L.A. Confidential "Just the facts, Jack!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well just before the end of the month, I figured I would get another post in and this one is yet another revisitation of a previous review, which is of the crime thriller, L.A. Confidential, which in the past I've always been a big fan of.

So, after almost 25 years, how does L.A. Confidential stack up??? Well, let's take another look...

And the usual warning is coming up....

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY 

So the film begins on Christmas Eve 1952, where the hot headed police officer Wendell "Bud" White (Russell Crowe) stops a violent domestic dispute between a married couple as Bud himself has a thing for punishing women beaters. 

After that, Bud and his partner Dick Stensland (Graham Beckel) go back to the police station, where six Mexican suspects are brought into the station who apparently attacked two of the station's officers, who are both in critical condition.  In a vengeful mood, Stensland goes down to the cells and beats up on one of the Mexicans, however Bud tries to restrain him, but when one of the Mexicans insults Bud, Bud joins in and beats up the Mexicans also and before you know it, the whole place erupts into a riot, with the press present, they label the chaos as "Bloody Christmas" in the papers. 

In the aftermath, Bud refuses to testify against his partner Stensland, and is suspended from duty, meanwhile one of the officers Ed Exley (Guy Pearce) who was witness to the attacks, is more than happy to testify against Stensland the other officers who attacked the Mexicans.  At his insistance in order to play ball, Exley requests that he be made detective lieutenant, something which his late father Preston Exley once held the mantel of. 

However in snitching against the other officers, Exley soon makes himself very unpopluar with the other officers.  But the police captain Dudley Smith (James Cromwell) re-instates Bud, and uses him in his scheme as one of his muscle men to beat up and intimidate any criminals who try to make a name for themselves in LA.

But things take a dramatic turn when Bud's ex-partner Stensland, is found murdered in a coffee shop, the Nite Owl, with some other people, among them was a female associate of the millionaire, Pierce Patchett (David Strathairn) who was girl named Susan Lefferts (Amber Smith).  The LA police dept then arranges a full man-hunt to try and catch the killers, and soon find three young black men as prime suspects for killings. 

On interrogating the men, Exley finds out they actually are holding a young Mexican woman hostage in a house, who has been raped and beaten.  On the scene of the crime, Bud sneaks into the house and kills the black man in the house.  Later on, the young suspects escape the station, but Exley soon tracks them down and kills them, which finally garners him some respect from his fellow officers at the station. 

However something doesn't sit right with Exley about the negros being the killers, as he investigates further, he receives help from local cop celebrity Sergeant Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) who has a sideline in acting as a technical advisor on the show Badge of Honor, as well providing some hot press collars for local sleazy journalist Sid Hudgens (Danny DeVito) who writes and publishes for the "Hush-Hush" tabloid magazine.  Likewise Bud also thinks something is strange about the suspect negro youths, and also investigates, meanwhile he dates Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger) who is a movie star look-a-like of the Hollywood actress, Veronica Lake.

Bud after inquiring about the Nite Owl case to one of the forensic staff, finds out one of the victims was a Susan Lefferts.  Bud goes to Susan's mother's house and inquires about her, and she finds out that Stensland was her boyfriend, on looking around the house, Bud notices a foul smell, which he tracks to under the house, where he finds the remains of Buzz Meeks, Stensland's former partner.  Exley soon follows Bud's tail and he too goes to Mrs Lefferts house where he finds the body, which he takes to the pathology lab to get ID'd. 

Exley working with Vincennes, tails Bud's movements, as they spy on him from Lynn's house, as we see them both together.  Shortly after Exley goes to meet Lynn to confront her, believing that Patchett has her seeing Bud, but she denies this and instead seduces Exley, as the pair of them have sex, we see Sid Hudgens outside the window, taking pictures to frame him. 

Around this time, Vincennes goes to Dudley's house and tells him about an old case involving Dick Stensland and Buzz Meeks (by now his remains have been ID'd by the coroner), when without warning Dudley shoots Vincennes in the chest, he then leans in and asks him "do you have a valediction, boyo?" to which Vincennes quietly gasps "Rollo Tomasi" and then dies (a name that Exley told him earlier, which was a made-up name he gave to the man who killed his father, Preston Exley). 

The next day Dudley let's slip this name to Exley to follow it up, who pretends he doesn't know anything about it, but then realises that Dudley was behind everything to do with the Nite Owl murders.  And after Dudley questions Sid Hudgens, with Bud, Bud learns of Lynn's liaison with Exley from Sid, and violently confronts him back at the station, but Exley convinces Bud that Dudley is behind everything and they decide to put aside their differences and work together to try and bring Dudley down and end the corruption in the LAPD...

THOUGHTS

L.A. Confidential is without any doubt a great film, and for me one of the best films of the 1990s.  Curtis Hanson who after directing some fairly pedestrian thrillers such as The Hand that Rocks the Cradle and The River Wild, really established himself as a filmmaker here.  The film itself is of course based on the same titled novel by James Elroy, and the book features many more characters and detail which isn't in the film, but what the film presents is surely a great representation of the book. 

And its the characters in L.A. Confidential that make this film work so well, and if you look at it, there actually isn't a morally decent character in the film, everyone is essentially a sleazeball in one way or another, but they are all something of a dichotomy as well.  Exley, may appear to be a stand-up cop with integrity, who refuses to get his hands dirty with planting evidence or beating up suspects, however he does ruthlessly rat on members of the police force, in order to further his own career. 

Bud on the other hand, appears to be as Exley puts it a "mindless thug" but he does have another side to him, as ultimately he wants to be a detective also working cases, but his temper and violent streak threaten to alienate him from the audience at times, but behind it all he is a somewhat sensitive guy with a troubled past and has a thing for punishing women beaters as a result of his own mother being beaten to death by his alcoholic father when he was younger. 

Jack Vincennes is also corrupt character in that he gladly takes money from Sid Hudgens, the local Hush Hush magazine reporter, as he sets up arrests and the suspects get unwanted publicity in Sid's mag, but again behind that, Jack starts to feel guilty about his activities and questions himself as the film goes on.

The film also has several excellent supporting characters, particularly Dudley Smith, as the slight yet intimidating police captain who has another agenda, while he looks after the men under his command, he also ironically has a line in corruption and tampering with evidence as well as police brutality. 

And then we have Pierce Patchett, the mysterious millionaire, who while he hosts high class sex parties, and makes pornographic films, he has ambitions beyond that to invest in freeway construction.  And there's Lynn Bracken, meanwhile she isn't the most interesting character in the film, she is also another one who is wishing to escape from her sleazy lifestyle, as a wannabe film actress, who is engaging in Patchett's sexual enterprises.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains spoilers and strong language!)  

Overall the film's performances are great, particularly the three main leads are very strong, with Guy Pearce, who prior to this was in Priscilla, The Queen of the Desert, as a transvestite and playing Mike from Neighbours, playing the part of the ice cool Exley to perfection. 

Pearce has many highlights in the film and the first one that comes to mind is the scene where Exley meets with Vincennes and tells him of "Rollo Tomasi" and says "Rollo Tomasi was a purse snatcher, and he shot my father six times and got away clean.  I didn't even know who he was.  I just made up the name to give him some personality.  Rollo Tomasi was the reason I became a cop, I wanted to catch the guys who thought they could get away with it.  But somewhere along the way I lost sight of that.  It was supposed to be about justice." 

Another one of Guy's best scenes is where Dudley asks him if he has heard of a known associate which alarms him but in a way in which he tries not to show it, and in this moment we see Guy give a very subtle reaction with his eyes.  Its a very subtle and deft moment in his performance. 

So, in the scene Dudley asks Exley "Edmund, might I have a word with you? We did a record check on Vincennes leads. The last one is a dead end" and Exley asks "What's the name?" and Dudley says "Rollo Tomasi" and Exley's widen in alert but he remains calm and Dudley asks "Have you heard of him?" and Exley blankly says "No. No, I haven't". So, Dudley accepts his answer and says "Oh, well. Just keep your eyes open, eh, Boyo?" and he walks off and Exley looks alarmed and throws a glare at Dudley after he walks off. 

