I have is that if Vaughn was so dead set on making this a serious movie there was plenty of material to draw from in order to do a better job of developing and fleshing out the characters. This movie clocks in at about an hour and forty minutes and easily could have been a half hour longer, which would have provided ample time to build drama and make the characters more interesting.

While Vaughn has proved himself a director with potential, Layer Cake is a mixed bag. It took an exciting, funny, innovative book that breathed fresh life into the crime-fiction genre and turned it into a shiny, pretty, competent, clinical but ultimately empty and unspectacular crime movie. Certainly watchable but by no means remarkable

Miami Vice (2006)

Solid but underwhelming

[7/10 · 29 July 2006]

Due to Michael Mann's track record it was hard to go into this movie without very high expectations. After all, we are talking about the creator of arguably the greatest crime drama/thriller ever made with "Heat", as well as the highly entertaining "Collateral". But "Miami Vice" fails to live up to Mann's past success in the crime genre.

The plot is completely ordinary and doesn't offer up any unexpected twists and turns along the way. Because of this, the movie lacks intensity through much of the first and second acts, when everything that's happening is completely predictable.

However, pedestrian plot aside, the biggest disappointment was the manner in which the characters were developed. Both "Collateral" and "Heat" were notable for the way in which they delved deep into the psyche of the central characters, providing compelling personal drama to go along with the heists, hits and gunplay. But in "Miami Vice", we never really get to know the characters or their motivations beyond the surface level. And to make matters worse, Foxx and Farrell never develop the kind of rapport that's necessary to make a movie like this work on a high level. Compare Foxx and Farrell to Johnson and Thomas, or Gibson and Glover, and you'll see what I mean. Even though the "Miami Vice" movie aspires to be darker and grittier than "Lethal Weapon", which it is, it fails to be as dramatic because we never really come to care about the characters all that much. While there was clearly a conscious decision to downplay the "buddy" elements of the movie, the result is that Crockett and Tubbs seem so disconnected from each other on a personal level that it's hard to buy that they would die for each other, which we are expected to believe. The only relationship that is at all convincing or fleshed out is between Crockett and Isabella. The rest seem decidedly distant and undercooked.

What saves the film from being a bust is the visual splendor and great action sets. Mann once again proves that when it comes to creating a gritty atmosphere and staging shootouts, he's among the best in the business. When it comes to style, visuals, and atmosphere, "Miami Vice" is top notch.

In the end perhaps what hurt this movie most was studio deadlines and delays while shooting. It's been widely reported that Michael Mann had to feverishly edit this film just to get it into theaters on time, and in many ways that shows. There are multiple loose ends that are never tied up or explained, and several plot threads seem underdeveloped. I'm sure some day we will see a director's cut which approaches the 3 hour mark just like "Heat", and perhaps that version will overcome of the issues involving character development and plot holes in the theatrical version. Until then, "Miami Vice" is a movie that, while far from being a total failure, is none-the-less disappointing in that it had the potential to be a much more complete film than it is.

Lucky Number Slevin (2006)

Another case of Usual Suspects Syndrome

[5/10 · 11 April 2006]

Lucky Number Slevin is the latest in a long line of movies that try to outdo everything else out there in the cleverness department and as a result, seems overdone. Ever since The Usual Suspects, it seems that more and more movies have become too desperate to trick or mislead the audience, and it seems that the people making these movies usually fail to realize what made the movies they're trying to emulate effective in the first place. The Usual Suspects was effective in misleading the audience because the plot is free of holes, and there is one well thought out twist that is believable and makes for a great ending. What happens in Lucky Number Slevin is that the twists are too plentiful, and the ones that aren't predictable are often trivial; they end up having very little impact and aren't satisfying.

The ending to Lucky Number Slevin is given away very early on. An astute viewer who has become used to seeing this type of movie will pick up on it right away. All that's left to us is to figure out which piece of the convoluted puzzle will be laid down next.

The dialogue tries relentlessly to be witty, to varying degrees of success. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's downright tedious. The first scene in which Slevin meets the Rabbi is an example of the high, the first scene with Slevin meeting Lindsey is the low.

Director Paul McGuigan emulates Guy Ritchie's stylish visuals to some success, and guides the film about as well as the material allows. The saving grace here is the characters. Slevin, The Rabbi, The Boss and Goodkat all stand out, and Hartnett, Kingsley, Freeman and Willis all turn in commendable and charismatic performances. But by the end, particularly if you've figured out the scam from early on, the movie becomes a bit tiresome, not offering up any real surprises. While Lucky Number Slevin is not without its good points, at the end it seems like another case of a movie trying to be too clever for its own good, another movie with multiple twists that fail to result in any real surprises, and that just aren't that satisfying. As a viewer, the final result is "a been there, done that too many times" feeling, even though the film is not without its moments

The Weather Man (2005)

Alternately hilarious and dark, with misleading marketing

[9/10 · 31 October 2005]

When I first saw the advertisements for "The Weather Man", it seemed like the movie was going to be another formulaic, feel good Hollywood redemption tale. In reality, it is a dark, scathing satire of American values. The marketing likely scared away a lot of people who would enjoy the film, while attracting an audience who was presented with something unexpected and perhaps uncomfortable. The comedy is quite raunchy, the tone is bleak, and the story is anything but formulaic, throwing industry conventions right out the window, which leads to a film that's more believable than most.

David Spritz is a man whose life has become the ultimate exercise in futility. Each day, he wakes up and goes to a job that, despite paying a handsome salary, is entirely unfulfilling. His relationship with his ex-wife is strained, his relationship with his children distant. To make things worse, his Pulitzer Prize winning father seems to be disappointed in what David has done with his life.

