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 Director
: Demian Lichtenstein
Starring
: Kevin Costner, Kurt Russell, Courteney Cox, Christian
Slater, David Arquette, Kevin Pollak, Ice-T & Jon Lovitz
Picture
1.85:1 Anamorphic, DD 5.1, Dual-Layer, Snap Case
Running
Time : 125 mins
The
story:
Crime
Is King
Michael
Zane (Kurt Russell) & Murphy (Kevin Costner) are fresh
out of prison and together with their gang they are about
to pull of one of the most ambitious robberies ever. To
break into a casino and steal a night's takings in the middle
of the International Elvis Week. Blessed with the right
amount of skill, equipment, weapons and sideburns they retreat
to a lonely backwater just outside the town to divide up
the money and ride out the media frenzy. Cabin Fever sets
in and all is not what it seems with Zane, Murphy and an
over friendly local women, Cybil Waingrow (Courtenay Cox).
What started with a robbery turns into a race across America
with the FBI in tow and a lions share of the money at stake.
The
summary:
You
may not have heard much about this film as it did not exactly
set the box office alight in the USA on its release and
it has yet to get a release date in the UK. Due to its high
profile cast I was expecting much of the film, and I have
to say that for the most part I was not disappointed.
Kurt
Russell and Kevin Costner are the main two stars and the
film centers much around them and the robbery that they
plan to carry out. Courtenay Cox provides the female edge
to the film and does offer one of her best on screen roles
(which is sadly not difficult). The movie is executed very
slickly from its computer generated scorpions at the beginning
to the Tarantino-esque robbery set to a thumping techno
soundtrack. The first hour is a treat to behold with many
twists and turns and a brilliantly psychotic performance
from Costner. The second half of the film turns into a much
more laid back animal and essentially becomes a road movie
in the true tradition of America. Double-crosses abound
as Russell and Costner chase each other across the country
in order to satiate their desire for greed and revenge.
Throughout the movie the rest of the cast are nothing more
than eye candy and fillers for the story, do watch out for
Jon Lovitz who is superb as a cowardly antique dealer and
Ice-T as a gung-ho war machine.
The
second half is certainly not as pleasing as the first and
does stand still in places but overall the movie is a serious
attempt at a heist/action movie. It is violent in places
and does contain lots of guns, explosions and expletives,
but what they hey, no one said it was an Oscar winning piece
of Italian drama ! Sit back and enjoy.
The
DVD is a bit of a let down after the surprise at how much
I enjoyed the movie. Apart from a paltry trailer and a rubbish
collection of cast and crew info you get nothing. The sound
and picture do make up for this in places but overall it
cries out for more. This is a major problem with Warner
discs of late and they need to pull up their corporate socks
if they are to compete with recent extra laden editions.
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