Then there is the scene from Pearce is where Exley interrogates the negro youths about the Nite Owl murders in the interrogation rooms and he slyly turns the PA speakers on in the other rooms for the other youths so they can hear what the one Exely is interrogating is saying.  And Pearce has a good line in the scene where he says to one of the youths, Ray, "You know, Ray, I'm talking about the gas chamber and you haven't even asked me what this is about.  You've got a big "guilty" sign around your neck!". 

And another highlight from Guy comes in the scene where Exley confronts Bud after Bud has rescued the rape victim and Exley asks Bud "How do you think it will look in your report?!" and Bud says it will look like justice, and Exely sharply replies "You don't know the meaning of the word you ignorant bastard!". Bud then angrily walks toward Exley and says "Yeah? Maybe you think its about getting your picture in the paper! Why don't you go after criminals for a change instead of cops?!" and Exley defiantly says "Stensland got what he deserved and so will you!" and this sets off Bud who goes for Exley but he is held back by half a dozen cops! So, Dudley approaches Exley and says "Its best to stay away from a man when his blood is up" and Exley says "His blood is ALWAYS up!". 

Yet another good scene is when Exley goes with Vincennes to question Johnny Stampanato, Mickey Cohen's right hand man, who is on a date with Lana Turner.  But Exley thinks that she is just a hooker cut to look like Lana Turner and he says to Stampanato "Since when do two-bit hoods and hookers give out autographs?!" and he says "A hooker cut to look like Lana Turner, is still a hooker!  She just looks like Lana Turner" but Vincennes tells Exley that she really is Lana Turner, who angrily throws a drink in Exley's face. 

Then there is the scene where Bud out of rage nearly kills Exley when he learns that he slept with Lynn and Exley tells him that (PLOT SPOILER!) Dudley was behind it all.  So, in the scene after Bu beats on Exley, Exley manages to grab Bud's gun and aims at him and says "Dudley killed Jack, he wants you to kill me! He showed you the photo, didn't he?! Didn't he?!". Bud, however angrily glares at Exley and knocks the gun out his hand and grabs Exley and slams him against the filing cabinets and Exley shouts "THINK! GOODAMN YOU!! THINK!". So, Bud finally relents and let's go of Exley, and hurls a chair through the window and he slowly calms down and says to himself "Dudley!". 

Exley grabbing his breath tells Bud "Dudley, Stensland and Buzz Meeks go way back!" and as they talk Exley says to Bud "If we are going to work this out we need to work together" and Bud looks surprised as he says to him "Why are you doing this?  The Nite Owl made you, now you wanna tear all that down?" and Exley replies "With a wrecking ball!  You wanna help me swing it?".     

This is then followed by the scene where Exley and Bud confront the D.A. Loew at his office and Loew asks Exley "What do you want?" and Exley says "I want D.A. bureau men to tail Dudley Smith and Pierce Patchett 24 hours a day. I want you to get a judge to authorize wiretaps on their home phones, and I want authorization to check their bank records". Loew, a little surprised asks "On what evidence?" and Bud says "Call it a hunch" and Loew says "Absolutely not! Dudley Smith is a highly decorated police officer of this department. I won't smear his name without..." and Exley interrupts him and says "Without what?! Without him smearing yours first? What's he got on you, Loew? Pictures of you and Reynolds with your pants down?". Loew then bluntly asks "You got any proof?" and Exley says "The proof got his throat slit, so far you're not denying it" but Loew dismissively says "Look, I'm not gonna dignify this with answers, so if you don't mind, I've got a press conference for Jack Vincennes to prepare" and he goes into bathroom and shuts the door. 

So, after the door shuts, Exley gives Bud a look to go in after him, who gladly obliges and he walks up close to Loew to intimidate him but Loew is not phased as he trims his nasal hair looking in the mirror. So, Loew says coolly "Unless you came here to wipe my ass, I believe we're through. Come on, don't pull that good cop, bad cop crap, I practically invented it! So, what if some homo actor is dead. Boys, girls, ten of them step of the bus to L.A. everyday". But Bud then violently grabs Loew and smashes his head against the mirror and sticks his head down the toilet and brings him up and Loew screams "PULL HIM OFF ME, EXLEY!" and Exley says "I don't know how!". So, as Bud intimidates Loew more, he then dangles Loew out of his office building and Loew, terrified, tells them what he knows and finally let's Loew up, who lies on the ground shaking with fear. So, Exley asks him "Is that how you used to run the good cop, bad cop?!".

And last of all is the scene where in the aftermath of the final shootout at the Victory motel, Exley is questioned at the police station. So, Exley is asked "Do you think you can talk your way out of this, Lieutenant?" and Exley says "No, but I think I can tell the truth". So, Exley goes on in detail to explain his findings and the corruption involving Dudley taking over Mickey Cohen's drug rackets. And Exley finishes by saying "Captain Dudley Smith admitted as much to me before I shot him at the Victory motel. That's it". So, the police chief and Loew discuss what they should, Loew suggests "Maybe if we can get the kid to play ball, maybe Dudley Smith died a hero". So, at this point we see Exley smile and the chief asks "What are you smiling about?" and Exley says "A hero!" and the chief and the other officers are surprised he heard them. So, Exley says "In this stiuation...you're gonna need more than one!".   

Russell Crowe is also excellent as the hotheaded and brutal cop, Bud White, who is two thirds heavy, one third sensitive, and he provides some of the film's highlights with Bud's violent behaviour as well as some of the film's best dialogue. 

And Crowe's various highlights in the film include his opening scene where he interrupts a domestic dispute between a couple and he pulls down their Christmas decorations outside to break it up.  And as the burly man steps out and asks "Who the hell are you?!" Bud replies "The ghost of Christmas past.  Why don't you dance with a man for a change?" and the angrily says "What are you?! Some kind of smart ass?!" and he takes a swing at Bud and misses as Bud beats him up and cuffs him to a porch rail. So, Bud says to man "You'll be out in a year, I'll get cosy with your parole officer.  You touch her again and I'll have you violated on a kiddie raper beef!" and he grabs the man's head and says "You know what they do to kiddie rapers up in Quentin!".  

Then there is the scene where Exley interrogates the black youths about the Nite Owl murders, but it comes to light that they are holding a girl some place who they have raped and assaulted.  And this leads to Bud going ape and barging in on the interrogation and grabbing the youth, Ray and taking out his gun and removing five of the bullets and jams it into Ray's mouth shouting "One in six!  Where is the girl?!" and he pulls the trigger again yelling "WHERE IS THE GIRL????!!!!" before a terrified Ray tells him. 

Another good scene comes afterward where Bud argues with Exley over the nature of his rescuing the rape victim.  And Bud angrily says to Exley "Why don't you give your career a rest and go after criminals for a change instead of cops!" and as Exley asks him what it will look like Bud says "It will look like justice!  That's what the man got.  Justice!".  And Exely taunts him by saying about Bud's ex-partner Stensland "Stensland got what he deserved and so will you!" which prompts Bud to go apeshit and charge at Exley but he is restrained by about six police officers! 

Another good scene is the one where Bud and Lynn chat while they are in bed together and Bud tells her about his troubled, violent past and how his alcoholic father beat him and killed his mother. So, in the scene Bud tells Lynn about a scar on his arm "When I was 12 years old, my father went after my mother with a bottle and I got in the way" and Lynn asks "So, you saved her?" and Bud says "Not for long. He tied me to the radiator and then beat her to death with a tire iron. 3 days later a truant officer found us, they never found the old man". So, Lynn asks "Is that why you became a cop? To get even?" and Bud says "Maybe" and Lynn then asks "Do you like it?" and Bud sighs and says "I used to. But now its all strong-arm sitting duck stuff. If I could work cases at homicide I could be a real detective. There's something wrong with the Nite Owl I just can't prove it. That prick Exley shot the wrong guys. I know it! I'm just not smart enough. I'm just the guy they bring in to scare the other shitless!". 

