Perfect Stranger

Tags

2000's, Bruce Willis, Giovanni Ribisi, Halle Berry, James Foley, Perfect Stranger, Thriller

Film Title

Perfect Stranger

Director

James Foley

Starring

• Halle Berry as Rowena Price
• Bruce Willis as Harrison Hill
• Giovanni Ribisi as Miles Haley

A frankly boring, ridiculous and not at all intriguing techno thriller, Perfect Stranger is a film best described as a real mess, despite having the talents of Halle Berry and Bruce Willis.

Rowena Price is a hard-nosed reporter, writing under a pseudonym, who knows how to get a story. With the help of her technologically skilled friend Miles Haley, she is currently on to a major scoop on a senator. Yet her tireless investigation is quashed by her editor after it turns out he is good friends with the senator in question. The end to her investigation makes Rowena angry and she quits her job. Not long after she runs into Grace, a childhood friend who has a potentially damning story to spill. She has been conducting an affair with prominent advertisement businessman Harrison Hill, who has subsequently broke it off after Grace threatened to expose him. She asks Rowena to look into it and see whether it could make a story, yet Rowena dismisses it at first, still angry about her scoop that she had and lost. A few days later, Grace is founded murdered which propels Rowena into finally looking into Hill. Employing her talents for discretion and enlisting Miles, she goes undercover in Hill’s workplace to see if she can find out whether Hill was responsible for Grace’s murder. As well as this, she tracks Hill on-line to a communications site, and subsequently lures him in under a false name. She hopes to trap him in both capacities. But soon enough, Rowena finds herself in over her head and with identities changing like rapid fire, who can she trust in a dangerous game of cat and mouse?

Now I must say that as a director James Foley is very talented, but even his expertise can’t save this shipwreck of a movie. It’s what you would call a losing battle, no director could bring such a film credibility or thrills. A convoluted and frankly nonsensical script is the main thing to blame for the failures of Perfect Stranger. Littered with embarrassingly bad dialogue and too many twists, it is a real car crash. And when everything leads up to the twist ending, it just becomes worse because none of it makes a lot if sense and emerges as just a complete waste of time. A glossy visual style can’t even compensate for these flaws because mostly it resembles so many other films and the technological approach has been done to death on CSI. There is also copious product placement here that just becomes boring and not at all useful with trying to bring at least something of worth from such a bad film as Perfect Stranger. The provided score aims for thrills and tension, yet can’t muster up either of them.

The talented cast assembled for Perfect Stranger can’t even make the movie worth watching. Halle Berry and Bruce Willis are talented stars, but even their best efforts are ruined by the abysmal plotting and execution. The same goes Giovanni Ribisi who provides crazy off the wall mannerisms to his character but because of the film he’s trapped in make it at all memorable. It is always a shame to see talented actors wasted in a movie like this that gives them frankly nothing to do and no decipherable characters to play.

Poorly scripted, mind-numbingly dull and with no life whatsoever, Perfect Stranger is a film to avoid with a capital A.

Death Becomes Her

Tags

1990's, Bruce Willis, Dark Comedy, Death Becomes Her, Fantasy, Goldie Hawn, Isabella Rossellini, Meryl Streep, Robert Zemeckis

Film Title

Death Becomes Her

Director

Robert Zemeckis

Starring

• Meryl Streep as Madeline Ashton
• Goldie Hawn as Helen Sharp
• Bruce Willis as Ernest Menville
• Isabella Rossellini as Lisle

A savagely comedic and satiric look at vanity, bitter rivalry and revenge, Death Becomes Her is one heady bitches brew. Boasting eye-popping special effects and devilish work from the cast, it’s a dark comedy fantasy that is a hoot with the added mix of magic and bitchy one liners.

Madeline Ashton is a narcissistic, bitchy actress who is a real success. She has a rivalry with aspiring writer Helen Sharp and does anything she can to get one up on her. But Madeline crosses the line when she seduces Helen’s fiancée Ernest Menville, a prominent plastic surgeon to the stars and the two eventually marry. This causes Helen to completely break down and she is sectioned. Years later, Madeline and her demanding ways have driven Ernest to drink and he is now a mortician. Madeline is also something of a has been as she is getting older, and there is a demand for younger actresses. It is here that she bumps into Helen again, who is now a successful author and looking just as young as she did all those years before. What Madeline doesn’t know is that Helen has been planning revenge on her and plans to execute it soon. Shocked by Helen’s youthful appearance, Madeline soon finds an intriguing answer to her own age issues in the form of Lisle. Lisle is a wealthy socialite and possibly a sorceress, who has divined a potion that gives the person who drinks it eternal youth. Obsessed with looking young again, Madeline takes the potion. Yet the potion doesn’t just grant eternal youth but also immortality. Meanwhile, Helen puts her plan to get Ernest back into action and battles it out with Madeline, with poor Ernest stuck in the middle of it all. But the plotting Helen herself also took the potion years before and now as they commence in battle, it is getting harder to get one up on the other as both are in a sense indestructible and neither can die.

