More twists than a bag of pretzels!
I remember some critic said that this movie had "more twists than a bag of pretzels". what the critic should have said was "more disappointing then the dollar menu at McDonalds at three am"
shareYeah, I got the impression that the film could have gone on for another twenty minutes with someone else grabbing the gold in a twist - someone running Hackman off the road in the pick up but him having a back up plan for that and then it over and over and over again.
It was a decent enough film but could have been so much better. It was reaching a bit at times.
It's a fair point that Mamet overdoes the twists'n'turns with this script...
I found myself wondering what the wife character, Fran Moore, was up to, what the scam was, as the nephew, Jimmy Silk, dragged her away from the keyside and she was shouting "give him some money, don't let him go down there broke!"
In fact, in retrospect, I found out she was genuinely distressed, since she really WAS walking out on Gene Hackman/Joe Moore, and she hadn't been put up to it by her husband, at all.
Hard to care about the characters when you have no clue as to whether they're genuinely emoting or whether the histrionics are all part of some prearranged scam that we, the viewers, aren't in on yet.
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Always good to see Hackman, especially since he stopped making movies and just does voice work now.
But this film was a disappointment. I still gave it a 6 for keeping me interested for the first 2/3rds of the film, but then the last part became almost comical. Sometimes the characters are smart, sometimes they're stupid.
Rockwell accepts that the gold is in the truck bed without even checking it. After all the double-crosses, that just didn't fly.
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I would take a 3am dollar menu without question any time instead of this movie.
sharei agree, too many stupid twists and turns, its not keeping the viewers guessing that makes you good at script writing. Its cleverly doing so that makes you go "Woah, that was surprising"
first off hackman is a douche, he ain't exactly robin hood giving to the poor, that A-hole beatup alot of guards, then pimped his wife and got a dear friend killed (although he deserved it) then gets away scot free.
In regards to pinky, well, i hate losers in movies where they're hiding their true scum nature i.e pinky did all that unenthical stuff and had the nerve to be all sweet and loving to his niece. Which incidently got her caught in all the criminal activity anyways. (plus he should've known he would've been picked up if his wondering around near the school bus, why the "F" did he sacrifice himself for joe???)
Bobby was the same, off-ing a bunch of people then just hops into a car with (i'm guessing wife...damn she's hot) like nothing happened. My personally always goes "if only these idiots knew what type of person this criminal scum are, they wouldn't be so lovey dove and happy"
which brings me to another point, wtf? one guy jumps out of the water and EVERYONE dies...and wtf was the criminal at the end of the gunfight...i'm like oh god this is so predictable ...shoot hackman now...NOW DAMN-IT !!..then boom the bad guy dies because his taking his time standing there like his tool, especially knowing there's two guys to attack (i.e joe and bobby)
wtf did gene shoot devito first? shot the first person who was unarmed and also wanted to stop the gun fight (lol at devitos men...DEVITO: "don't shoot"....DEVITO's men: *bang*)
seriously the movie was so predictable I wanted to set the tv on fire. I was like "i bet you its a tripple-cross". As gene walked into his truck calmly like he lost, i was praying to myself "come on you old coot lose damn it". LMAO i was right after all ...he hid the gold somewhere else....how covenient. (it wasn't even really hidden too.. roffle)
A triple-cross.....if he knew that was happening then technically he expected the wife to be a betray him if he fed her to the dogs...which proves he really DID use her. (what an A-hole)
finally (after being double crossed already) jimmy doesn't double check if this time its really gold or not, or if theres anymore hidden. (WTF?) also why did the second truck have ONE painted rod but the rest NOT painted ?? did he paint a gold rod incase the 2nd truck was checked? if so isn't that risky just to paint one when all jimmy and the wife had to do was just uncover the back of the truck to reveal the gold?? g-a-y movie
3/10
Too many twists and turns is an opinion and you're welcome too it. I can even understand that perspective...but
Yes Hackman's character is a douche, there are no real good guys in this movie, surely that's the point? It's all about greed and selfishness. Personally I appreciate not feeling insulted by a one-dimensional good guys/bad guys setup. They are more complex characters, like real people are.
Also, predicting another double/triple cross or whatever is a 50/50 bet, doesn't mean it's predictable or your clever for getting it right. This film is all about the double crosses and if you think it pushes it too far, fine. I bet when the crosses stopped happening you were still predicting more, no? Whatever. Great script, great movie.
Didnt get the last scene. She already betrayed him, why wait for the nephew and his wife to show up, he had already could left town. DeVito was already dead, the nephew is a moron, why wait?
shareDidnt get the last scene. She already betrayed him, why wait for the nephew and his wife to show up, he had already could left town. DeVito was already dead, the nephew is a moron, why wait?
Maybe because he wanted to know for sure if she was going to cross him. plus i am sure he liked fooling them on top of it ;)
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My Vote History ... http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=11026826
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... i am sure he liked fooling them on top of it ;)
Absolutely! I think that was the reason for the big grin that appeared on his face as he drove off.