A failed bank robbery leads to a hostage situation in a hotel. An escaped convict also arrives at the hotel, commencing a series of three-way mind games.
The movie starts off pretty strong, right in the middle of the hostage situation. There is no bank robbery shown, and the entire film consists of one room and three people. This is a minimalist approach to filming and a good way to stretch a budget. "The Disappearance of Alice Creed", a similar yet different story, relied on this tactic to keep the film simple and easier to storyboard. Here we have a poor man's "Alice Creed", simple enough that it could even be a stage production.
The directing and cinematography are above average (thank you, Andrew Moorman) and the sound is also quite good. If there is any weak point, it may be the casting. I do not mean to imply that the acting was bad. Everyone here played their parts well. My only concern was that the captor did not have a menacing look and I doubted his ability to pull off such a caper. This inconsistency is somewhat resolved later on in the plot development, but not to my full satisfaction.
The second actor, playing the convict, is more convincing for me. He has a natural darkness to him, a sort of stereotypical Sicilian look. He does play the more violent and threatening of the two, so that was a wise choice (having the little guy boss around the big guy would look silly if it was anyone other than Joe Pesci doing it).
In short, the film did not do it for me. I sort of regret saying so, because I feel this was more a budget issue than anything else. There is plenty of talent behind this picture and I really hope to see Andrew Moorman's work in the future. He has the skills, he has the eye of a masterful director. But something just did not ignite on this one.
The movie starts off pretty strong, right in the middle of the hostage situation. There is no bank robbery shown, and the entire film consists of one room and three people. This is a minimalist approach to filming and a good way to stretch a budget. "The Disappearance of Alice Creed", a similar yet different story, relied on this tactic to keep the film simple and easier to storyboard. Here we have a poor man's "Alice Creed", simple enough that it could even be a stage production.
The directing and cinematography are above average (thank you, Andrew Moorman) and the sound is also quite good. If there is any weak point, it may be the casting. I do not mean to imply that the acting was bad. Everyone here played their parts well. My only concern was that the captor did not have a menacing look and I doubted his ability to pull off such a caper. This inconsistency is somewhat resolved later on in the plot development, but not to my full satisfaction.
The second actor, playing the convict, is more convincing for me. He has a natural darkness to him, a sort of stereotypical Sicilian look. He does play the more violent and threatening of the two, so that was a wise choice (having the little guy boss around the big guy would look silly if it was anyone other than Joe Pesci doing it).
In short, the film did not do it for me. I sort of regret saying so, because I feel this was more a budget issue than anything else. There is plenty of talent behind this picture and I really hope to see Andrew Moorman's work in the future. He has the skills, he has the eye of a masterful director. But something just did not ignite on this one.