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No
doubt independently financed by mobsters who’ve a penchant for ‘big
stars and big guns’, and little else, the Paul Walker/Laurence
Fishburne starring actioner takes what’s an otherwise intriguing
concept and drags it straight through the mincer of mediocrity.
Directed
by John Herzfeld (whose films usually range from OK to so-so anyway)
and written by Bob Krakower and Allen Lawrence, it tells of a DEA
agent, played by Fishburne, who provides former Marine (the brawling
smart-arse) Tim Kearney (Walker) with a way out of his prison sentence:
impersonate a dead gangster named Bobby Z (Jason Lewis of Sex and the City fame). The plan goes up shit creek, the fake Bobby gets away…
Like Walker’s recent Running Scared, Bobby Z
features the kind of plot that could be applied to a really cool,
funky, action-packed movie; something Tarantino wouldn’t mind owning a
35mm print of. Unfortunately, all imagination has gone out the door and
in its place a ‘lets just shoot this thing and get outta here’ attitude
that seams through the visuals like diarrhoea on thin toilet tissue.
I think what Herzfeld might’ve been going for here is a sort-of Get Shorty
style crime caper. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. Unlike the Barry
Sonnenfeld-directed film, this one doesn’t feature really any redeeming
or interesting characters; has a plot to undoes itself as it travels,
and doesn’t offer anyone – especially Fishburne – the chance to
actually ‘act’.
EXTRAS
A behind-the-scenes thingamewatchit included as an extra. Conclusion:
Movie 20% Extras: 50%
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