A decent piece of pulp
While I've come to enjoy Thomas Jane the more and more I see of him lately, it appeared upon first glance that Give 'Em Hell Malone may not have been one of his better decisions. Happily though, the film is a stylish, semi-enjoyable piece of pulp-noir that Jane appears to be quite at home in being in. Jane stars as Malone, a tough PI who has been double crossed and is now up against a crew of gangsters, including an old nemesis (Ving Rhames), a pyromaniac (Doug Hutchison, doing his best Heath Ledger Joker impersonation), and their boss (Gregory Harrison); all the while with a mysterious damsel (Elsa Pataky) in tow. Unapologetic in its blood-letting and violence, Give 'Em Hell Malone is certainly fun enough to enjoy and features style to spare from Highlander and Resident Evil: Extinction director Russell Mulcahy. What detracts from the film however is some just plain horrible editing and a screenplay loaded with plot holes. Still though, for what it's worth, Give 'Em Hell Malone...
Tom Jane+Hardboiled Fiction= Great Movie
I really enjoyed this movie. It's a gritty, down and dirty, hardboiled flick that shines a good light on the film noir style of yesteryear. I would love to see a few squeals come out of this movie. If you are looking for a solid film that is just plan fun then this movie is for you.
I hate it when a movie is to be continued with little chance of that actually happening.
Don't misunderstand my title, aside from the last 30 seconds, this film is fairly self-contained. I just thought it really dumb to end it as if there will be more to the story, knowing that such likelihood isn't very high, especially for this type of production; it's hardly a major franchise. If there is a sequel, I fear it'll be recast to account for an even lower budget and might not even be worth watching, as this film itself has some serious storytelling flaws. If not for the cast, I probably wouldn't have given it a second thought. But it's got some familiar faces; some of whom I'm somewhat of a fan.
The action and script can be a lot of fun. The visual style might have been too, if a little more went into it. As is it looks like they were shooting for the kind of stark visuals of Sin City, but didn't have the budget or vision, leaving the look somewhere in between daring and mundane. I enjoyed the films dialogue, but the actual storytelling isn't very clear,...
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