CITY OF INDUSTRY is a movie that was supposed to be made with a budget of 30,000,000 $ and had to star Kevin Costner, but when Costner rejected it the budget was lowered to 8,000,000 $ and Harvey Keitel took the lead role. Although it's possible it's still a good movie, such a statistic pretty much says that the movie was bad, which is amazing considering the cast.
Roy Egan (Keitel) is a retired thief that plans to make one last heist in a jewelry with the help of his brother Lee (Timothy Hutton). Joining them are muscle bound Jorge Montana and wheelman Skip Kovich (Stephen Dorff) and the heist seems to go as planned after Jorge sabotages the security cameras and traffic lights. In the trailer home Lee and Jorge discuss about their parts from the heist when Skip shoots them while Roy was in the bathroom and heard the shots, and after Skip manages to flee with the money and jewelry Roy picks a car and will do everything for avenge his brother, take the heist money and be close to Jorge's widow (Famke Jannsen)
The first problem is that the lead (Keitel) is shown as a throroughly unlikeable jerk: for istance, there are various scenes such as when he goes to a strip club and he is kidnapped by two mobsters, but soon manages to free and kill them. He also gets into fights stating that he is his own police only to end badly injured.
In contrast Skip is shown in a completely different light. He looked like a nice guy at the beginning, but this didn't last for long after he shot Roy's brother and henchmen. From then on, he looked like an obnoxious brat that really needed some slapping, and he receives it in the end. I didn't found him likeable, but annoying as well.
And then there is the ending, which goes on and on and on. First, Skip kidnaps Rachel and he goes in a trailer where his girlfriend Gena was waiting with two hitmen to which he owed money for killing him, and when Skip kills them what happens? Gina also dies, of course! Then Skip arranges for meeting with Roy at a refinery where the men who were after Roy start a gunfight and severely wound him without killing him, and then we are treated to a bloody fistfight with a closeup of one minute where Roy beats Skip to his death. Then Roy is taken with an ambulance and it's not even clear if he died or not, but who cares?
Overall, a horribly written and directed film despite some big names in the cast. Harvey Keitel has done much better movies (same goes for Timothy Hutton and Famke Jannsen) but here he plays a much nastier version of his previous villanious characters... and the film is incredibly nasty, dull and a chore to sit through.
Roy Egan (Keitel) is a retired thief that plans to make one last heist in a jewelry with the help of his brother Lee (Timothy Hutton). Joining them are muscle bound Jorge Montana and wheelman Skip Kovich (Stephen Dorff) and the heist seems to go as planned after Jorge sabotages the security cameras and traffic lights. In the trailer home Lee and Jorge discuss about their parts from the heist when Skip shoots them while Roy was in the bathroom and heard the shots, and after Skip manages to flee with the money and jewelry Roy picks a car and will do everything for avenge his brother, take the heist money and be close to Jorge's widow (Famke Jannsen)
The first problem is that the lead (Keitel) is shown as a throroughly unlikeable jerk: for istance, there are various scenes such as when he goes to a strip club and he is kidnapped by two mobsters, but soon manages to free and kill them. He also gets into fights stating that he is his own police only to end badly injured.
In contrast Skip is shown in a completely different light. He looked like a nice guy at the beginning, but this didn't last for long after he shot Roy's brother and henchmen. From then on, he looked like an obnoxious brat that really needed some slapping, and he receives it in the end. I didn't found him likeable, but annoying as well.
And then there is the ending, which goes on and on and on. First, Skip kidnaps Rachel and he goes in a trailer where his girlfriend Gena was waiting with two hitmen to which he owed money for killing him, and when Skip kills them what happens? Gina also dies, of course! Then Skip arranges for meeting with Roy at a refinery where the men who were after Roy start a gunfight and severely wound him without killing him, and then we are treated to a bloody fistfight with a closeup of one minute where Roy beats Skip to his death. Then Roy is taken with an ambulance and it's not even clear if he died or not, but who cares?
Overall, a horribly written and directed film despite some big names in the cast. Harvey Keitel has done much better movies (same goes for Timothy Hutton and Famke Jannsen) but here he plays a much nastier version of his previous villanious characters... and the film is incredibly nasty, dull and a chore to sit through.