FILM REVIEW OF ''DEN OF THIEVES" (2018)

An audacious, white-knuckled, adrenaline-laced, cops and robbers’ crime thriller with a twist ending, writer & director Christian Gudegast’s “Den of Thieves” (***1/2 OUT OF ****) pits a loose cannon L.A. County Sheriff’s Department detective against a crackerjack team of gunmen shaped in the crucible of combat while serving as soldiers in the Middle East.  These nonconformist warriors came home, clashed with the law, and survived the purgatory of prison to emerge as an elite gang angling for the big score before they retreat into obscurity.  The lead in “300” and “Olympus Has Fallen,” Gerard Butler turns in a strong performance as an obsessive cop struggling with marital woes. Pablo Schreiber of “13 Hours” commands the villains.  He matches wits with Butler in a lively cat and mouse game where survival is the prize and a cold slab in a morgue is the penalty for those who stray from the straight and the narrow.  50 Cent fans may not recognize a buffed-up Curtis James Jackson III.

“Den of Thieves” reminded me of Michael Mann’s superb bank robbery movie “Heat” (1995) where Al Pacino’s rugged cop tangled with Robert De Niro’s hard-nosed bank robber in a high stakes showdown.  The difference between “Den of Thieves” and “Heat” is Butler displays little respect for his adversaries.  Meantime, the villains have a few tricks up their sleeves that nobody, especially armchair detectives, may be prepared for at fadeout.  Although he makes his debut as a director, Christian Gudegast has already established his bonafides as a genre specialist with not only the Vin Diesel thriller “A Man Apart,” but also Butler’s “London Has Fallen,” the gung-ho sequel to “Olympus Has Fallen.”  Butler is at his best as a tough-guy protagonist, and his gritty performance compares strongly with Gene Hackman’s Oscar-winning portrayal of an unorthodox, hard-as-nails, NYPD detective in the 1972 Best Picture “The French Connection.”  A wry sense of humor pervades this 140-minute, R-rated opus, but it never undercuts the gravity of the action.  Mind you, a fourth quarter glitch in credibility threatens to unravel the plausibility of plot.  Nevertheless, Gudegast and “Prison Break” creator and co-scribe Paul Scheuring have worked out meticulously the logistics of this far-fetched caper. They conclude it with an out-of-left-field finale like Bryan Singer’s “The Usual Suspects” (1995) that wowed everybody.  If you like your heist thrillers served up with lots of testosterone, tense ‘snap, crackle, pop’ firefights, and obstinate adversaries who refuse to flee, “Den of Thieves” is your ticket.

Nick Flanagan (Gerard Butler of “London Has Fallen”) runs a squad tasked with bank robberies.  His guys could be mistaken for stone-cold, Russian mafia gunsels.  They are unkempt, and their arms are engraved with tattoos.  They have no qualms about violating rules.  Everything is fair once they “click” off their safeties.  Nick’s free-for-all lifestyle doesn’t harmonize with his wife, Debbie (Dawn Olivieri of “The Wolverine”), and her dreams of middle-class domesticity with their two elementary school age daughters.  Naturally, they don’t understand why she walks out on their father.  As the film unfolds, “Den of Thieves” presents statistics that classify Los Angeles as “the bank robbery capital of the world” with a hold-up every 48 minutes.  Basically, Gudegast’s epic is a West coast version of Ben Affleck’s “The Town” (2005), where Boston boasted more bank robbers per capita than any other city.  Meanwhile, Merrimen (Pablo Schreiber) has assembled a posse of heavily-armed, former Marines, who have matriculated through prison after returning stateside.  They carry out their crimes with a military precision. Those plans hit a snag when they approach an armored car after dark outside a donut shop.  A hail of bullets erupts like Armageddon descending.  An innocent bystander lives to tell the authorities that he saw masked shooters lay down a barrage on the guards.  Later, after he arrives at the scene, Nick plunders a sprinkled donut from a box that one of the guard’s dropped during the massacre.