Then there is the scene where Bud questions Johnny Stampanato in a bar about what he knows of the former disgraced cop, Buzz Meeks, but he isn't too forthcoming, so Bud applies shall we say, a bit of pressure on him! ;-)

 

So, in the scene, Bud walks into a bar where he sees Stampanato and says to him "Johnny Stampanato!" and Stampy says to him "Officer Wendell White! How's tricks, paisano?" and Bud bluntly says "I ain't your paisano!". So, Bud asks him what he knows about Buzz Meeks and Johnny says to him "Oh, yeah, Buzz Meeks. A run down ex-cop, the same you're gonna be someday. And you can keep your 20 bucks!". 

So...Bud tries a different approach and grabs Johnny by the nuts, who groans painfully and Bud says to him "What do I get if I give you your balls back, you wop cocksucker?!". So, Johnny painfully says "OK! OK! There was... a rumour going around that Meeks had a line on a large supply of H" and Bud tightens his grip on Johnny's crotch and says "And?!" and Johnny painfully says "AND NOTHING! HE SKIPPED TOWN!". Bud then says "Bullshit! How did a two-bit hick like Meeks get a supply of heroin?" and Johnny says "You're right, its probably bullshit! They couldn't move it with creating all kinds of attention!". So, Bud finishes by saying "Maybe that's why he's under a house in Elysian park and don't smell too good...paisano!" and he puts 20 dollars in Johnny's jacket and leaves.

Then there is the scene where Exley and Bud pay a visit to the D.A. Ellis Loew (Ron Rifkin) who Exley questions but doesn't get far with him, so Bud interrupts Loew in the toilet and violently grabs his head and shoves it down the toilet before letting him up he says "Now I know you think your the A-number one hotshot, but here's the juice...if I take you out, there will be 10 more lawyers to take your place tomorrow.  They won't come on the bus that's all!" before he pulls up Loew and then dangles him outside his office window until Loew gives in and spills the beans.     

And last of all is the moment where Bud and Exley are set up by Dudley, who has set an ambush to kill them at the Victory motel, so both men get inside and board up the entrances and arms themselves. So, Exley anxiously says to himself "All I wanted was to measure up to my father" and Bud says "Now's your chance. He died in the line of duty, didn't he?" and Exley looks at him and both men share a smile before the climactic gunfight begins. 

Kevin Spacey is also excellent in his role as Jack Vincennes, the suave celebrity cop who slowly becomes disillusioned with his job as he makes money on the side grabbing collars for the sleazy L.A. magazine, Hush Hush run by Sid Hudgens.  

However...I have to say, I find it hard to appreciate Spacey's work that much anymore after his allegations of sexual assault/misconduct came out back in 2017, it put me off watching his films altogether. So, this is the first time I've watched anything starring him since then, so while I certainly don't respect Spacey anymore, I can however still see the merits of his performance here all the same.

And Spacey's notable scenes include the one where Vincennes talks to Exley at the court where they both are going to testify against some of the police officers involved in the prison riot at the start of the film.  And in the scene Vincennes says to Exley "Come on you're playing an angle here, college boy, so you don't have to hobnob with rank and file cops who are gonna hate your guts for snitching!" and he continues "Well if they are going to make you detective, watch out! Some of the men are gonna burn in this and you're gonna end up having to work with friends of theirs". Exley asks Vincennes "What about you?" and Vincennes smugly tells him "Me...I'm snitching three old timers, who will be fishing in Oregon, this time next week! Next to you, I'm clean and smart!". So, Exley just gives Vincennes a look and walks off and Vincennes and calls after him "Oh and Bud White will fuck you for this if it takes him the rest of his life!". 

And then there is the scene where Exley and Vincennes go to the hotel room where the young black men but on their way in Exley forgets to bring his glasses just before they go and arrest the youths and Vincennes says to him "You're kidding!  Well just don't shoot me". So, before they go in, they meet with two other cops, Breuning and Carlyle at the scene in a garage, who have discovered shotguns in the back seat of a car. So, Vincennes says to them "Well, goodbye Vice! Badge of Honor here I come!" but Carlyle angrily says to him "Hey fuck you, Vincennes! This is our collar!" and Exley interrupts and says "Quiet! I'm ranking officer here! We go in as a team, end of story!" and Vincennes whisper to them "He's very serious(!)". So, as they break in and arrest the youths, and Vincennes turns to Exley and says "So, how does it feel getting out of the office?!".

Then there is the scene where Jack sits pondering in a bar what to do about going through with Sid Hudgens scam to screw over the young actor whom was disgraced , Matt Reynolds at the start of the film by Hudgens.  And in the scene Vincennes in the bar, looks at himself in the mirror, clearly unhappy with his situation, he then goes to the hotel where the actor, Matt Reynolds and the DA are supposed to be. So, Vincennes enters the hotel room and calls out to Reynolds "Hey, kid! Come on, kid...you don't have to do..." but he looks down and sees Reynolds lying dead on the floor with his throat cut. Vincennes kicks open the bathroom door to see if anyone is there but its empty and he looks down at Reynolds corpse with guilt.

Then there is the great scene where Exley meets with Vincennes and asks him to tail Bud White to see where he goes. So, Exley says to Vincennes "I need you to tail Bud White tonight and see where he goes" and Exely says "I'm busy, why don't you go and ask one of your boys from homicide?" and Exley says "I can't. I need someone outside homicide". So, Vincennes says to him "Why don't you do me a real favour and leave me alone?!" but Exley asks him "Do you make the three negroes for the Nite Owl killings?" and Vincennes, a little taken aback asks "What?" and Exley says "Its a simple question". So, Vincennes asks Exley "Why do you want to go deeper into the Nite Owl killings...Lieutenant?!" and Exley says "Rollo Tomasi" and Vincennes, confused asks "Is there more to that or am I supposed to guess?". 

Exley then explains that Rollo was a made up name for the person who killed his father, Preston, who was a highly decorated cop and how he became a cop because of it. So, Exley then asks Vincennes "Why did you become a cop?" and Vincennes take a long moment and sounding a little emotional says "I don't remember...". Vincennes then asks "What do you want, Exley?" and Exley says "I just want to solve this thing" and Vincennes says "The Nite Owl was solved" but Exley insists "No, I want to do it right" and Vincennes asks "Even if it involves paying the consequences?" and Exley nods. So, Vincennes suddenly get's up and says "Alright, college boy, I'll help! But there's a case I want help with your boys in homicide think is just another Hollywood homo-cide but I don't! You help me with mine, I'll help you with yours. Deal?" and Exley says "Deal".  

Then there is the scene where Jack checks with the coroner over the ID of the body that Exley found earlier under Mrs Lefferts house. So, Jack asks the coroner if he got an ID and the coroner says "Thank God for dental records. Stiff used to be a cop. Meeks!" and Vincennes asks "Buzz Meeks?" and the coroner asks "You know him?" and Jack says "OF him, he was around when I begun at the force. Bad rep! Thanks!" and the coroner jokingly calls after him "Just the facts, Jack! Just the facts!" referencing the "Call of Duty" TV show that Vincennes advises for.

And Spacey's last scene in the film is one of his best where Vincennes meets with Dudley at his home and Vincennes tells Dudley of the investigations into an old case involving Stensland and Buzz Meeks. 

So, in the scene, Dudley at his home, open the door to see Vincennes and says to him "Jack Vincennes, its going on midnight, Jack!" and Vincennes says "I need two minutes, Dudley, its important" and Dudley smiles and says "Its a good thing my wife and four fair daughters are at the beach in Santa Barbara!" and he let's him in. So, the two men in Dudley's kitchen discuss Buzz Meeks, and Vincennes asks "Do you remember Buzz Meeks?" and Dudley tells him "A disgrace of a police officer. Straight D fitness reports from every CO he served under". 

So, Vincennes explains the case connecting Buzz and Stensland years back and he asks Dudley what he remembers of the case as he was the supervisory officer at that time. So, Dudley asks Vincennes him what its all about and Jack tells him "Its something I'm work with Ed Exley on" and Dudley says "You're narcro, Jack. Since when do you work with Ed Exley?" and Vincennes says awkwardly "Well...its a private investigation" and Dudley says "Oh?" and Vincennes says "I messed something up, I'm trying to make amends" and Dudley says to him "Don't start trying to do the right thing, boyo! You haven't had the practice". 

