I enjoyed this movie far more than I should have, but it was a good private eye romp. While
I'm not sure the writer was in on the joke, clearly the directors and actors in this movie understood this silly
modernization of the typical film noir fare. A lot of over-the-top shoot outs combined with bizarre plot
twists, gruff double-crossing relationships and stinging one-liners make you really wonder what The Maltese
Falcon would look like if filmed today. After all, the tag line on the 1941 film poster was "A story as
explosive as his blazing automatics." This one has LOTS of blazing automatics! Thomas Jane is no Humphrey Bogart,
but he does a pretty good job nonetheless. You really feel for his character and the constant messes he finds himself
in; he may be tough, but he really is trying not to be stupid...or suicidal.
If you don't take this movie seriously, I think you'll get a kick out of it.
I can pretty much sum this one up in one word: "Meh." This is not exactly an
edge of your seat thriller. The acting is mediocre, the set up is silly, and ultimately I just
can't care enough about the main couple involved to feel any suspense. I just kept thinking
to myself:
"Hey listen folks. Either help the ghost, or ignore the ghost, just do something other than standing around wringing your hands about it."
And when they do decide to do something about it, and things go pear shaped, I just kept thinking:
"Hey, well, at least you made a decision... but every moron watching this film knew you were making the wrong choice looooong before you did. That's what you get for being stupid."
"Hey listen folks. Either help the ghost, or ignore the ghost, just do something other than standing around wringing your hands about it."
And when they do decide to do something about it, and things go pear shaped, I just kept thinking:
"Hey, well, at least you made a decision... but every moron watching this film knew you were making the wrong choice looooong before you did. That's what you get for being stupid."
I think this was an effort to modernize an old Thai legend, but it wasn't carried
out very well. Or hell, maybe it was carried out well, but it was just a stupid legend. And maybe there was
some subtle genius to this film that was lost on me because I had to read it... although I
really doubt it. Either way, it didn't make for a very entertaining movie. Skip it.
