Killshot: Grade B

B
Killshot (2008)
Micky Rourke, Diane Lane, Rosario Dawson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Thomas Jane; Director John Madden.

A strong cast and outstanding photography make this action-thriller a good watch. Rourke is a mafia hit man in northern Michigan who, for no reason except maybe loneliness, makes friends with a psychopathic (close to psychotic) young man, Richie (Gordon-Levitt). The two of them shoot up the office of a guy Richie is trying to blackmail. The guy isn’t even in the office, but a husband and wife (Lane and Jane) are there, so obviously, they must be killed in order to “tie up loose ends.” But inexplicably, the bad guys leave and then have to hunt down the witnesses later.

Does this make sense? A mafia hit man needs to kill two real estate agents because they saw his face when some windows and plaster were broken? It is not a believable premise. One gets the feeling the script was re-written so many times it lost its way. The last part of the movie focuses on the hunt. The couple goes into witness protection, but predictably, that doesn’t work and there is a confrontation.

The story is so lame it robs the movie of any dramatic tension. However, much else about the movie is good. Rourke’s brooding Indian character is believable and fascinating. Gordon-Levitt gives 110% in an energetic performance well worth watching. Sets and photography are outstanding, characterizations for the bad guys are strong. The pacing flags at times, and Rosario is wasted, but it’s an engaging, satisfying film anyway, and Rourke stands out.

Wisegal: Grade C

C
Wisegal (2008)
Alyssa Milano, Jason Gedrick, James Caan; Director Jerry Ciccoritti.

The Mafia movie is just about as worn out as the western, even when it involves a woman member of the mob. But this film just different enough to be interesting. A poor woman (Milano), makes a few bucks selling cartons of cigarettes on street corners for a friend. It turns out that the friend works for the mob and is skimming the cigs. Soon enough, he sleeps with the fishes. But the head wiseguy (Gedrick) likes the woman’s spunk, sassy talk and good looks, so he offers to let her run a dumpy Italian diner he recently “acquired.” She is skeptical but desperate, and goes for it. In the least plausible part of the story, she suddenly is full of design expertise and business acumen and miraculously turns the place into a successful night club (no mention of where the capital improvements came from). Her success attracts the attention of capo de capo Caan, who could play a mobster in his sleep, as he does here. He wants the woman to smuggle drug money from Canada. Eventually, everything goes wrong, as you knew it would, and she is cornered, holding a gun at Gedrick’s head. But the ending, though not believable, is more clever than you might suspect. Milano gives a reasonable performance. She has potential for greater things. The other players are not distinctive in any way. Production values are high and overall, the movie is enjoyable if forgettable.

Eastern Promises: Grade A

A
Eastern Promises (2007)
Naomi Watts, Viggo Mortenstern, Vincent Cassel, Armin Mueller-Stahl. Director David Cronenberg. Mostly English, with some subtitled Russian.

It’s Russian mafia trafficking in women vs. Chechen criminal gangs, all in modern London. Into that dark, cold, extremely violent world stumbles Watts’ character, after a young, pregnant Russian girl arrives at the hospital where she works. The girl dies, the baby survives, and so does the girl’s diary, which reveals incriminating facts about the Russian gang’s operations. Before the diary is translated, Watts tries to find a relative, to prevent the baby from going into foster care, and discovers “godfather” Mueller-Stahl’s restaurant. He learns of the diary and sends thug Mortenstern to get it. Meanwhile there are murders and retaliatory murders between the Russian and Chechen gangs. There is more than a little allusion to the Godfather series, but this movie actually reminds me a lot of 1994’s Little Odessa. I kept expecting Tim Roth to appear. There are many unexpected events and shocking scenes that jolt you upright in your chair. There is a fight scene in a public bath house where Mortenstern, completely naked, defends himself against two assassins with knives. The vulnerable flesh against the hard tile is almost more painful to watch than the bloody slashing. It is a memorable scene that held me breathless. But there is more than violence and gore here. Both Mortensterns’ and Watt’s characters develop plausibly as events continue, and the intellectual thread of the plot is engaging. Although the ending is a little too pat, it works. Watt’s character often behaves in the infuriatingly stupid ways that characters do in cheap horror films. There are some loose ends, and that always bothers me, but they are minor. While not for the queasy, the movie is a memorable masterpiece of filmmaking.

American Cousins: Grade C

C
American Cousins (2003)

Gerald Lepkowski, Shirley Henderson, Danny Nucci, Vincent Pastore, Dan Hedaya. Director Don Coutts.

A couple of American mobsters (Hedaya and Nucci) on the run lay low in Glasgow with some Italian-Scots relatives who run a café (Lepkowski and Henderson). The mobsters claim to be in “public relations” but Henderson suspects Mafia. When local extortionists put pressure on the restaurant owner (Lepkowski), the Jersey boys know how to handle it. Satire of the mobster genre is delicious and this indie movie could have used a lot more of that. But actually the central story is the developing romance between Henderson and Lepkowski, with some jealousy provided by the charming Nucci. The characters are attractive but the drama is without tension. There is a flash-bang gun battle but it is not distinctive or memorable in any way except that nobody gets killed. The ending is a humorous but mild and strained joke. Watchable, inoffensive, amusing.