Dudley then makes some tea for them and asks "So, what does Exley make of all this?" and Vincennes says "I haven't told him yet. I've just come from the records room" however at this point, Dudley spins round holding a gun ans shoots Jack in the chest, who gasps for breath. And Dudley then moves in close to Vincennes and coldly asks him "Do you have a valediction, boyo?" and Vincennes quietly says "Rollo Tomasi!" before he gives a short laugh and then dies and there is no one better at doing dead acting than Spacey here, as his stillness is incredible.    

James Cromwell, next is superb here and arguably provides the film's best performance as Dudley Smith, the corrupt police captain. Prior to this, Cromwell had not really done any real dramatic roles and appeared in more lighter films such as Babe but here he shows his chops in one of his best performances.

Cromwell also has his share of great moments such as his first scene with Exley where Dudley asks after Exley's impressive test results in a police exam what line of work would Exley like to work in and Exley replies "I was thinking detective bureau".  And Dudley says to Exley "Ed, you're a political animal, you have the eye for human weakness but not the stomach" and as Exley says he is wrong, Dudley says "Would you be willing to plan corroborative evidence on a suspect you knew to be guilty, in order to ensure an indictment?  Would you be willing to beat a confession out of a suspect you knew to be guilty?  Would you be willing to shoot a hardened criminal in the back, in order to offset the chance that some lawyer...".  And Exley says no to all these questions and Dudley says "Then for the love of God, don't be a detective.  Stick to assignments where you don't have to make those kind of choices!". 

Another good scene is where Dudley calls for Bud to meet with him at a bar not long after Bud's suspension. So, Bud asks Dudley "Captain, what do you want?" and Dudley smiles and says "Call me Dudley" and Bud sits down and asks "Dudley...what do you want?". Dudley then explains himself "Look lad, I admire your refusal to testify against your partner. I also admire you as a policeman, particularly your adherence to violence as a necessary adjutant to the job. And I'm most impressed with your punishment of women beaters. Do you hate them, Wendell?". Bud however, remains reluctant to comment and leans in and asks again "What do you want?" and Dudley lifts a paper under which are Bud's gun and badge "Their yours. Go ahead take em!". 

So, Bud enthusiastically takes back his gun and badge and asks "Is there no goddamn bill on me?" and Dudley tells him "Three witness recanted their testimony" and Bud asks "Why?" and Dudley says "They had a change of heart!". Bud then asks "What about Stensland?" and Dudley tells him "Your partner's through. Department scapegoat on the chief's orders" and Bud says "A year from his pension..." and he shakes his head. Bud then asks "Exley?" and Dudley tells him "Exley made his play and got what he wanted. As a politician, he exceeds even myself. Look lad, the chief has given me the go ahead for a new assignment of which few men are fit for but you were born for. You'll be working out of homicide, down at city hall". And Bud smiles "Homicide? Working cases?" and Dudley smiles and says "Your talents lie elsewhere, Wendell. Its a muscle job. You'll do what I say and ask no questions. Do you follow my drift?" and Bud says "In technocolor, sir!". 

Then there is the scene where Dudley meets with Vincennes and then shoots him in a surprise twist, he leans close in on the dying Vincennes and asks him "Do you have a valediction, Boyo?".  And the next day Dudley meets with Bud and asks him to come with him to the Victory motel, where they interrogate suspects and he says to Bud "You seem to be a bit of a puzzlement to me these days, Wendell and I had such great plans for your future.  You have your own extracurricular activities and so do I". 

And then there is the scene where Dudley interrogates Sid Hudgens with Bud present, Dudley looks over to Bud to have him stay alert and ready to beat up Sid when needed.  And Dudley says to him "Wendell I want full and docile co-operation on every topic!" and as Dudley questions Sid some more, Bud slugs a powerful punch to Sid's gut and Dudley says one of his best lines to Sid "Reciprocity, Mr Hudgens, is the key to every relationship!". 

And when Sid drops the hint that Exely slept with Lynn by mentioning blackmail photos he had taken, this prompts Bud to go ballistic (again!) and uproot the interrogation seat from the floor and nearly stomp on Sid before racing off to the car and finding the photos of Lynn and Exley together.  And as Bud leaves in his car to confront Lynn, Dudley looks on from the door and says "I wouldn't trade places with Edmund Exley right now for all the whisky in Ireland!".      

Next is Kim Basinger as the call girl, Lynn Bracken, and Kim gives a pretty decent performance in the film but its far from worthy of the academy award she received for it, particularly when the film has so many good performers. 

Still Kim does have some good moments in the film such as the scene where she first meets with Bud and she flirts with him and says "There's blood on your shirt, is that an intrical part of your job?" and Bud says yes and Lynn asks "Do you enjoy it?" and Bud says "When they deserve it" and Lynn asks "Did they deserve it today" and Bud suddenly says "I don't know".  And as Bud leaves he turns at the door and says to her "I would like to see you again" and Lynn says "Are you asking me for an appointment or a date?" and Bud all of a sudden becomes embarrassed and says "I don't know" and Lynn says "Well, if its for a date I'll need to ask your..." and Bud interrupts her and says "Forget I asked.  It was a mistake" and he walks out. 

And later there is Kim's scene with Guy Pearce, where Exley confronts Lynn, who ends up seducing him and she taunts Exley by saying how good Bud is (as she is dating Bud by this time).  And Lynn says to Exley "I see Bud because I want to.  I see Bud because he can't hide the good inside him.  I see Bud because he treats me like Lynn Bracken and not some Veronica Lake look-a-like who fucks for money. I see Bud because of all the ways he isn't you". So, Exley getting a bit hot under his collar, says to Lynn "Don't underestimate me, Miss Bracken!" and Lynn says "The same way you underestimated Bud White?" and Exley suddenly kisses her and Lynn heatedly says to him "Fucking me and fucking Bud are not the same thing, you know!" and Exley heatedly says back "Stop talking about Bud White!". So, of the two of them continue to kiss and fall onto the floor and we see Lynn, unbeknownst to Exley, look out the window as Sid Hudgens is taking pictures of them from outside.

Also there is the scene near the end where Lynn having being beaten by an angry Bud for cheating on him, sits quietly at the police station when Exley arrives, who by this time has also been beaten by Bud.  And Exley asks her "Are you ok?" and she says yes and looks at him and says "Are you OK?". Exley then asks Lynn "Lynn, I need you to tell me what you know about Dudley Smith?" and Lynn asks "What?" and Exley tells her "He's a police captain, who's in business with Patchett" but Lynn says "I've never heard of him". Exley, realising she is telling the truth, just asks her "Do you have a place to stay?" and Lynn reassuringly smiles at him and says "I'll be fine".

And getting to the last two, first of all there is Danny DeVito, who actually to be honest plays the film's most irritating character, Sid Hudgens, the sleazy reporter for Hush Hush magazine. 

Still DeVito has some good moments in the film, such as the scene where he sets up the young actor Matt Reynolds to seduce the D.A. and Sid turns to Vincennes and says "As if the Badge of Honor, would touch that guy with a ten foot pole after he's been Hush-Hush cover boy twice in one year!". Vincennes then goes off topic and asks Sid "What do you know about Pierce Patchett?" and Sid says "Patchett? I know what you know: he's rich and he's about to invest in freeway construction, which will make him even richer!". Vincennes then expresses his concerns to Sid "Just I keep hearing rumours of his high class porn, hookers cut to look like movie stars..." and Sid says "Patchett is what I call twilight, he ain't queer and he ain't red. He can't help me for my quest in prime sinuendo!" and he waves a 50 dollar note infront of Vincennes, who reluctantly takes it. So, Vincennes says "I'll see you later, Sid" and Sid says to him "Midnight tonight! I can guarantee all kinds of illegal activity!". 

Then there is the scene where Sid is interrogated by Dudley and he receives a few hefty punches from Dudley's man and Bud, and he tells Dudley what knows about Vincennes "Jack Vincennes. The Big V? All I can tell you as I know he is on his way to the big adios!" and Dudley nods for one of his men to beat him. So, Sid painfully says "I didn't have anything to do with getting him killed if that's what you mean!". Dudley then says "But you were business associates" and Sid says "OK, so we worked together. It was an information exchange! I got him first class collars and he got me good stories. We were frends, for Christ's sake!". 