Gudegast doesn’t give the audience a chance to get comfortable.  Upfront without any delay, he stages a violent, night-time attack on an armored car as if he were imitating “Black Hawk Down.” The villains mow down the off-duty guards, steal their armored car, and then stash it safely out of sight. They send somebody back to photograph the various law enforcement personnel at the crime scene.  Merrimen isn’t happy one of their own lies sprawled dead in it.  Eventually, Nick suspects Merrimen may be the ringleader.  Unfortunately, the police don’t have enough evidence to arrest him.  They stake Merriman out and search for accomplices. They abduct an African-American, Donnie (O'Shea Jackson Jr. of “Straight Outta Compton”), who tends bar where Merrimen drinks. The two show up in surveillance snaps.  Nick interrogates Donnie in a motel where his deputies are having a party.  Primarily, Nick is interested in Merrimen, and Donnie confesses he serves just as a getaway driver.  Merrimen confides nothing in him.  Donnie heaves a sigh of relief when Nick turns him loose.  Meantime, Donnie doesn’t share the incident with Merrimen.  Merrimen unveils their master plan.  They have decided to liberate $30-million in clean currency from the fortress-like branch of the L.A. Federal Reserve Bank!  The gauntlet of security checkpoints and surveillance cameras that they must contend with makes “Den of Thieves” look like a Tom Cruise “Mission Impossible” cliffhanger.

Apart from a domestic strife scene when Nick fails to reason with his wife, “Den of Thieves” shifts back and forth between the sheriffs and the robbers.  Gudegast emphasizes the professionalism on both sides.  Merrimen’s gunmen shoot only those who shoot at them.  Furthermore, the bad guys orchestrate a multifaceted heist that involves them infiltrating the Federal Reserve and looting it smack under the nose of the guards.  Suddenly, brazen Nick blows his cover and approaches Donnie and Merrimen in a restaurant and lets them know about him.  This is Nick’s way of going off the reservation that spikes the suspense.  Surprises and revelations ensue. “Den of Thieves” is “Heat”/”The Town” laced with “The Usual Suspects.”

FILM REVIEW OF ''INSTANT DEATH" (2017)

Sometimes, a guilty pleasure can be a lot of fun.  Watching the straight-to-video, Lou Ferrigno, action DVD “Instant Death” (**1/2 OUT OF ****) revived memories of Charles Bronson’s “Death Wish” movies, Liam Neeson’s “Taken” trilogy, and the Sylvester Stallone “Rambo” franchise.  If you haven’t seen “Death Wish” (1974), you’ll have a chance to watch Bruce Willis step into Bronson’s shoes for the 2017 remake when it comes out later this year.  Suffice to say, “Death Wish” dealt with a mild-mannered New York City architect who embarked on revenge binge after his wife’s murder and his daughter’s rape during a home invasion. The Charles Bronson hero meted out vigilante justice from the barrel of a revolver to a variety of low-life criminals that prowled the streets after sundown.  Ironically, he never found the hoodlums who terrified his family.  Nevertheless, while cleaning up the city streets, he evolved into an urban legend. “Death Wish” qualified as one of the notable examples of the revenge movie genre about a private citizen who avenged his relatives after the police proved ineffectual.  

“Skin Traffik” director Ara Paiaya and scenarist Adam Davidson replicate the revenge movie formula without tampering with any of the usual clichés.  Were it not for the steely presence of body-builder Lou Ferrigno, who rampaged on television as “The Incredible Hulk” from 1977 to 1982, “Instant Death” would constitute just another routine crime thriller.  Indeed, Ferrigno is the star rather than merely a supporting character or an actor appearing in a cameo.  The 66-year old Ferrigno performed all his stunts. Now, I know what you’re thinking. Can Ferrigno act?  Although he seems self-conscious around other actors, Ferrigno plays a flawed father figure hero who might behave in such an aloof manner.  The personification of the Grim Reaper, Ferrigno’s paterfamilias suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. The realistic, gritty action occurs primarily in contemporary London, and the filmmakers pit the former “Hulk” against a repellent Cockney mobster nicknamed ‘Razor.’ Jerry Anderson plays Razor, and he is a dead ringer for popular British tough-guy actor Ray Winstone.  Anderson plays such a deranged dastard that the actor should think twice about strolling in public without bodyguards.  Imaging what Ferrigno’s revenge-minded father will do to Razor when they tangle heightens the suspense of “Instant Death.”