Robert Zemeckis directs this lively and darkly amusing film with a fast-paced panache, relishing all the biting lines that the script has to offer. He funnily satirizes society’s obsession with beauty and age with a cutting wit. Let’s just say, this guy knows how to keep a movie eventful and very entertaining as Madeline and Helen go to war. The special effects in Death Becomes Her deserve a huge mention as they really are very impressive in highlighting the immortality of both woman and the many injuries they inflict on each other, that only cause a bit of damage like a neck out-of-place or a bullet hole through the chest, that eventually spring back to normal. Some will say that the special effects take precedence over the story, but it actual fact they compliment it very well and lead to black comedy of the highest order. A dazzling, adventurous score provides the backdrop of darkness tinged with a morbid playfulness that is ever-present through Death Becomes Her and makes it a real treat.

What really gives Death Becomes Her that real snap and morbid humour is the performances from the splendid cast. Meryl Streep is utterly fabulous as the wicked bitch Madeline, constantly obsessed with being young again and finding that it has a price. She obviously savours the razor-sharp put downs that Madeline spews and gives the role a diva like persona of total star quality. Her acting alongside Goldie Hawn pays off successfully as they share a devilish chemistry with each other. Goldie Hawn is equally as good as Streep, playing Helen as downtrodden but deliciously scheming to the hilt. Taking a break from the macho action roles he is mostly known for, Bruce Willis shows his versatility as the much abused Ernest. Exuding a gawkiness and befuddled anxiety, he really shows what a talented actor he is. Adding wickedly sensual support is Isabella Rossellini as the magical woman with the potion that leads to eternal youth and more.

A wickedly gleeful comedy fantasy, brimming with verve and hysterical outrageousness, Death Becomes Her is a dark delight of a movie.

 

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Tags

2010's, Bruce Willis, Christopher Lloyd, Christopher Meloni, Crime, Dennis Haysbert, Eva Green, Frank Miller, Jaime King, Jamie Chung, Jeremy Piven, Jessica Alba, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Josh Brolin, Juno Temple, Lady Gaga, Mickey Rourke, Powers Boothe, Ray Liotta, Robert Rodriguez, Rosario Dawson, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Film Title

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Directors

Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez

Starring

• Mickey Rourke as Marv
• Jessica Alba as Nancy Callahan
• Josh Brolin as Dwight McCarthy
• Eva Green as Ava Lord
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Johnny
• Powers Boothe as Senator Roark
• Rosario Dawson as Gail
• Dennis Haysbert as Manute
• Ray Liotta as Joey
• Bruce Willis as Hartigan
• Jamie Chung as Miho
• Jaime King as Goldie/Wendy
• Jeremy Piven as Bob
• Christopher Meloni as Mort
• Christopher Lloyd as Kroenig
• Juno Temple as Sally
• Lady Gaga as Bertha

Coming almost ten years after the startling original Sin City, this second installment had a lot to live up to. Unfortunately, it doesn’t match its predecessor in many ways, but A Dame to Kill For is far from an all-out failure and does have its moments that need praise.

A Dame to Kill For takes the same narrative structure of the first movie, albeit with stories that serve as a prequel to those events that occurred in the original. These stories intertwine at many points along the way of the narrative structure. We first of all have cocky slicker Johnny, who seems to have a lot of luck when it comes to winning in poker games. Arriving in the godforsaken town of the title, he takes on the corrupt Senator Roark in a game that he repeatedly wins. Roark doesn’t take to kindly to this showing of power from the young gambler and has his men violently sort him out. This in turn sets up many more brutal encounters between the two men in a battle of supremacy. The second story and prequel to the first movie, concerns Dwight McCarthy when he was a private detective, intent on not letting violent urges and temptation get in his way. Dwight finds himself caught in a seductive web, spun by the femme fatale Ava Lord. No matter how hard he tries to resist her, he can’t break the spell of the poisonous temptress. She brings him into a plot to kill her husband, by playing the part of the abused wife who needs protecting. Sure enough, the bewitched Dwight agrees and murders her unwitting husband. With her husband dispatched of, the cunning Ava leaves Dwight for dead. Good for Dwight is the fact that he has the brute Marv to help him and take him to the girls of Old Town, lead once again by the kick ass dominatrix Gail. The hookers shelter him and help him through reconstructive surgery alter his appearance, ready for revenge upon the eponymous dame for her betrayal. The last tale focuses on Nancy Callahan, who mourns the death of her protector Hartigan. Knowing that the reason he killed himself was because of the evil Roark, the exotic dancer slips into drunken madness and uncontrollable rage; plagued by hallucinations of Hartigan that warn her not to avenge him. Swearing revenge on the all-powerful Senator, she teams with a willing Marv in her attempt to kill the corrupt leader once and for all.

