It's almost like they only found out they were getting that particular actor in on the morning of shooting and didn't have any time to prepare something for them. No effort or thought has gone into what they could do in their cameo scenes, they simply show show up, spew out a few lines to advance the story a little, and then are gone. There are a tonne of cameos in the film by faces you'll recognise (most have long since passed the peak of their fame), but sadly none of the them are given any decent material to work with either. I suppose the theory was if we don't have one good story to tell let's just tell five mediocre ones instead. Surely it's not that hard of a mistake to avoid? There is no focus though and the story just keeps chopping from story to story - none of which are particularly interesting.
#Once upon a time in venice tv
It's quite a bizarre experience to watch a film structured like a TV episode because it so rarely happens.
#Once upon a time in venice movie
Sure enough I looked up writer/director Mark Cullen's profile and most of his previous work has come in television (with the exception of another Bruce Willis cop movie 'Cop Out' which was also not received well). The next problem with the film is that it never actually feels like a film. There wasn't a whole lot to like about this film. He may not be a funny man, but I don't think many actors in Hollywood would have been able to turn this material into something funny. He doesn't have the talent for that, nor did he have the script here to be fair. He's good at the sarcastic one-liners (think 'Die Hard') evenly spread throughout a film, but not trying to carry the whole thing on his humour alone. When I think of Willis I do not think of funny. The main reason for this? I didn't expect a comedy with Bruce Willis in the lead role.
'Once Upon a Time in Venice Beach' was a very different film to that which I was expecting. Overall, while not Willis' best it's an almost return to likes of Last Boy Scout form rather than Die Hard, still it's good fun and worth a viewing. With echoes of the recent The Nice Guys (2016) there's a few shoot outs and double crosses with hints of watered down Tarantino thrown in for good measure, Cullen like the moments of comedy set these up with perfect timing thanks to some effective staging and Matt Deizel fine editing. Sadly, Famke Janssen is wasted as Katey Ford. Things get more and more outlandish as Steve tries to solve a number of weird cases. The characters are all quirky and larger than life including humorous Jason Momoa as mumbling gangster Spider and Steve's heartfelt troubled friend Dave (excellent John Goodman). The on location feel captures the heat of Venice Beach and Cullen offers plenty of colourful locale visuals. Thankfully Willis isn't just there to just pick up a pay cheque, its very much his own film, and he's as cheeky and charming as ever. Director, writer Mark Cullen's entertaining beach bum action caper which sees Bruce Willis as Steve Ford return to centre stage instead of small cameos. An ex-Los Angeles detective turned PI seeks out the ruthless gang that stole his dog.
0 kommentar(er)