Dudley then asks Sid what he knows about Patchett and Sid asks him "What? Do you think he had something to do with Jack getting iced?" and Dudley warns Bud he wants him to be ready to pitch in and be ready to hit Sid if he doesn't comply. So, Sid says "OK, OK! Everybody knows that Patchett is worth a boat load of greenbacks. But the man has hobbies too. He bank rolls B movies under the table and try this on, he is said to be a periodic heroin sniffer. All in all, a powerful behind-the-scenes strange-o". And Dudley asks "And?" and Sid rather impatiently asks "And what?" and at this point, Bud delivers a brutal punch to Sid's gut, who groans painfully and Dudley smiles and says "Reciprocity, Mr Hudgens, is the key to every relationship!".

So, Sid painfully says "He runs calls girls. Primo tail, fixed up to look like movie stars" and Dudley presses him and asks "And???" and Sid continyes "Blackmail shit in my car!  Patchett got me to take pictures of this cop screwing some gorgeous slut named Lynn, who looks just like Veronica Lake!".  And this sets off Bud, who violently uproots the bolted down chair that Sid is sitting in and he tries to kick Sid in the face but he is restrained by Dudley's men, so he instead grabs Sid's car keys, runs outside and opens up the trunk and finds the blackmail pics of Lynn and Exley together, which prompts him to vengefully drive off in his car after them. 

And after Bud attacks Sid and leaves, Sid says to Dudley "I thought you were gonna let the dumb bastard kill me!  You can uncuff me now fellas" just before Dudley puts on some leather gloves and leans over Sid, who panics and says "But you and me and Patchet, we're a team!  Dudley!" and Dudley puts his hand over Sid's mouth and says "Hush! Hush!". 

And last of all there is David Strathairn who is great in his role as Pierce Patchett, the corrupt and wealthy businessman, who runs high class sex parties as well as makes adult films using call girls dressed up as movie stars. 

Strathairn also has some good moments in the film such as his scene where he meets with Bud and he says to him what he knew of Susan Lefferts, the girl who was killed in the Nite Owl massacre. So, Patchett explains how he uses girls for his movie studio that look like movie stars and says to Bud "I use girls that look like movie stars. Sometimes I employ a plastic surgeon. When the work had been done, that's when you saw us". So, Bud says "So, that's why her mother couldn't ID her" and Patchett nods and Bud shakes his head and says "Jesus fucking Christ!".  

And after he answers Bud's question he says "Now I sense you are on your best behaviour but that's all I'm going to say for now.  If you persist I will meet you with my attorney".  So, Patchett then says to Bud "Now, do you want Lynn Bracken's address? I've got it..." and Bud tells him "I've got her address" and Patchett then says to Bud "Catch Susan's killer, Mr White and I will give you a handsome reward.  Whatever you desire!" and he walks off and closes his garage door. 

And later when Patchett meets with Exley and Vincennes and he says to them "The Nite Owl is your area of expertise, Lt Exley. I saw you on television getting your medal" and he says to Vincennes "And you're quite another Hollywood celebrity, aren't you?" and Vincennes playfully points his fingers at him. So, Exley asks Patchett "The Veronica Lake look-a-like is one of your whores? Correct?" and Patchett says "A vulgar term!" and Exley asks "Why is she seeing Bud White?" and Patchett asks him "Well, why do men and women usually see each other, Mr Exley?". So, Vincennes asks him "OK, how about this? Fleur de Lis? Whatever you desire? An actor named Matt Reynolds? Ring a bell? Anything No?" however Patchett says nothing. So, Exley says "We want some answers, Patchett" and Patchett turns to him and says "Oh, well ALL want something!". 

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC 

Finally getting onto the director, Curtis Hanson, who does a superb job here with the film and the jump in quality between his previous efforts such as River Wild and this one is quite remarkable. 

Hanson confidently handles the film's action and also ties the story nicely together along with all the plot strands involving the three lead characters as he even co-wrote the screenplay alongside Brian Helgeland.  Hanson also keeps the film moving at a brisk pace and never at any time does it flag or feel like any scenes are padded out. 

And last there is the film's music score which was written by the late great Jerry Goldsmith, one of the all time great composers in American cinema.  Goldsmith's score provides the perfect mixture of sleaze, menace and moodiness to capture the time of the film and the events.  Strangely enough the score also resembles Goldsmith's score for Chinatown, in fact you could almost swear at times that's what you were listening to if you kept your eyes closed.  Overall its a great one.  

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)
 
As for the L.A. Confidential's flaws... welll yeah OK it does have a few niggling ones here and there.

For starters, one of things I might say about it is that the only really irritating character in the film is Sid Hugens who's journo code-talk (if you want to call it that!) and his relentless cheery eyed, devilish optimisim becomes quite tiresome as well as the way he yaks on using terms such as "acey ducey" and "ingenuine dykes" and "I want an all hopheads cover issue, Schwartzman, Jazz musicians and all!" and how Jack Vincennes "is on the night train to the big adios!". In short, it makes you wonder what the hell he is really talking about?! 

In fact when Hudgens gets his comeuppance you don't really have that much sympathy for him anyway, given all the dirt he has dug up on so many people throughout the film.  This does however pre-empt one of the film's best lines from one of the cops that arrives on the scene of Sid's murder, where he says "someone beat him to death, and stole a bunch of files.  Guess he dug up dirt on the wrong guy, we've got it nailed down to a thousand suspects!". 

Another slight issue I have with the film is the almost telepathic link that Exley and Bud have with each other that they just happen to know something was written with the Nite Owl killings and how it was solved.  And yeah OK I buy it more for Exley as he got his doubts from when he questioned the rape victim after he wheeled her out in a wheelchair from the hospital as she lied in her statement to the police, but with Bud its more just an intuition than anything else. 

So in a way there is not much basis for Bud sussing it out other than just a hunch but the two men seem to have their doubts just at the same time.  But I guess the same can be said for Jack Vincennes but the murder of the young aspiring actor was what got him thinking something was up but he didn't make the connection between the actor's death and the Nite Owl killings.  Again its a bit trivial but just an afterthought.       

Another thing that bothered me was when the young black guys escaped the police station as basically in this scene ALL the police officers seemed to vacate the station leaving them free to escape!  Now this is quite a bizzare case of police negligence to say the least that they would not at least leave a few police officers behind to guard them!  But nope, they all clear off to arrive at the crime scene to save the Mexican girl. In fact it almost reminds me of the scene where in The Dark Knight Rises, where Commissioner Gordon sends all the cops down in the tunnels to smoke out the film's main villain, Bane, who ends up trapping them down there! So for me this is one of the very few scenes here that don't quite add up and appears to lack a bit of logic.

I also thought that the scene where Exley tries to question the rape victim JUST as she is being carried into the back of an ambulance car, is also pretty ridiculous. I mean, the woman has just suffered a severely traumatic experience and Exley wants to question her there and then??!! I come on! Give her some time to recover at least for God's sake! So, Bud is totally in the right to push Exley away from her and tells him to "give your career a rest!" as its a pretty stupid and tactless scene on Exley's part.

And lastly, I thought it was also very debatable to assume that Bud could survive gunshot wounds near the end of the film as he is shot in the chest and then through the cheek! I mean maybe its possible he could have survived it but it seems a bit unlikely although by the end of the film, it looks like Bud has lost the ability of speech so maybe the bullet compromised his vocal chords in someway.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, L.A. Confidential is still a terrific noir thriller and one of the best films of the 1990's that features some great performances from its ensemble cast, some tense action scenes as well as a terrific score from Jerry Goldsmith. And any minor flaws it has can be really be overlooked as this is for me still one of the great modern crime thrillers of its day and to this day, it hasn't aged a bit.

So, I will finish by giving L.A. Confidential rating of:

9.5 out of 10.

Right, that's it for now and I will be back with another post sometime soon, until then its off the record, on the QT and very hush hush! 

Bye for now!  

 

GTA Vice City Review (Revisited)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OK, since I've been replaying GTA Vice City lately, I figured I would take another look at my previous review of it, which I did almost five years ago, which is actually fairly comprehensive but I figured I would add to it anyway.