In real life, progress in one's personal life is generally made in baby steps. Usually, people don't undergo a drastic transformation over the course of several months. David attempts to improve his standing in life, at times failing entirely, at times succeeding in small doses. The results of these attempts range from very funny to downright saddening, and this helps lend the film an air of realism. This is a complicated character study about a man coming to grips with the fact that he's failed to meet any of the goals he set for himself in life, despite attaining a social standing that many people are envious of. There aren't any easy answers or life altering epiphanies; self-improvement is a long, gradual task that will probably never be completely fulfilled, and "The Weather Man" reflects this reality. While not for all tastes, this movie deserves credit for tackling a relatively conventional subject in a very unconventional, at least for a mainstream Hollywood movie, manner. I imagine that this film will be a bigger success overseas and on DVD than it will be in its US theatrical run.

The Boondock Saints (1999)

By the numbers vigilante movie with religious element SOME SPOILERS

[6/10 · 31 July 2005]

Boondock Saints has become a cult phenomenon, gathering a surprisingly large and ardent following despite being maligned by multiple problems with the studio system and being filmed on a reduced budget and released independently. While this is an impressive accomplishment, it remains mysterious as to why the film became so popular. It's a by the numbers B movie vigilante flick with a pretentious and underdeveloped religious aspect tacked on.

The movie begins by introducing Conor and Murphy MacManus, a pair of fraternal Irish twins living in Boston who work in a meat packing plant and are marginally religious, meaning they go to church because they feel obligated to go, not because they want to. Following a confrontation with some goons working for the Russian mob, the brothers have what appears to be a religious moment, an apparent message from God that they should dole out vigilante justice on whatever criminals they see fit to do away with. The brothers set out on a killing spree, suddenly blessed with skills in handling firearms fit for military sharpshooters. They are aided by their friend Rocco, who conveniently enough happens to be a low level employee of the Italian mob. Rocco is the most likable character in the movie, overshadowing the brothers in all the scenes they're in with his charisma, which is surprising because he isn't a professional actor and got the role because he's friends with Troy Duffy. The brothers and Rocco are pursued FBI Agent Paul Smecker, a hard edged homosexual, portrayed in a gleeful, over the top fashion by Willem Dafoe, whose performance is the highlight of the whole movie.

Troy Duffy's script is full of so many holes, his lack of experience of a writer is obvious. Unexplained and illogical elements of the story are introduced on a whim simply because they're convenient for advancing the plot, and then these elements are immediately forgotten and never mentioned again. One example is the brothers ability to speak fluently five languages; this is introduced right before Conor has to speak in Russian on the phone while posing as a mobster to find out the location of a meeting between the Russian crime bosses. It's never explained why these two guys know the languages, except that "their mother insisted on it", or why two people who were that well educated are working in a meat packing plant and living in a filthy one room apartment. Instead, this unique ability to speak 5 languages is never even mentioned again and after Conor gets off the phone with the Russians. There are coincidences that are so forced and unbelievable that they can't be taken seriously. Unfortunately, this movie isn't a parody. It wants to be taken seriously, despite moments of comic relief.

The religious aspect appears to be little more than an excuse to condone the brothers' actions. What they're doing is God's will, so it's okay. Duffy wants this to be a compelling study of a controversial issue, but instead he is biased and one sided. The men that the brothers kill are sleazy, disgusting human beings with no positive traits, while the brothers are agents on a mission handed down from God. It's such a black and white portrayal of the subject that it fails to be provocative. What if the brothers killed a mobster who'd been developed as a character who loves his kids and his wife, rather than a caricature who kills mercilessly and has no regard for anyone else? Boondock Saints is a watchable movie because there are some well done action scenes and a couple of good laughs along the way, but by the end it's still a pretentious movie that wants to be thought provoking but isn't. It has the makings of a good movie that could have gone either way, in that it could have been a satire/parody, or it could have been an action movie combined with a social commentary, but it fails to be either. Instead it takes itself too seriously to be a parody or satire, and it isn't smart enough to provide any social commentary, and ends up being nothing more than a predictable vigilante movie that doesn't really stand out.

Overnight (2003)

Fascinating documentary #minor spoiler#

[9/10 · 19 July 2005]

In 1997, Troy Duffy was dubbed the next big thing in Hollywood before he even got a movie into production. Eight years later, he still only has one film to his credit. "Overnight" follows Duffy's almost unfathomable fall from grace, in such a way that it is nearly impossible to turn away from the screen, making the viewer constantly wonder what blunder Duffy will make next. What is shocking is not so much that the script for the pretentious though passable film The Boondock Saints generated such enormous hype, but that Duffy was able to take an opportunity that every aspiring filmmaker and/or musician dreams about and not just blow it, but obliterate it.

From the outset, Duffy is established as an aggressive, take charge individual which could have been a great asset for him if he knew where to draw the line. As the documentary progresses, Duffy's hubris comes to the forefront. He fancies himself as a businessman extraordinare and visionary that can't be bothered to listen to anyone else's opinion in any given situation. Brick by brick, he tears apart his potential career, and we get to see it every step of the way. In the end, his boorish behavior led to him being blacklisted from Hollywood, and his band's album sold so poorly that they were released from their recording contract soon after its release. In a final piece of irony Duffy, after making it known that he's smarter than everyone else, failed to secure any backend profit rights for video and DVD sales of Boondock Saints. The film, after barely being released in theaters, went on to produce strong sales in the home video market.