Ferrigno plays veteran Special Forces fighter John Bradley.  Although he has been out of combat for six months, Bradley hasn’t recovered entirely from the untold horror. The lonely lifestyle that he describes to his sympathetic psychiatrist recalls the toxic activities that Robert De Niro’s cabbie Travis Bickle indulged in throughout director Martin Scorsese’s classic, urban shoot’em up “Taxi Driver” (1976).  The psychiatrist recommends Bradley reconnect with his two surviving family members: his grown-up daughter Jane (Tania Staite of “Crossing Bridges”) and his young granddaughter Wendy (newcomer Sophie Wembridge), who live in London, England.  Bradley catches a flight out of New York City.  After he lands and sets out to visit Jane and Wendy, Bradley witnesses a vicious gangland slaying.  A ferocious underworld enforcer, Razor (Jerry Anderson), is eradicating all rival drug dealers in his domain.  Anybody who peddles narcotics on Razor’s turf won’t die from old age.  The desperate fools who buy those forbidden narcotics don’t last long.  Razor is torturing an independent drug dealer, Carnie (Sven Hopla of “The Foundling”), when Bradley sees the murder.  Not only does Razor kill the rival drug dealer, but he kills another innocent bystander who walks in front of Bradley when Razor tries to shoot our hero.  Razor dispatches his intimidating henchmen to liquidate Bradley.  Before he eludes Razor’s thugs, Bradley guns down two of them. 

A furious Razor demands Bradley’s head.  A young street hoodlum locates Bradley after he shadows him to his daughter’s apartment building.  Naturally, Jane is ecstatic about finally seeing her dad again.  Bradley rarely spent time around his family while he was in the service. He explains he must visit an old friend in town the next day.  The old friend turns out to be Colonel Neal (newcomer Michael James MacMahon) who served with Bradley in the military.  Essentially, Colonel Neal is comparable to Samuel Trautman (Richard Crenna) from Sylvester Stallone’s “Rambo” quartet.  Trautman acted as the go-between Rambo and those who availed themselves at his combat skills.  Predictably, Razor and his hooligans show up at Jane’s door inquiring about Bradley.  When Jane cannot tell them where her father has gone, Razor’s henchmen rape her on the dining room table.  Later, Razor brandishes a razor and carves up Jane’s face.  Before he leaves, Razor smothers helpless Wendy with a pillow.  After Bradley learns about his family, he launches his own crusade of vengeance against Razor and his depraved crew. 

“Instant Death” resorts to neither humor nor comic relief characters.  The violence is staged with a sense of spontaneity, and our hero emerges as just as cold-blooded as his nemeses.  For example, Bradley holds an arrogant British gangster at gunpoint, and the gangster proposes they negotiate.  Our grief-stricken hero refuses, and the gangster’s head vanishes in a bloody explosion. This could rate as the darkest movie that Lou Ferrigno has ever toplined, and he delivers a solemn performance as John Bradley.  Paiaya produced the straightforward but violent “Instant Death” on the streets of London for added authenticity.  He does a good job of establishing both the characters of Bradley and Razor before he turns them loose on each other.  Part of the fun of watching “Instant Death” is that you can savor what the hero will do to his foes.  Mind you, you won’t find any gratuitous nudity in the unrated DVD version of “Instant Death,” because it emphasizes blood, gore, and guys. The homicidal content and the casual depiction of murder and rape may appall the squeamish but appeal simultaneously to stout-hearted action junkie fans who can tolerate a little blood and gore.  One of the chief virtues of “Instant Death” is British director Ara Paiaya doesn’t let his efficient 84-minute melodrama wear out its welcome. 

FILM REVIEW OF ''REPO MEN" (2010)

No, “Dreamer” director Miguel Sapochnik’s violent, outlandish science fiction thriller “Repo Men,” co-starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker, bears no relation to director Alex Cox’s cult hit “Repo Man” (1986), with Emilio Emilio Estevez and Harry Dean Stanton, about repossessing automobiles. Instead, “Repo Men” (** ½ out of ****) concerns the sales and manufacture of artificial body parts in the unspecified future and the ruthless ruffians dispatched to repossess these state-of-the-art organs from individuals who fail to maintain their payments. Although it features many suspenseful scenes, some appealing characters and charismatic performances, “Repo Men” looks more often than not like an uneven blend of “Brazil” and “Blade Runner” with an ending that leaves an unsavory taste in your mouth.

Derived from Eric Garcia's 2009 novel "The Repossession Mambo,” this slickly-produced dystopian chiller -vaguely similar to "Repo: The Genetic Opera"--boasts its share of twists and turns that will keep your hands clenched into white-knuckled fists until its one-too-many endings alienates you. Jude Law toplines an incomparable cast and you’ll find yourself cheering for him, even though he qualifies initially as a quasi-villain. Forest Whitaker and Liev Schreiber play unrepentant villains and they milk their roles for every ounce of villainy that they can muster. An opening metaphor about a cat trapped in a metal box filled with a deadly nerve gas will most certainly offend feline animal lovers, but the crowd that this Universal Pictures release is targeting will take pleasure in the adrenaline fueled action sequences and the high-tech equipment with which the principals deal. Hopelessly far-fetched in every detail, “Repo Men” has some elements that should undoubtedly absorb sci-fi fans. The aerosol foam that seals up gashes in the human body like fast-acting super-glue and the miraculous resiliency of the victims as they endure hands probing around inside them is pretty far-out stuff.