So, after almost 20 years, let's take another look at this modern classic and see how it fairs...

And the usual...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY

So, the game is set in 1986 with the main character, Tommy Vercetti (voiced by Ray Liotta) having just served a 15 year prison sentence.  Tommy's mob boss, Sonny Forelli (Tom Sizemore) sends him out to Vice City, where he meets up with mob lawyer Ken Rosenberg (William Fichtner) who he does some business with.  Sonny sets up some cocaine deals for Tommy to head up, but at one of the deals, there is an ambush and he loses both the money and the cocaine.  Tommy after having a heated phone call with Sonny swears he will get his money back and kill whoever was responsible.

From this point through Ken, Tommy meets up with another drug dealer, Juan Garcia Cortez (Robert Davi) who helps make some enquiries as to who was behind the ambush, and he also meets with Cortez's daughter, Mercedes.  Along the way Tommy also meets a British record producer, Kent Paul (Danny Dyer), a real estate dealer Avery Carrington (Burt Reynolds), and Lance Vance (Philip Michael Thomas) who is out to avenge the death of his brother, Vic, who was killed at the start of the game as a result of a botched drug deal.  

Tommy and Lance become business partners, and together they discover that the man behind the hit on the cocaine was in fact Ricardo Diaz (Luis Guzman).  Lance himself goes to try and take out Diaz, but he fails, leaving Tommy with no choice but to save Lance from being killed.  Once Tommy rescues Lance, the two men go to Diaz's mansion and they kill him, after which Tommy takes over Diaz's mansion.  After this Tommy's business enterprises expand as he and Lance become the drug kingpins in Vice city, and buys over near bankrupt businesses such as a strip club, a car lot, a night club, a parking lot and a counterfeiting print shop and turns them into successful money spinners.

However all is soon not well, as Tommy's hotheaded nature makes him somewhat selfish as he refuses to pay tribute to Sonny, by giving any cut of his earnings to his boss, as well as disobeying his orders.  Lance also becomes somewhat paranoid and exhibits signs of insecure and irrational behaviour as he feels left out by Tommy, who belittles him at times.  And its not long before Sonny is forced to confront Tommy at his mansion as he sends his men to force him to give up money from his assets, which leads to the game's climactic shootout.......

THOUGHTS 

GTA Vice City is without a doubt one of the seminal games of the 21st century so far, as it takes the impressive and immersive sandbox world of GTA III and expands on it even further.  In Vice City there are several tweaks in gameplay from its predecessor, and there is a larger variety of vehicles, the city environment is also much bigger and there are of course even more missions and side missions to do. It is of course looking pretty dated by today's game standards but that goes without saying and its control system is also a bit dated too but more on that later. 

However, this is still a great game for its time and again it features a pretty good plot and this time we get a talkative playable character in the form of Tommy Vercetti, a hotheaded mafia gangster, who has served 15 years in prison but now he's out, he wants to make a name for himself in Vice City. And its the story that also helps drive (no pun intended!) the game along its course as well as its entertaining mix of varied missions.  

Clearly the tone of Vice city borrows heavily from Miami Vice, and there are also traces of Brian De Palma's Scarface in there as well, especially one mission where Tommy chases a man down the street with a chainsaw.  Not to mention Tommy's mansion is also very similar in design to Tony Montana's one in Scarface also and the ending echoes the feel of the bloody action fueled climax in the film. 

GAMEPLAY

As for the gameplay, I will split into sub sections below as I usually do but I didn't do this in my previous review of the game but have done so here. 

MOVEMENT 

Movement wise there are also improvements as now Tommy for example can crouch giving his a better vantage point in certain missions when he wants to take cover and snipe his enemies.  There is also the nifty inclusion of moves such as where Tommy can leap into an open top car and drive off, which we didn't get before in GTA III.  Other than that Tommy's moves are much the same as in GTA III with running and sprinting and Tommy will also stop for breath if he runs too fast.

WEAPONS  

There is also a much larger variety of weapons than previously, as now Tommy has access to pistols, shotguns, sub-machine guns, sniper rifles, assault rifles, and even a chainsaw, as well as melee weapons such as swords, knives, baseball bats and even golf clubs! Similar to GTA III, Tommy can hold so many weapons at one time and you cycle through them to choose your weapon and ammo can be reloaded automatically or by even cycling between two different weapons.

ENEMY GANGS 

The game also features different gangs as well, one of which in particular is a gang of Haitians, which caused some controversy at the time it was released as Haitian groups in Florida accussed the game of having a potentially harmful effect on immigrants.  The Haitian groups also accused Rockstar of the depiction of the groups in the game as it appeared to be almost a racist depiciton, based on some of the lines of dialogue that appear in the game, which were later edited out of the game.

VEHICLES 

As for vehicles there are a large amount available in the game with over 100 different choices of vehicle, with everything from a sports car, to motorcycle, to a bus and even a golf caddy car! Tommy can also fly in the game, so he will have access to choppers and seaplanes for specific missions throughout.  

PROPERTIES AND SIDE MISSIONS 

There is also the inclusion of buying properties and business in the game which makes for a new feature, as buying these can help make Tommy more money in the game, as he will come back and make collections from the property over time.  There are also of course side missions, such as taxi fares, driving injured people to hospital in ambulances, extinguish fires using a firetruck, and delivering pizzas (which can be tough to do in the timeframe!). 

WANTED CRIME RATINGS 

As before, Tommy will gain a wanted rating based on the crimes he commits, which will rank from 1 star up to 6 stars, so basically 1 star could mean comitting a single murder whereas six stars is World War III! And one of the newer features involving the police is they have the ability to lay down spikes on the road to puncture the wheels in your cars. You can of course lose your wanted rating by going to paint and spray stop, which will give your vehicle a new paint job, so the cops won't recognise it however this doesn't work on police cars. 

OUTFITS 

Tommy as a character can also finally make a change of clothes as he can go into clothes stores and change outfit at certain points in the game, although in GTA San Andreas, the main character is given more choice when its comes to clothing.

HIDDEN PACKAGES

And last of all are the hidden packages, which can be found throughout the game in various parts of the city and there are 100 hidden packages in total. However trying to obtain all of the packages can be pretty challenging given how well hidden some of them are but its still worth it and necessary if you want to platinum the game (i.e. complete it 100%). 

VOICE ACTING (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!!)
 
As for the voice acting, well the cast on display are top notch, with Ray Liotta delivering an excellent performance as the main character, Tommy Vercetti, the hot tempered mobster, who makes it big in Vice city, and ends up getting himself in hot water.  Although it has to be said that Tommy isn't all that likeable as he oftens comes across as a bad tempered, arrogant asshole, so in a way its not surprising the heat he brings on himself although he does occassionally show a lighter side.

Liotta has some great moments in the story and he get's some great lines as well and even has moments where Tommy mutters to himself.  And one such examples is when Tommy speaks of someone who Phil (voiced by Gary Busey) knows called Hilary, who Tommy races in the mission "The Driver".  And Phil tells Tommy that Hilary has "abandonment issues" and Tommy later mutters to himself "Abandonment issues? What a freak. Why can't I meet someone that's normal for a change!!".  Another is when the Cuban ganglord, Umberto Robina tells Tommy he is to help out in charging against the Haitan gangs drug lab and Tommy says to himself "The last thing I needed was this. Maybe the last thing I needed was an enema, but this comes close!".

Another great line comes during the mission "Publicity Tour" when Tommy drives the Scottish rock band, Love Fist to their concert venue to protect them as they have been receiving death threats from a psycho stalker.  And as the group all panic around Tommy he yells at them saying "Ok guys. Calm down, I'll handle this! Normally I wouldn't busy myself with driving around a bunch of drunken Scottish bisexuals, but in YOUR case, I'll make an exception!".

Liotta also handles the moments very well where Tommy just explodes in rage such as the scene in the mission "Bar Brawl" where Lance tells him that a bar is refusing to pay protection money.  And in the scene Lance says "Relax Tommy, I'll handle it" as he sits just drinking at the bar, prompting Tommy to explode "YOU CALL THIS HANDLING IT???!!!" and he turns to two of his men and says "You two!  Of your asses, let's go!".

