There should have been a lot of gnashing of teeth and muttered resentments when this movie debuted, because Vice is the sort of dark, urban crime drama that a thousand filmmakers have tried to create. 999 of them fail, sometimes spectacularly so. This is that one success. It takes the Mel Gibson character from Lethal Weapon, strips away all the Hollywood artifice and then plunges him into a world of overlapping corruption and deceit. Featuring powerfully unadorned dialog, several excellent scenes where we get to see some gifted actors stretch out inside their characters' skin and broodingly strong direction that snaps into the offbeat at perfect, unexpected moments, this film could be just as appropriately titled "Virtue".
Walker (Michael Madsen) is a narcotics cop beaten down and burned out to the point of nihilism. With a dead wife in his rearview mirror, he's either on the job, buried in a bottle or paying a hooker to stuff her hand down his pants. After an undercover drug bust goes wrong in more ways than one, the members of Walker's squad start turning up murdered and he has to team up with Salt (Daryl Hannah), the sullen, distaff member of the team, as both Feds and gangbangers start circling around like hungry sharks. With lies and the truth swirling around him until he can't tell which is which, Walker is left with nothing but bloody vendetta to see him through.
Michael Madsen has spent most of the years since Reservoir Dogs recycling his performance from that film, to the point where he sometimes comes off like a standup comedian doing a Michael Madsen impersonation. Vice is a reminder of how outstanding that performance was and how good it can still be when it's channeled through a worthy script. He plays Walker as a man at the end of his rope who's surprised at how tightly he's still holding on. Daryl Hanna is also wonderful as Salt, letting the cop's wounded pride and desperate need to belong seep out of her every pore. Mark Boone Junior and Aaron Pearl only have one scene each where they get a chance to shine, but they almost steal the whole movie when they do.
The best part of Vice, however, is its dissection of the partnership bond between police officers. Cops are required to put their lives in each other's hands, often in the hands of people they don't really know. It isn't a union based on choice or fellowship. It's built out of necessity and this film does a great job at delving into the forced, artificial nature of such a relationship and how some commit to it and some don't.
Writer/director Raul Inglis does a frequently exceptional job. He crafts memorable dialog while avoiding anything that sounds overly intricate or false. He carefully shepherds along the central mystery of the story, which I didn't figure out until about 15 seconds before it was revealed, presenting it not as a puzzle to be solved but as an unknown to be navigated through. He also throws something different at the audience ever so often, an unexpected visual or narrative spark that keeps the viewer plugged in to what's going on.
Now, some might be put off by the rather languid pace of Vice and not everyone in the cast is up to the standard of Madsen, Hannah, Boone Jr. and Pearl. Folks weaned on Tarantino and his legion of wannabes might also squawk at something that isn't hyper-witty or drowning in homage and aphorisms, but I think any complaints about Vice have as much to do with the viewer as they do with the movie.
I enjoyed this film and how it never settled completely into any of the well worn grooves of this genre. Throw in some bare boobs, startlingly unexpected violence and a buck naked guy on a chain link fence, and Vice is definitely something people should see.
Walker (Michael Madsen) is a narcotics cop beaten down and burned out to the point of nihilism. With a dead wife in his rearview mirror, he's either on the job, buried in a bottle or paying a hooker to stuff her hand down his pants. After an undercover drug bust goes wrong in more ways than one, the members of Walker's squad start turning up murdered and he has to team up with Salt (Daryl Hannah), the sullen, distaff member of the team, as both Feds and gangbangers start circling around like hungry sharks. With lies and the truth swirling around him until he can't tell which is which, Walker is left with nothing but bloody vendetta to see him through.
Michael Madsen has spent most of the years since Reservoir Dogs recycling his performance from that film, to the point where he sometimes comes off like a standup comedian doing a Michael Madsen impersonation. Vice is a reminder of how outstanding that performance was and how good it can still be when it's channeled through a worthy script. He plays Walker as a man at the end of his rope who's surprised at how tightly he's still holding on. Daryl Hanna is also wonderful as Salt, letting the cop's wounded pride and desperate need to belong seep out of her every pore. Mark Boone Junior and Aaron Pearl only have one scene each where they get a chance to shine, but they almost steal the whole movie when they do.
The best part of Vice, however, is its dissection of the partnership bond between police officers. Cops are required to put their lives in each other's hands, often in the hands of people they don't really know. It isn't a union based on choice or fellowship. It's built out of necessity and this film does a great job at delving into the forced, artificial nature of such a relationship and how some commit to it and some don't.
Writer/director Raul Inglis does a frequently exceptional job. He crafts memorable dialog while avoiding anything that sounds overly intricate or false. He carefully shepherds along the central mystery of the story, which I didn't figure out until about 15 seconds before it was revealed, presenting it not as a puzzle to be solved but as an unknown to be navigated through. He also throws something different at the audience ever so often, an unexpected visual or narrative spark that keeps the viewer plugged in to what's going on.
Now, some might be put off by the rather languid pace of Vice and not everyone in the cast is up to the standard of Madsen, Hannah, Boone Jr. and Pearl. Folks weaned on Tarantino and his legion of wannabes might also squawk at something that isn't hyper-witty or drowning in homage and aphorisms, but I think any complaints about Vice have as much to do with the viewer as they do with the movie.
I enjoyed this film and how it never settled completely into any of the well worn grooves of this genre. Throw in some bare boobs, startlingly unexpected violence and a buck naked guy on a chain link fence, and Vice is definitely something people should see.