In the future, a billion-dollar corporation, the Union, fabricates high-tech artificial organs, nicknamed "artiforgs," so that nobody’s loved ones need endure the heartache and torment of biding their time awaiting genetically compatible body parts. The catch, however, is the sky-high cost of these miracle organs. In fact, few people can afford loan-shark interest rates imposed by the Union once they have signed a contract with the company. As a result of not being able to manage their credit cards anymore than their debts, these unfortunate souls wind up not only paying through the nose, but also often losing those pricey parts. When a recipient falls behind more than three months on their payments, the eponymous men materialize when they least expect them to gut and retrieve the Union’s property.

Remy (Jude Law of “Sherlock Holmes”) and Jake (Forest Whitaker of “Vantage Point”) are childhood pals, and the best repo men at the Union. They waste no time when they are on the job and show no more compassion that a repo man in the car business. Standard operating procedure dictates that our heroes provide the victim with the option to call an ambulance before they eviscerate them. Meantime, Remy’s wife Carol (Carice van Houten of “Valkyrie”) wants her husband to stop repossessing organs and move over into sales so he can allocate more time with their adolescent son, Peter (Chandler Canterbury of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”), who doesn’t see his dad as often as he’d like. Eventually, Carol puts her foot down and refuses to let Remy sleep with her, much get gain access to their comfortable house. As much as Remy wants to accommodate Carol, he loathes the idea of a buttoned down suit and tie existence on a 9-to-5 schedule.

Matters come to a head during one job when Remy visits a musician. As he is about to give the guy a jolt from a defibrillator to take his heart, the device malfunctions and knocks him unconscious. When Remy recovers, he finds himself in a hospital bed with Jake and local Union branch manager Frank (Liev Schreiber of “The Manchurian Candidate”) hovering over him with their smiling faces. The horror of what has occurred sinks in and Remy wants nothing to do with his new high-priced ticker. Nevertheless, Jake and Frank bring him around and Remy is back on his feet in no time and prepared to pick up where he left off repossessing organs. The problem is that Remy is no longer the same guy and he no longer has his heart in his job. In fact, he ends up in the same predicament that virtually every Union creditor finds themselves in and has to worry about Frank sending out Jake to repossess his heart.

“Repo Men” is a darkly-themed satire that never takes itself seriously, and Sapochnik stages several visceral action scenes involving blood, gore, and stabbing galore that may challenge your ability to keep from chucking up, when body parts are repossessed. Like the hero in Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil,” Remy winds up on the other side and helps out other organ recipients who have gone to the black market to save themselves. Like the heroes in a Sam Peckinpah western, our life-long friends—Remy and Jake--find themselves on opposite sides. Clearly, the producers couldn’t have picked a better time to release this sardonic nail-biter about high-tech medicine as Congress has passed a new health insurance bill. This compelling, sometimes convoluted, amoral thriller shows the two sides of humanity. Ironically, once it has eliminated the problem of obtaining human body parts, our capitalistic society has created a larger problem, footing the bill for manufactured variety. Organ donor epics will never be the same with the advent of “Repo Men.”

FILM REVIEW OF "JENNIFER'S BODY" (2009)

Megan Fox takes top billing in “Æon Flux” director Karyn Kusama’s evil girl horror comedy “Jennifer’s Body,” (**** out of *****) an original, R-rated, feminist chiller about a lusty succubus and her vengeful adversary. Of course, “Transformers” babe Megan sheds not a stitch, but she chows down on dudes with an appetite. Although it lacks the onion layers of detail that characterized Diablo Cody’s Oscar-winning “Juno” script, “Jennifer’s Body” possesses a mischievous “Heathers” meets “Carrie” quality that transcends its blood and gore basics. Indeed, the dialogue bears the quintessential Cody quality. Meaning, it is self-conscious, flirtatious, and quotable, like nothing you’d expect in a standard issue scary movie. The characters aren’t the usual ensemble of fish bait waiting to be munched by the bunch. “Jennifer’s Body” never wears out its welcome and Kusama keeps it compelling, even when she is not trying to jolt up with a scare.

