Scott Hardie: “It ruled.”
The idea of a bunch of criminals with conflicting goals all trapped in the same activity together is a very old one—Hitchcock used it several times, and he was fond of trains as a setting, too—so with a movie like this, it's all in the execution. This one was funny enough to make me laugh out loud a few times, and clever enough to keep me guessing at how its disparate plot elements would connect, and smart enough to put more of its energy into distinctive characters and witty dialogue than action—up until its final few minutes, when the film sadly sacrifices all of that hard-earned character development in favor of an unsatisfyingly over-the-top finale. That big, explosion-riddled, unconvincingly green-screened ending is its only major deviation from the novel, so I wonder if a studio executive insisted upon adding it? Anyway, other than that, it's quite an entertaining movie if you enjoy post-Tarantino stylized action comedies; this one definitely evokes Deadpool 2 and not just because it shares a director and several cast members. The trailer made me skeptical about the casting of tired middle-aged Brad Pitt at the center of a frantic shoot-em-up, but he turns out to be perfect for the part.This review contains spoilers. Reveal it.
− December 19, 2022 more by Scott log in or create an account to reply
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Erik Bates: “It ruled.”
This was a fun romp of a movie. Brad Pitt is at the point of his career I feel where he's just playing Brad Pitt in every movie, and it works.
− December 29, 2022 more by Erik log in or create an account to reply
Scott Hardie: Yes it does! The movie definitely cast him well. It's hard to imagine another actor of the same age doing justice to this part. Keanu Reeves? Johnny Depp? Nicolas Cage? Ralph Fiennes? Russell Crowe? They'd have all brought very different energy to the film, none for the better I think. − December 30, 2022 more by Scott
Erik Bates: The movie itself felt like Clue meets Murder on the Orient Express. − December 31, 2022 more by Erik
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