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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
It Actually Did Work, Jun 12 2004
I got passes to a screning of this film. Waiting in line some of the other folks and I discussed the violence of the video games in the lobby in that polite, well mannered, educated liberal manner. Then we settled in to watch the movie, and got to the climax scene where the good guy punches out the villian. You could literally watch the same group of well educated, properly opinioned liberals sit there, with there hands held out in front of them, perplexed. We knew we were supposed to clap, but then again Kelsey Grammers' character would have tugged at our emotions in the same way to elicit the same response. As such we were left as an impass as to what the correct behavior was, our gut saying clap and our brains saying don't. That is the sheer brillance of this movie--it doesn't say what to think, it just says think.
This movie is very bloody--to the exent that some people wil not want to watch it. If you have a weak stomach turn it off. However, that can be points in its favor. I was particualrly happy in the scene with the blond prostitute. She was the sort of character that only enters the scene to get killed by the bad guys, but she actually fights back. The scene is bloody and everything, but she didn't just lie there and wait for them to finish her off like so many other horror film women.
The best thing about this film is that every single second is dedicated to forwarding the plot. There is no extraneous speeches to forward the theme or create the characters--it is very nice to have a film that doesn't assume that we are stupid. There is some very good dramatic tension and some wonderful twists as characters are tested and changed. That being said this isn't an Oscar film. It is a popcorn film, a fairly straight forward action film. It is, however, refreshingly, an action film that lets you think.
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FAME AND ITS FORTUNES, May 25 2004
You see it in the tabloid tv shows such as Roseanne, Maury Povich, you name them. As in this film, a family humiliates themselves in front of millions all for that fifteen minutes of fame; singers appear on American Idol and disappear into the mediocrity of their fame, having had that 15 minutes. In this movie, a tv anchorman sinks to new depths to acquire a disgusting videotape of a cop's murder, not realizing that by letting the villains get away, he endorses further murders. All in the name of fame.
We all know that the media has little conscience in its attempts to one up each other, to get the "big story" first; to spread lies and rumors. In this movie, a petty thief who attempts to rob one of the characters is suddenly a hero because the arson investigator handcuffed him to a tree and forgot about him. The "victim" was assaulted by a bag lady and pissed on by a dog, and now he's a hero in the light of the media. Everything that's done is done to manage the impression of what the world thinks of us.
This message is brought home in expert fashion in John Herzfeld's compelling 15 MINUTES.
Robert DeNiro plays a homicide detective who has used the media to its best advantage, and he knows it; Edward Burns is an idealistic young arson investigator who joins in on the investigation of the brutal murder of an immigrant couple; Kelsey Grammer is the acerbic and selfish newscaster; Melina Kanakaredes is the love of DeNiro's life, a news journalist who fears for DeNiro's safety. Capable and strong performances from these actors lay the background for the movie's two most impressive performances: Karel Roden and Oleg Taktarov as the criminals Emil and Oleg; their cold cruelty is frightening; Oleg's fascination with film-making is both comedic and tragic, and the resonance of their performances underscores the other actor's performances as well.
There may be inconsistencies in the plot; there may be some derivative touches, but I found myself glued to the screen and awed by the message this powerful movie sends.
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Wildly Uneven, Mar 1 2004
3 stars may be a bit harsh for a movie with one of the most unsettling scenes I've seen, but the problem with the film is that it never becomes a whole. There's a conflict of tone that's never successfully resolved--director John Herzfeld wants to make a dark comedy full of satire aimed at Jerry Springer, Geraldo Rivera and the like; but he also wants to make a grisly, gritty action film filled with blood, murder, fire, and tragedy. These two aspects rub against one another uncomfortably, and although life may indeed be like that, the juxtaposition doesn't work well in this bit of art. The dichotomy plagues the work further: there is terrific imagery, some great acting, some terrific writing; there's also lots of very typical Hollywood run-of-the-mill work. De Niro, as one of the two protagonists, is superb until the writers feel it necessarly to give him a girlfriend. The other protagonist, played by Edward Burns, is the stereotypical young hothead, who in spite of being an ace fire inspector, can't control himself around other people. I must admit that the two villains are both terrific, in terms of both writing and acting; but a bit of clowning at the end really destroyed the effect of the final scene for me. If you do decide to see the movie--and in spite of my negative comments, the positive aspects of the film (especially the scene with De Niro and the two villians) make it worth viewing, be sure to stay tuned after the credits begin--Kelsey Grammer has a final bit that begins a minute or so into the credits.
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