And last of all there is the great moment in the game where Tommy (PLOT SPOILER!!!) discovers that Lance has betrayed him to his old boss, Sonny Forelli.  And when Tommy finds out he looks angrily to Lance and he says to him quietly but furious "You sold us out".  And as Sonny scornfully says to him "So Tommy, what was the big plan? You think I was gonna take the fake cash, save face, and walk away with my tail between my legs?!!" Tommy replies coldly "No. I just wanted to piss you off before I killed you!".   

Philip Michael Thomas, who was previously a co-star in Miami Vice, is also excellent as Lance Vance, of which the name itself was the cause of alot of grief for Lance as a kid as he states at one point in the game how his brothers and everyone at school used to taunt him about it.

Thomas has some good moments as well in the story that include the scene in "Supply and demand" where Tommy is sent on a mission by Diaz and he is about to take his fast boat when he sees Lance at the pier sitting in the boat.  And Tommy says to him "Let me guess...you thought I could use a guardian angel?" and Lance says "I'm just saying you need to let me in there, my man.  Now you can feed me all this lonely tough guy crap, but I know one day that I'm gonna save your ass and you'll probably gonna kiss me!" prompting Tommy to say "Wacko!" and Lance to laugh.

And last of all there is the scene near the end of the game where discover that Lance after having felt he has been sidelined by Tommy in their business, betrays Tommy to Sonny Forelli.  And in the scene Tommy looks angrily at Lance and says to him "You sold us out" and Lance spits back "No I sold you out, Tommy.  I sold YOU OUT!!".   

Tom Sizemore is great as Sonny Forelli, Tommy's mafia boss, who is similarly hot headed and is resentful at Tommy for being cut out of his businesses as well, which leads to their fallout.

Sizemore sounds like he must be having fun with delivering Sonny's explosive dialogue and as a prime example there is one which comes later in the game when Sonny calls Tommy for the umpteenth time.  And in the call Sonny says calmly at first " Obviously you are suffering from hearing problems, so I'll try again" and then he yells out loud "WHERE'S THE GODDAMN MONEY?!!  WHERE'S THE GODDAMN STUFF????!!!  AND WHERE'S MY CUT OF YOUR NEW ACTION???!!!  You're making an idiot out of me, Tommy and I'm not laughing yet!".    

William Fichtner is also excellent as Ken Rosenberg, who was basically modelled on Sean Penn's character from Carlito's Way, David Kleinfeld, as a neurotic coke addled mob lawyer who does business with Tommy off and on throughout the game.

Fichtner has some good lines of dialgoue as well and good moments that include the scene in an earlier mission "Jury Fury" where Rosenberg insists that Tommy intimidate some jury members for a court case.  And Rosenberg says to Tommy "Do I look like I can intimidate a jury? I couldn't intimidate a child, and believe me, I've tried!".  And as Tommy says "Help the jury change their minds, I've got it" Rosenberg insists further "No no no no no - NO! I tried that. The jury case didn't go so well, so MAKE them change their minds!".    

Luis Guzman as the drug overlord, Ricardo Diaz is great as well, and he has several funny moments in the game, one of them being when he is out the front of his mansion shooting at birds with his shotgun, and another where he trashes his TV when he loses a racing bet, and he keeps calling everyone "dickheads!".

Another fun moment is when Diaz is trying to eject a video tape on his video recorder and quickly grows impatience as he jabs the buttons with no success.  And Diaz yells "Plastic crap! You doing this to me? Who do you think you are, you piece of plastic SHIT?!! Aaarrgh!".  And he shoots the VCR shouting "SCREW YOU!!" and he turns to Tommy and says "It eats my favorite El Burro movie, it die! What else could I do?!".  And Tommy observes that "Its probably not plugged in!" and right enough we see that it wasn't even plugged in and Diaz says "Damn....no matter.  I can buy a hundred more!".    

There are also several supporting characters as well which provide plenty of humour and amusement, such as Kent Paul, the annoying Brit record producer, voiced by Danny Dyer.

Dyer delivers all his dialogue in his London accent and he appears to be relishing it and he get's some amusing lines too that include his first scene where Tommy turns up at a club to question Paul.  And as Tommy says he is a friend of Rosenberg, Paul thinks for a second and says "Rosenberg... Rosenberg... Oh, that bonkers ambulence chaser! That guy could defend an innocent man all the way to Death Row!".

And later in the mission "Death Row" Tommy visits the club again and learns from Paul that Lance has been captured by Diaz's men after making an attempt on Diaz's life.  And in the scene Paul says to Tommy "Aw right, mush?  I'm gonna save your Vera mate!" (Vera is cockney for skin).  And as Tommy asks what he is talking about, Paul says "You know that wanker Diaz, The Bugle Master. He's got your boy, Lance. Word is your mate tried to jump him...didn't jump high enough if you know what I mean!".  And Tommy then angrily grabs Paul and shouts "Where is he?!  In plain English!" and Paul tells him "Keep your barnet on! They got him across town at the Junkyard!".  And Tommy throws him to the floor and storms off leaving Paul to get up and yell after him "Bloody hell!  You nutter!".   
  
Lee Majors as the gang leader of a group of bikers, Big Mitch Baker, is also really good here and puts in a solid performance.

Majors has a really good scene in the game during the mission "Messing with the man" where Mitch gets angry with Tommy's impatience in getting him to agree to do the security for the Love Fist gig.  And in the scene Mitch says to Tommy "Yeah, right, but this family takes care of its own. We don't ask a man to do the dirty work and then let him do fifteen years hard time. Yeah, that's right. I've done my homework. This here's the biggest family of misfits, outcasts and badasses. Hell, some of us has even been betrayed by our own country!  Which is why I'm gonna ask you to go mess with the man. This whole damn country needs a kick in the ass, and we're the ones to deliver it. So get out there, grab a bike and show this city how pissed you are!".  

Gary Busey is very funny as the half crazed former Vietnam vet, Phil Cassidy.  Interestingly enough Phil Cassidy appears in GTA III, which was set later on in 2001 (the year of its release) where we see that Phil only has one arm, and he claims he lost in Nicaragua.  But in Vice city we see that Phil actually lost the arm in an accident when he makes an unstable explosive cocktail called Boomshine, which explodes and takes off his arm with it!

And after the mission where Tommy saves Phil by taking him to hospital, Tommy get's a call from Phil who says to him "Tommy, its Phil. I want to thank you for helping me back there, son. Damn Charlie. He'll always ambush you one way or the other. Anyway, the wound is healing well, and it no longer means I'll be defrauding the government on my disability check!".

And the last few I will mention are Dennis Hooper also makes an amusing cameo as a porn director, Steve Scott, who in the game directs the character, Candy Suxx, voiced by the real-life former porn starlet, Jenna Jamieson.

Hopper has some fun lines too that include one where Scott on set says to one of the female actresses that they have a live anaconda they intend to use in the film "Honey, could you please keep the anaconda in the shot? He costs more an hour than you do!". Actually...come to think of it, I think the anaconda is actually something else! ;-)    

Danny Trejo is also pretty good as the Cuban gang leader, Umberto Robina and he has some fun moments such as in the mission cut scene for "Trojan Voodoo" where Robina crudely tries to hit a couple of women in his cafe and one of them throws coffee in his face.  And as they walk out Robina yells at them " Hey, baby, I wouldn't touch you with a ten foot pole! Umberto Robina, he likes the ladies! Not some goat in a skirt!".    

GRAPHICS AND SOUNDTRACK   

Moving onto the game's graphics well for their time they are very good and on the most recent PS4 remaster they look better than ever.  The game's environments are fairly detailed and they are also quite varied given the size of the game its much more expansive than GTA III was.  The character models are also surprisingly very good too and even though they are far from realistic.  And the graphics are way better than the follow up in GTA San Andreas where the character models look terrible in comparison as they appeared to skimp on the graphics in favour of expanding the size of the game itself.

Another prominent feature in Vice City and also one of its strengths is its varied soundtrack, as there a vast variety of music tracks and what must about a dozen radio stations, featuring different styles of music such as rock, pop, rap, latin, jazz, and electro.

