Z/Web

Waste of talent. Strong cast disappoints because of lame script. This is an example of a movie where someone says, “Hey, this plot is too simple — let’s muck it up a bit.” The result is a qualified mess. The plot sounds like it could be good. Two guys in prison are about to get out. One is going to meet his penpal girlfriend for the first time. Instead, he gets stabbed in a prison riot and the other guy pretends to be him and meets the girl for him. Turns out, her brother read their letters and knows the guy worked a certain casino and wants him to help them rob the place. So now the pretender’s in an awkward spot, right? He doesn’t know anything about the casino, but he’s being forced to assist in a robbery. Well, it goes downhill from there, as no one is what they seem. By the end of the movie, nothing surprises you, and you don’t care about any of the characters. The ending is so lame and convoluted that it ruins any momentum the rest of the movie had (which wasn’t much). Disappointing.

Not a bad film. A horror flick about a kid on a class trip to Europe, with a premonition that the plane he’s on is going to explode. He panics, and in the ruckus that ensues, he and a few friends are kicked off the plane. Seconds after take-off, the plane does explode, killing everyone. But it seems that Death doesn’t like being cheated: one by one, the survivors are dying. What’s cool are the Rube Goldberg-like death traps the victims experience. You’re never quite sure when or how death is going to happen. For instance, in one sequence, the surviving teacher fills a cracked mug with an alcoholic drink. The liquids drips across the floor as she moves around the house, then into the back of a computer monitor, where it causes a fire. Suddenly the monitor explodes, and a shard of glass catches the woman in the throat. She’s staggers around bleeding profusely, and slips on the spilled liquid. You assume she’d dead. But no, not yet. She crawls to the kitchen and reaches for a towel she earlier threw on the counter. As she pulls the towel, she knocks over a wooden knife rack and a butcher knife falls and stabs her right in the mid-section. She’s dead, right? Oh no, not yet! First we have to have a fire (from the exploded monitor) that streaks across the floor, following the trail of alcoholic liquid. That fire goes to the gas stove, and yes, eventually the entire house explodes. She’s dead. Finally. Hilarious, if you’re into that sort of thing. Not a profound movie by any means, but still somewhat suspenseful and interesting. Lots of macabre humor and quirky twists.