Visual style is very much on display throughout A Dame to Kill For, it’s just at times it doesn’t feel as fresh as it did in the first film. We do get some nifty visuals mind you( the sinister crimson of Ava’s lips and shining emerald eyes are a particular highlight) and the use of silhouettes is stunning to accentuate the smoky atmosphere of the town. There’s just a feeling of ‘been there done that’ about it that hangs over this movie. Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez both bring style and action to the fray, but the structure isn’t as up to scratch as it once was and the movie suffers as a result. For example, certain parts of the stories are expanded upon enough and other times too much time is spent on one tale. Yet when the action does hit its height, it does deliver in blood-soaked fashion that is still quite electrifying. Once again, a sexy soundtrack that hark back to the shadows of Noir creates a good amount of intensity that provides interest.

Mickey Rourke once again delivers the goods as the brutish Marv, who is more than willing to help out a friend with business, especially if it involves blood, murder and violence. Rourke does get to show a tender side again, this time acting as the helper to the vengeful Nancy in her time of need. Jessica Alba, though often the subject of debate as to her acting credentials, confounds expectations and brings sadness and aggression to the role of Nancy. Rather than just the sexy dancer from the first film, we get to see her as a broken down girl, shorn of hope but thirsty for revenge. Josh Brolin, portraying the character of Dwight before the reconstruction sported in the first movie, gives his part weariness as he navigates his way through violence, yet finds himself ensnared by the manipulative Ava. Eva Green is the definite showstopper in this movie, seductive and sinuous as she traps men with her beauty and brings pain to them. Slinky and cunning, she is a poisonous viper who is adept at making people do her dirty work and then leaving them with the consequences. To say that Eva Green was smouldering and sexy in this movie would be a criminal understatement. Joseph Gordon-Levitt contributes youthful charm and cocky self-assurance as upstart Johnny, who tangles with the wrong man in the form of Senator Roark and pays the price. Power Boothe returning again brings malevolent sneakiness to Roark and exposes his ruthless, power-mad nature that knows no bounds once infuriated by others. Rosario Dawson, although unfortunately used in a reduced capacity, is still fierce and crafty as Gail. Dennis Haysbert has the physical stature and deep voice to make Manute a very physical and dangerous adversary, yet Ray Liotta in a role as another corrupt politician is somewhat wasted. The same can be said about Bruce Willis, who appears as Hartigan in Nancy’s hallucinations. He just isn’t given enough to do to make his appearance here memorable. Jamie Chung doesn’t make for a great replacement as assassin Miho; I believe Devon Aoki did a better job and had the stony faced intensity for the part which Chung lacks. Jaime King returns as twin prostitutes Wendy and Goldie, but scarcely makes an impact this time around. Jeremy Piven and Christopher Meloni make impressions as two cops investigating the murder of Ava’s husband; Piven is the one who is wary of the dame, whereas Meloni is the one who falls under the siren’s spell. Christopher Lloyd gives his part as a sinister doctor who helps Johnny after he is brutalised by Roark’s men. Juno Temple is wasted as a young prostitute saved by Dwight, while music fans should look out for a cameo by pop star Lady Gaga as a sympathetic waitress who takes pity on a wounded Johnny.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For was never going to match the heights of the original movie, but it’s not as bad as people make out. It’s just not as thrilling as it could have been, despite its wealth of potential.

 

Sin City

Tags

2000's, Alexis Bledel, Benicio Del Toro, Brittany Murphy, Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, Crime, Devon Aoki, Elijah Wood, Frank Miller, Jaime King, Jessica Alba, Josh Hartnett, Marley Shelton, Michael Clarke Duncan, Mickey Rourke, Nick Stahl, Powers Boothe, Robert Rodriguez, Rosario Dawson, Rutger Hauer, Sin City

Film Title

Sin City

Directors

Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez

Starring

• Mickey Rourke as Marv
• Bruce Willis as Haritgan
• Clive Owen as Dwight McCarthy
• Jessica Alba as Nancy Callahan
• Benicio Del Toro as Jackie Boy
• Rosario Dawson as Gail
• Brittany Murphy as Shellie
• Devon Aoki as Miho
• Elijah Wood as Kevin
• Jaime King as Goldie/Wendy
• Alexis Bledel as Becky
• Nick Stahl as Roark Junior
• Powers Boothe as Senator Roark
• Michael Clarke Duncan as Manute
• Rutger Hauer as Cardinal Roark
• Josh Hartnett as The Salesman
• Marley Shelton as The Customer

Visually outstanding, brutally realized and violently compelling, Sin City is one hell of a ride. Directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller, from whom the source of graphic novels is based, it may not be for everyone, but it’s definitely a film that is hard to get out of your mind.

