The Place For The Latest Movie Reviews
Cast: Bruce Willis, Forest Whitaker, Malin Akerman, Nikki Reed, Deborah Ann Woll
For Tes (Akerman) and her two cohorts Kara (Nikki Reed) and Tara (Deborah Ann Woll), the job sounded simple enough: intercept a double-cross drug shipment for their crime boss Mel (Willis) at an isolated diner. But when an unstoppable chain of events unfolds, everyone soon realizes no one is who they seem and the job may be something other than eliminating the competition. What started as simple instructions has now turned into a deadly cat-and-mouse game - with large guns pointed at everyone.
"Catch .44" is Director, Aaron Harvey's second film, his first was a horror movie back in 2007 so it's been a few years. This is much different from his debut in genre and production wise. Aaron looks to his inner Tarantino here to come up with an action/thriller that is similar to both "Pulp Fiction" and "Reservoir Dogs."
The story is centered around three girls that work for a kingpin figure. The girls are asked to intercept a rival's drug shipment and from that point all hell breaks loose. That's about all you need to know going into this one, there hasn't been many positive reviews for this so far and a lot of that has to do with it attempting to be a Tarantino type film. I may step on a few toes and maybe even upset a few people out there but I was never a Tarantino fan to start with, sure he made a few really good films but it's not like he has a whole catalog of great movies and a few of his films were borrowed as well so I went into this with an open mind knowing that it was straight to video so I wasn't expecting some Oscar winning film here.
There's some good things about the film if you wish to look for them, for starters the story was a lot better than I imagined it would be and the dialogue I thought was well-written if not a bit heavy at times but the film never gets boring. Lastly, the cast did a great job, Malin Akerman who has mostly been in comedies does a terrific job as the female lead and handles the action scenes very well. Another stand-out performance was by Forest Whitaker, He is always fascinating to watch when He plays a character that is "out there" and he's brilliant in every scene he appears in. Bruce Willis has a small role as the kingpin but he does a fine job doing so.
The bottom line is if you're going to just sit there and judge Director, Aaron Harvey and his film for being a "rip-off" then I don't thing you're going to get much enjoyment out of it but if you just sit back and go with it then I think you're going to find that "Catch .44" is an entertaining film on it's own. Aaron Harvey has a eye for the genre and is more than capable of writing a good story, what he needs to do now is find his own voice, but in the mean time if you enjoy the genre and are looking for something different from what is in theaters every week then I suggest picking this up and checking it out for yourself. "Catch .44 isn't a great film but I found it to be an enjoyable one which is all I was hoping for going into it.
Available on DVD and Blu-ray, both come with Special Features that include:
Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Aaron Harvey and Editor Richard Byard
You can order the DVD HERE and the Blu-ray HERE.
Released by Anchor Bay Entertainment
*** Out Of *****