Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Diagonaldi Very well executed

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

rooprect The only reason I watched this was because the guy at the video store handed it to me and told me it was really good, and I would've looked like a wuss if I had thrown it back at him & rented "Sense and Sensibility" instead. I mean, it's tough enough renting a Hugh Grant flick without the added pressure.So I got back home feeling a bit conned & not expecting much. Boy was I surprised. From the first 30 seconds I could tell this was no ordinary action flick.Yes, as other reviewers have noted, this film is strongly rooted in film noir. But what makes it so interesting is that it's noir without the noir. Sure, we have the lantern-jawed, emotionless anti-hero who's everything we would expect from Bogie. We have the mysterious femme fatale and the late night saxophone music to add to the mood. But the visuals, pacing and presentation is something very fresh, very vibrant & colourful, and so over-the-top violent that you can't help but feel the strong contrast against the typical 40s film noir. This was deliberate on the part of the director, just like he deliberately throws in lots of playful anachronisms: 1940s cars driving alongside modern minivans, and old time cityscape that suddenly blends into modern streets (from what I understand, that's what the city of Spokane is really like), and the list goes on. Other interesting contrasts include the tough-as-nails hero who's loving mother drops in at unexpected times. The flow of this film is anything but predictable, and that's what really keeps you hooked.But my favourite part was the insane lineup of villains. It's so surreal, like something out of Dick Tracy. I particularly liked the character of "Matchstick", a deformed, psychotic sicko whom you gotta fall in love with. Then there's the cute/slutty lolita girl "Mauler" who can carve a man up faster than a ginsu knife commercial; yet she complains that she can't get a date. And lastly we have the incomparable Ving Rhames playing the cold-hearted assassin who slips into Gandhi-like moments of introspection and wisdom. What a wacky bunch! This is definitely a fun film. Even the excessive violence is so exaggerated you gotta love it. Here we have the best gore clichés in the business: the guy who gets hit in the mouth and spits a gallon of blood, the guy who gets knifed in the leg and gushes blood like a hose, and don't forget the best one... someone getting their heart ripped out of their chest while they're still breathing. There's a lot of tongue-in-cheek fun going here. It's almost like an action flick that makes fun of action flicks. But at the same time it's subtle enough that you can take it as a straightforward action flick. Either way, you're in for a wild ride.

Scarecrow-88 Russell Mulcahy(Highlander)directs this bloody gangster opus which follows Thomas Jane as he works his way through the crime syndicate of Gregory Harrison, over a toy elephant(!)found in a steel case. The elephant is known throughout the movie as "the meaning of love." Jane is costumed in 40s Bogie attire as the hard-to-kill Malone, having to stay one step ahead of Harrison and his hired killers, Ving Rhames(as Boulder)and the absolutely insane Doug Hutchison(as Matchstick, notorious for burning his parents alive, narrowly escaping the house, suffering hideous burns on his own face in the process). The eye candy of the movie is Elsa Pataky(striking in blood red lipstick), sliding smoothly into the sultry Film Noir moll role, as Evelyn, whose motivations remain suspect as she asks Malone to help free her kidnapped brother, killed by another assassin, a Japanese girl named Mauler(Chris Yen). French Stewart shows up as a bad lounge comic who also works as a stool pigeon for Harrison and ends up on Malone's bad side for almost getting him(and his alcoholic mom)killed. Rhames only works for Harrison because the crime lord pays to keep Boulder's wife alive on life-support. GIVE 'EM HELL MALONE is a homage to those detective noir films, where the film's hero is a flawed man you only root for because everyone else is so evil. Malone is always having to constantly look over his shoulder for either a knife to his back or bullets aimed in his direction at all times. Even Evelyn can not be trusted. Jane's Malone is the usual tough-guy archetype, good with a gun, takes a licking and keeps on ticking. The film sure as hell opens with a bang as Malone attains the case with the elephant for his boss, Murphy(Leland Orser), annihilating a whole army of Harrison's men with plenty of Hong Kong John Woo balletic gunplay, bodies torn to bloody shreds as bullets damage and destroy in grand style. This would make an ideal double header with the equally ultra-violent, cartoony, gratuitous crime actioner, SHOOT 'EM UP. Easily the most entertaining character in the movie is Matchstick because of how batsh#t crazy he is(funny is how he progressively becomes more worse for wear due to his inability to finish Malone off, his face set on fire on more than one occasion).

whokilledreno As a big fan of film noir, The trailer grabbed my attention with some pretty entertaining visuals and some intense music.It took me about 25 minutes for my enthusiasm to dwindle. Once the feeling set in, I was unable to shake it off.Credit where credit is due, Thomas Jane deserves a pat on the back. With roughly 80 percent of screen time, I'm glad to say that he has the least cringe worthy moments of the movie. The odds of his accomplishment were stacked against him, since he is given nothing more to play with than a character that is riddled with more cliché's than the body count he racks up through the film.Very few other cast members came out of this with any dignity to their performances. Two that are worth mentioning are French Stewart, who plays a talentless club singer. The few scenes he has, are pure gold. The other performance that I thought had merit, came from Leland Orser. I have seen him a fair number of times playing less-than-stable parts and it was pleasing to know that he could play against the more colourful characters too.It is important for me to make it clear that I don't think any actor/actress was to blame for the lack of entertainment in this movie. The script was poorly written. Malone can be summed up in three words.Tough. Alcoholic. Vengeful These three things are hammered into the audience every minute from the establishing shot to the end credits.The character of Evelyn was used to contain about,7 stereotypes of character and plot devices that you would associate with the film genre. It made it impossible for the actress to connect with the audience and by the end you feel nothing for her. No anger, no love, just nothing.Again, the performance by Elsa Pataky gets two thumbs up for trying to play with the crap hand that she had been dealt. The problem comes from laziness in narrative structure.That is the sentiment that I have taken from this film, that the puppet masters behind this calamity were lazy. The best example I can pull from the movie was in the third act. Malone take out an adversary and there is one of the most poorly edited sequences I have seen in some time. I will not spoil the ending for you, but If you have the ability, watch the last (approx) 20 minutes, it should not be hard to find.

drgrozozo Lots of gory effects and nice idea about throwing them into ambient of film-noir. That's about it for this movie.As for acting, I only liked supporting actors French Stewart and Leland Orser (Frankie and Murphy) as rest of the cast was mediocre at the best. Never felt any spark between boring Elsa Pataky (Evelyn) and not-so-believable-as-unbuttoned-drunkard Thomas Jane (Malone). Malone does get a cool voice, that seems to be a standard for cinematography these days :) Characters are cartoonish, we can see bits of Sin City in it, unfortunately they are clumsily developed and often over the top. World is mix of 50s and cell-phones, music is scarce but appropriate and pleasant. There are few fresh spots and lot more clichés and borrowed places. Too bad, with more creative freedom it could be fun flick.Overall movie looks good, it just doesn't have good enough script. I doubt you could say who actually hired who to do what and why when you finish watching.