Sin City comprises of three stories that intertwine on occasion. The setting is Basin City, a dirty, corrupt and downright nasty city of violence, sex and all things bad. One tale concerns honest cop Hartigan, who is ageing and has developed a heart condition but still trying to carry on with his latest case. He manages to save a young girl by the name of Nancy Callahan from serial rapist and child molester Roark Junior, who is also the son of the corrupt Senator of the city. In a cruel twist of fate orchestrated by the Senator, Hartigan is framed for a crime he didn’t commit and spends time in jail. Upon release, he manages to track Nancy down, she has now grown up into a gorgeous young woman who works as an exotic dancer in a saloon. Roark Junior is actually still alive and comes after them and it is up to Hartigan to stop him before it is too late. The middle tale tells of Marv, a lonely man mountain who is slowly slipping into madness. One night, he has a passionate encounter with a hooker named Goldie. Marv falls deeply in love with the girl, but unfortunately for him she is murdered while he sleeps. Heartbroken and filled with vengeance, he hacks his way through those in his way to track down the perpetrator; a psychopathic man named Kevin, who slaughters and then eats what remains of prostitutes. In the last of these overlapping vignettes, Dwight McCarthy protects his brutalized clandestine lover Shellie from her abusive partner Jackie Boy. Following the sadistic Jackie to Old Town, the red-light district, Dwight prowls in the shadows in an attempt to keep the girls safe. Not that they need to be protected, as they are led by the fierce Gail and have an arsenal of weapons at their disposal. When violence erupts, chaos emerges and bullets fly as the girls fight back against the corrupt powers that be.

Sin City immediately grabs you from its opening frames because of the stylish way in which it is shot. By combing the noir of black and white and the accentuation of certain colours, we are transported into this walking and breathing comic book story come to life. Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller bring so much to the table, skilfully immersing us in this world of violence, broads and deception. It’s like being in a hard-boiled pulp story, and these two really keep you riveted with their assured sense of direction and respect for the material. The structure of Sin City is also a highlight, with the characters slinking their way in and out of the stories at various occasions. Sin City is most certainly not for everyone’s taste, mainly because of the often gruesome and violent content. But for those with a strong stomach, it is well worth a watch. A rip-roaring soundtrack of jazzy riffs and driving guitar rhythms brings more life to the tales of graphic slaying, seductive atmosphere and shadowy dealings.

An accomplished cast fleshes out this cavalcade of tough guys and seductive vixens. Mickey Rourke brings swaggering violence and inconsolable rage to the role of the wronged Marv, who is on a revenge mission even if it kills him. Yet he also brings to the forefront of the tough guy the lonely and severed heart of a man who has the thing he cared about snatched away from him. Bruce Willis is excellent as the emotionally abandoned and ageing Hartigan, whose sole purpose for living is to protect Nancy, who he sees as a daughter. Clive Owen is at his best as the protective but very dangerous Dwight, imbuing the part with grave humour and macho virility. While Jessica Alba is often quite wooden in terms of her acting, she does manage to give the part of Nancy a sense of vulnerability and scorching sex appeal. Benicio Del Toro is skulking menace personified as Jackie Boy, while Rosario Dawson is smoking hot as the tooled-up Gail, who isn’t going to go down without a fight. Brittany Murphy gives sympathy to the role of Shellie and Devon Aoki is a scowling presence as Miho, a mute prostitute who is more than adept with a Samurai sword. Elijah Wood is surprisingly chilling as the light-footed and sadistic serial killer with a taste for blood. Jaime King essays the roles of the ill-fated Goldie and her twin sister Wendy, while Alexis Bledel is suitably naive as Becky, one of the younger prostitutes of Old Town. Nick Stahl is sinister and twisted as Roark Junior, along with a slimy turn from Powers Boothe as his well-connected father. Michael Clarke Duncan is imposing and vicious as a mob enforcer, and Rutger Hauer makes an impression as a member of the Roark family. Josh Hartnett and Marley Shelton give mystery and smoky elegance to the enigmatic opening to the film.

Violent, stylish and unforgettable, Sin City is a film that will definitely leave you awestruck.