MovieChat Forums > Criminal (2004) Discussion > Criminal vs 9 Queens: the ultimate debat...

Criminal vs 9 Queens: the ultimate debate

posted 17 years ago by guska21
20 replies | jump to latest

first of all, 9 queens has the advantage of being the first (when comparing same movies, usually first viewing gets an advantage), so criminal has the pressure of outdo the original (although this is not a competition really, it's just a remake)...on the other hand, if it wasn't because 9 queens was SO good, they would never make a remake in the first place.

the thing is Criminal lacked the "magic touch" of acting and screenwriting of 9 queens, the essence, the depth of the plot, the jokes, etc. this is why I think 9 Queens is much better than Criminal, hands down. allow me to back this up:

the casting of criminal: i feel like this could have been a better movie if 2 better actors would have been selected...maybe nicolas cage and eduardo noriega (spanish actor)...just my opinion...what do you think?

john c reilly to diego luna: "you look like a nice guy" WHAT!!! he looks like an inmigrant, unkempt hairy bum! (especially in Beverly Hills!...if you are walking through RODEO DR you would probably evade a guy like this in the street...let alone give him your purse!)

the negotiation skills in criminal: john c. really out of the blue demands 90% of the deal and he gets it just like that, no convincing techniques, no nothing (opposed to ricardo darin in 9 queens). this happens a couple of times.

the dialogue of 9 queens: so powerful (of course, if you know the language you would have appreciated better...i live in puerto rico, i speak spanish, and i absolutely love the script of this movie...the argentinean words used in such a clever and funny (fun) way) in criminal, when diego luna is "convincing the old lady" in mexican, not quite the same feeling: both in spanish, not the same chemistry.

the script: 9 queens is much more elaborated, more in-depht, more jokes, etc. Criminal has some (as opposed to many in 9 queens) good lines in the script: "what's your name...rodrigo...what...ro-dri-go"..."he's gay...that's he's occupation?"..."fuc*ed is when you're handcuffed in the pavement".

the "rita pavone song" in 9 queens: how beautiful, rewarding and clever it was listening in the credits the song he was trying to remember the whole film. "ah, me acordé...credits...the song...genius!" perfect ending to a fantastic con movie, imo. in criminal they make the song reference just once, and that's it, has no importance at all.

for me, it feels like Criminal was done in a one-two-three-let's not even bother about the details to make it special and just emphasize on the twist ending- kind of pace. Criminal feels like a very "simple, edited, short" version of what 9 Queens was.

Because of all this, people should see the difference clearly of the two movies. If you're one of those who prefer Criminal, then prove it with facts. i understand that for many english speakers a reason may be the language factor: a SUBTITLE-version viewing will never feel like a DOLBY SURROUND english audio version (hence might like better Criminal for this matter).

hey, thanks for reading this "review/opinion" on the 2 movies.

replys are much appreciated.

btw, check out my top-lists on my flixster page:
http://guska21.flixster.com

"i don't want to kill anybody...(5 min. later in the story)
...shoot him in the face!" Honey Bunny

[–] pinkpab 12 years ago

The actor is not as good as Darin, the quote "putos sobran, lo que faltan son financistas" is missing...
Nueve Reinas is superb, this is a good remake, but that's all.

[–] remembervhs 10 years ago

Neither of them are amazing. They're both good, competent films.

9 Queens is clearly better. Criminal is worth seeing for the cast (which is excellent).

Frankly, it's nice to see remakes like Criminal that don't take the original story and blow it up 500x.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] kirchb 10 years ago

Both Criminal and Nine Queens(Nueve Reinas) are identical. The setup, con and twist ending, where everyone is involved in the con, are similar in both movies.

Nine Queens (Spanish: Nueve Reinas)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Queens

Plot

The film opens at a convenience store early in the morning. Juan, a con artist, successfully scams the cashier, but later messes up by attempting the same scam again on the next shift. Marcos, who has been observing the whole time, steps in pretending to be a police officer and takes Juan away. As soon as they are far enough from the shop, Marcos tells Juan he is not actually a cop but a fellow con man. Juan asks Marcos to show him the ropes, because his father, also a con man, is in jail and he needs to raise money quickly to bribe a judge to reduce his father's sentence from 10 years to 6 months.

Then a rare scheme seemingly falls into their laps: Sandler, a former business associate of Marcos, needs his help to sell counterfeit copies he made of some rare stamps called "The Nine Queens". The potential mark is Gandolfo, a rich Spaniard who is facing deportation and desperate to smuggle his wealth out of the country. He has no time to fully check if the stamps are authentic but he hires an expert to do a quick check and is satisfied. He offers $450,000 for the stamps, the exchange to take place that evening. In the intervening time, a number of things go wrong. The stamp expert demands a cut, as he knew the stamps were in fact forged. The fake stamps are then stolen out of Juan and Marcos' hands by crooks on motorcycles who, unaware of their value, destroy them by tossing them into a river.

To salvage the scheme, Marcos approaches Sandler's widowed sister, the owner of the real stamps, who agrees to sell them for $250,000. Marcos can put up $200,000 and asks Juan to contribute the remaining $50,000. Juan suspects that he is being scammed, as it's a remarkable coincidence that Marcos needs just the amount that Juan has saved up; but as the $50,000 is not enough to help his father, he reluctantly agrees. They buy the real stamps and go to Gandolfo's hotel, but he says he has changed his mind and will now only buy the stamps if he also gets to sleep with Marcos' sister Valeria, a hotel employee. Valeria's price is that Marcos must confess to their younger brother how he cheated him out of an inheritance. Gandolfo pays for the stamps with a certified check, but the bank crashes the next day, making the check worthless.

It appears that Juan and Marcos are both ruined, but the final scene is a surprise ending. Juan goes to a warehouse, where he greets the motorcycle thieves, Sandler and his sister, Gandolfo, and Juan's fiancée Valeria — revealing that the real scam was to swindle Marcos out of $200,000 as revenge for all the times he cheated his family and his partners.

[–] 10 years ago

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