Reviews

Not surprisingly, a bit of a bullet festival, this directoral debut of Christopher McQuarrie, writer of The Usual Suspects, will not leave you wanting for action. Starring Bencio del Toro (Suspects) and Ryan Phillippe (54,) the script would have to be downright horrible to tank this film. Luckily, McQuarrie, who also penned this one, gives the audience a suitably complex film, interconnecting the characters and their motivations, and though not giving any Keyser Soze-type revelations, the time spent on characterization is played up to its fullest potential. Action fans need not worry as there are still plenty of car chases and gun battles to thrill you, and while not Fight Club bloody, it will cause you to cringe, at least a few times. Solid performances in lesser roles, by Juliette Lewis and James Caan round out a film I totally enjoyed. I will admit, if scrutinized, this film was not perfect, but the truth is it's still better than most of the films making their way to theaters this year.

Set design, script and casting were all thrown to the wind, as this film's already meager budget seems to be spent mostly on getting Faith Ford, the only talent to be found associated with it. An apparent remake of The Thing only becomes more pathetic when the filmmakers decided to completely avoid any similarities between the two with the exception of location. The complete lack of any sort of scientific advising, devolution to the most basic of storylines and motivations, can only leave one curious who let this one through any sort of filter system to reach its underwhelmed audience. This one makes a Troma movie look like a masterpiece.