When Joe Carnahan made Blood, Guts, Bulletts and Octane ten years ago I was a big fan. In fact, I was the first person ever to do an in-depth online interview with him. Tastes change? Or maybe this movie just ain’t any good? I don’t know. All I know is that watching this movie was like having poke under my fingernails with a toothpick. It actually made my eyes ache (I cannot stand that washed-out, desaturated look.) I did laugh once or twice, yes, but I also kept waiting for the story to start. A while in I realized that this was to be a violent version of It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World. That’s probably how the movie was pitched. And you know what? That woulda been cool. This movie, however, is not.
I rented it, of course, because Chris Pine has a small role. As mentioned elsewhere on the blog I am trying to determine if Chris Pine is Kirk-worthy. Here he plays a psychotic Neo-Nazi killer. He doesn’t do much acting, mostly prancing, frankly, but he has one unique moment wherein he makes something of a marionette doll out of Ben Affleck’s corpse. It is a good scene and Pine evokes some good funny/scary. Not very Kirk-like, but a good scene. It gives me more hope than his turn in Just My Luck.