Anita ‘Needy’ (Amanda Seyfried of "Mamma Mia!") and Jennifer (Megan Fox) have been best friends since they met in a sandbox. Indeed, they wear matching necklaces with heart-shaped pendants bearing the initials BFF in them. They attend the same high school in the small town of Devil’s Kettle, Minnesota. The town takes its name from a local waterfall that apparently has no bottom. Scientists have been tossing everything known to mankind short of humans into the pool, but nothing has come back. Jennifer convinces Needy to ditch her drummer boyfriend, Chip (Johnny Simmons of “The Spirit”), for the evening and accompany her to a honky-tonk called The Melody Lounge Tavern where a big city indie Goth band named ‘Low Shoulder’ is scheduled to perform. Chip warns them that the bar is a dive. Nothing, however, can distract Jennifer from sexy lead singer Nikolai Wolf (Adam Brody of “Grind”) and he reciprocates her interest. In fact, the whole band agrees that Nikolai has chosen well. During their performance, a fire erupts in the tavern and flames engulf everything. Several people perish, but Needy and Jennifer escape without a scratch. Right behind them with a drink in his hand appears Nikolai.

Not surprisingly, Nikolai has mesmerized Jennifer and persuaded her to jump into his sinister van with his fellow musicians. Needy turns them down. The next time that Needy sees Jennifer, our hot chick protagonist stands drenched in blood and projectile vomits black goo all over Needy’s linoleum kitchen floor. Needy describes it to Chip as “roadkill and sewing needles mixed together.'' The next morning Needy sees Jennifer in class looking none the worse for wear. Before she was just a cheerleader, but now Jennifer has mutated into pure evil. Indeed, Jennifer lives to gobble up guys. Literally, she feasts off the flesh of teenage boys. She lives to kill and she doesn’t care who she gets. Jennifer’s lack of discrimination spells big trouble for her. Sometimes, she attracts an audience of woodland creatures who join in on the human buffet after she has stuffed herself.

One of the high school teachers, Mr. Wroblewski (J.K. Simmons of “Extract”) stumbles out into the woods behind the school and finds the star linebacker, Jonas Konelle (Josh Emerson of “Comeback Season”) dead on his back. Jennifer has ripped Jonas’ stomach wide open, and a “Bambi” type doe licks his innards. Eventually, Jennifer lets Needy in on her secret. The Goth band sacrificed her to Satan and carved her up. Nikolai and company thought Jennifer was a virgin, but she wasn’t one. Now, she has come back as a demon with a need to feed. When she looks her best, Jennifer has been feeding. When she runs out of guys to eat, she looks horrible. She doesn’t wear make-up and her hair loses its fluff. Eventually, Jennifer begins to eyeball Needy’s boyfriend Chip so Needy ditches him at the spring high school formal. Needy and Jennifer part company as friends when the latter attacks Chip. This is about the time that things really start to happen, emphasizing the dominant theme of gals versus gals in a struggle between demonic titans.

Basically, “Jennifer’s Body” qualifies as a standard Dracula versus Van Helsing type yarn. No, vampires do not infest in this outstanding fright flick. A monster roams the land, feeding off defenseless mankind, specifically teenage guys, and a hero—heroine in this instance--must destroy it after acquiring the knowledge. Happily, this formulaic nail biter told in flashback mode springs a sufficient number of surprises. The action is narrated from Needy’s perspective and her first line is: “Hell is a teenage girl.” This film chronicles the friendship between Needy and Jennifer and their virtually psychic bond. For example, Needy has an uncanny way of knowing where Jennifer is and she can sometimes experience what Jennifer is doing. Director Kusama, who also directed “Girlfight,” splashes buckets of bloods all over “Jennifer’s Body,” but she draws the line at gratuitous nudity, though a gratuitous lesbian make-out scene occurs over half-way through the pictures’ 101 minutes.

Sometimes the predictable occurs as it should, but sometimes Kusama and Cody pull a switcheroo. Primarily, Megan Fox has to look spectacular with lots of lip gloss, but Kusama never lets her starlet embarrass herself. Fox gets to play a round character in that the character undergoes change. She starts out as straight vampy cheerleader Jennifer and turns into demonic Jennifer. On the other hand, Seyfried and a strong supporting cast, including J.K. Simmons, as a teacher with a prosthetic arm, get a lot of mileage out of their contribution. The ending is terrific, too.