The acting here is good. Whitaker, in particular, is extremely sympathetic in his role—a feat that is all the more outstanding after his turn as the evil dictator in The Last King of Scotland. It’s just sad that there isn’t more for him to work with, in terms of dialogue or plot development. His story ends far too soon, as well.
Fraser is taking a walk on the serious side here, too, and although he doesn’t have much to do besides looking tough, as Finger’s right-hand hit man, he does it well. Likewise, Gellar gives a great performance as the pop tart on the verge of a breakdown. Bacon, though good, has even less in the way of content, however. Garcia is as creepy as always. Delpy, however, is a bit of a wallflower.
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Unfortunately, the acting isn’t enough to save this film, which views like an off-kilter copycat of Crash with lesser production values. Not really worth the effort, even if you can stomach the violence.
DVD EXTRAS:
- Commentary featuring director/co-writer Jieho Lee, director/co-writer Bob DeRosa, director of photography Walk Lloyd and editor Robert Hoffman
- Deleted scenes
- Outtakes
- Theatrical Trailer
CAUTIONS:
- Drugs/Alcohol: Characters drink and smoke throughout film; some references to illegal drug use as well, which is possibly seen in the background of two scenes.
- Language/Profanity: Numerous strong profanities and obscenities throughout film.
- Sexual Content/Nudity: Upper female nudity in the context of a strip club as well as additional brief nudity when a young man hires a prostitute; one sex scene between an unmarried couple who has just met; multiple crude sexual references.
- Violence: Brutal. Characters are savagely tortured, beaten, murdered and assaulted throughout film, often unexpectedly, which substantially heightens the psychological effect of the violence on the viewer. To name just a few: in three different scenes, someone is hit by a moving car; a woman is bit by a dangerous snake; a man cuts off another man’s fingers—and threatens to do the same to others, several times throughout the film; several characters—some sympathetic—are unexpectedly shot at point blank range; a character insists that a woman have an abortion, although this is referred to in oblique terms (“take care of it”).