Played: Grade D

D

Played (2006)

Mick Rossi, Vinnie Jones, Gabriel Byrne, Anthony LaPaglia, Val Kilmer; Director Sean Stanek

This gangster movie is shot in the mean streets of London and some in LA. Mick Rossi (co-writer also), took the fall for a bad robbery, and now out of prison, wants revenge on the guys who betrayed him. High body count, lots of point blank murders. Unfortunately there are way too many characters in the movie, all of them shooting at each other. It is impossible to keep the characters straight or make out any clear story line. The big names, like Kilmer and Byrne, appear only briefly. In the DVD extras the writers and director are quite proud that this is a zero-budget movie with ad-lib dialog and no story boards. They claim it proves that “anybody” can make a movie. I think they are right, and this is the result you get. I give it a barely passing grade because of some good acting, by Rossi especially, good characterizations (if a bit stereotypical), and some good “gritty” scenes.