Some of the tracks featured include rock/metal from Megadeth, Iron Maiden, David Lee Roth, Ozzy Osbourne, Twisted Sister, Judas Priest and even Slayer.  Some pop tracks of the time include artists such as Blondie, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Michael Jackson, The Buggles, INXS, Talk Talk, Go West, A Flock of Seagulls, Kool and the Gang, Kate Bush, Spandau Ballet, and this game also introduced me to one of my favourite bands, The Fixx, who remain virtually unheard of in the UK but still enjoy success in America where they tour regularly.  

The game also features a fictional rock band called Love Fist, who are a group of drunken Scottish bisexuals, who are fronted by the singer, Jezz Torrent (great name!) who is voice acted by Kevin McKidd (who is best known as Tommy from Trainspotting and his role in the action horror film, Dog Soldiers).   

And just like in GTAIII there are a couple of chat radio stations, both of which are really funny and feature some pretty eccentric interviews.  The first station is K-chat, which its host is a real air-headed lass called Amy Sheckenhausen, who either gushes or talks over her interviewees.  One of Amy's interviews is a piss take of the late Steve Urwin, as she interviews an over enthusiastic animal lover, Mr Zoo (his real name is Pat Flanerty) who is soon revealed to have serious mental healh issues and is involved in a court case, as he got a bit too friendly with a dolphin!

And the second is VCPR, Vice City Public Radio, which features a very funny debate show voiced by its fictional presenter, Maurice Chavez, who was once a failed entertainer (he used to be a clown and also tried to make his way into movies unsuccessfully).  Some of Maurice's funniest debates, include a naked man who get's a bit too comfortable on the show, and an annoying promotional speaker, who Maurice eventually ends up hitting in the face with a paperweight.  Maurice also has two supervisors who continually put him down on air (probably when he's not listening) and one of them even calls him at one point "a useless talentless asshole!".  The game is also notable for its amusing ads, some of which are very satirical and are worth a listen, as you will get a laugh out of them. 

FLAWS 

As for Vice City's flaws......well yeah OK there are still some.  

And to start off I would say one of the snags about GTA Vice City is that due to the somewhat unsophisticated nature of the graphics by today's standards it makes the game feel very cartoony and not very realistic.  And an example of this would be the silly big spinning icons you get for extra health, with the big heart sign, or a spinning icon of a gun, and if you run over the icon you automatically get the upgrade, whether it be more health or ammo.  Its a far cry from the more realistic options you get in today's games where you have the option to bandage yourself up or take painkillers.  However in a way its not such a bad thing as its cartoonesque feeling helps make the game more fun and far less gritty than future GTA games such as GTA IV would be in comparison.

Another thing that bugs me about Vice City is when Tommy falls into the water, he instantly drowns, which I think is a bit unrealistic.  This was the same in GTAIII, I mean surely didn't these guys learn how to swim????!  And even if they couldn't swim they certainly wouldn't drown instantaneously like they do here!  Obviously this was a bone of contention with fans as by the time we got to GTA San Andreas, they finally resolved this issue by giving the main character, CJ, the ability to swim in the ocean, and not only just merely swim, but swim like a champion swimmer at a hundred miles an hour! 

Further to this, I think Tommy's health takes hits way too easily as even running down a flight of stairs can cause him to lose health and that is no exaggeration! If you skip run down the stairs at say, Tommy's mansion, he will lose health as a result or body armour if he is wearing any! Its frankly ridiculous to think that he can take HP damage so easily but hey ho, that's how the game is. 

And this brings me onto another annoying issue, which is bike riding as Tommy can fall off his bike way too easily and of course he takes health damage for that too! Its a pity that they didn't think then to introduce the skills feature into this game although they did do that for San Andreas, where you can increase your bike riding skills until you no longer fall off it so easily. However, sadly here you fall off your bike far too easily and its makes for a pretty frustrating time, especially if you are on a mission trying to get somewhere.  

The game also lacks checkpoints in the missions and you will often find yourself having to restart the more frustrating missions (and there are plenty of them I can tell you!) time and time again without having a checkpoint to go back to and instead you need to go back to beginning!  This was of course something they would remedy in the later GTA games and to a lesser extent they resolved this in San Andreas but it would take GTA IV before mission checkpoints would come into the series and here the lack of them makes for a frustrating time (actually that's not entirely true for GTA IV!).

I would also say there are some missions that feel just like filler that have no real place in there such as the Haitian missions where Tommy meets Auntie Poulet, the Haitians leader who hypnotises Tommy into doing her dirty to fight the Cubans.  And as Tommy has no memory of carrying out these missions and later on goes on to help the Cubans take down the Haitains drug plant it just seems totally redundant what he had done for Auntie Poulet and they might as well not have had him done it at all!

I also felt that they spent a lot of time in leaving Lance out of the game after the "Cop Land" mission ( a nice nod to Sylvester Stallone film, which also co-starred Ray Liotta!) to just let Tommy build his empire without him.  Perhaps this reinforces Lance's jealousy and feelings of being sidelined by Tommy but he is still one of the primary characters in the game and he just appears to be taken out of the game for quite a long spell and its not really until near the end he comes back into it!

Another issue is to do with the aggressiveness of the police when you get a wanted rating of 2 stars or above, the cops can become pretty hard to shift as they relentlessly keep ramming into your car as you try and escape, which usually ends in your car going up in smoke. So, the police are a real pain in this game and I think they ended up toning them down in San Andreas because they were at their most brutal here. And this is particularly frustrating in the missions "Cop Land" and "No Escape?" where you destroy a coffee shop in a mall and bust a safe cracker out of jail respectively and in both missions the cops are all over you, which makes it really hard to escape them!

Then there is the issue to do with timed missions as there are quite a few timed missions in the game, which can be very frustrating. Now, I do get some the point of some missions being timed but not all of them and a prime example of this is the mission where Tommy has to acquire some drugs for the band Love Fist and later pick up his sleazy sort-of girlfriend, Mercedes. However when you go to pick up Mercedes when you get her, the mission is suddenly got a timer on it and you need to get her back to Love First in just over a minute! And I think they just added the timer into this mission for just a pointless extra bit of a difficulty but its really not needed, they should just have got her to the way point and be done with it instead of throwing in these annoying time-based missions!   

Another issue is to do with some buggy AI in the game and this is particularly a problem with Lance as there are some missions where he can get stuck or lost and you need to go back and get him in order him to go with you. A good example of this is in the mission "Cop Land" where Tommy and Lance disguise themselves as cops to go into a mall and set off explosives in a coffee store that owes them money. So, when the bomb goes off there are times where Lance will get stuck in the mall and you need go back inside and get him, which is especially annoying if you have already tried to escape and taken fire from the cops in the process.   

Then we have the controversy over the missions with the Cuban gang leader, Umberto (voiced by Danny Trejo) who is in a rival gang war with the Haitians and there was a big outcry over this from Haitian groups who protested against the depiction of Haitians in the game as thieves, killers and drug dealers. Rockstar did apologize however to the groups and claimed that it was not their intention to hate on ethnic groups and the violence was in context and there are examples of over ethnic violence in the game. However, Rockstar was also forced to remove any reference to the Haitians in future versions of the game, which lead to key sections of dialogue being cut out in these missions.

Now of course this in a sense not a bad thing given the controversy that it initially caused however my concern is that it leaves new players confused as to what is happening, especially if they have no awareness of who they are fighting against in the game. So, instead of Umberto saying "we're gonna take out the Haitians!" he just refers to them as "such and such!" which is really vague to say the least! So, I see why Rockstar did what they did but the heavy censoring of the dialogue makes the storyline of these missions a lot less clear.    

And lastly I think the aiming system in the game is a bit of a pain in the ass at times too, especially the way Tommy can only crouch in a stationary position and fire his gun, he can't move and fire in a crouched position like CJ does in San Andreas.  The crosshair rifle view is also a bit infuriating when Tommy uses the rifles particularly when playing it on the PS4/5 as using the controller makes it difficult to aim accurately when shooting enemies and I found myself having to reload missions quite a bit in trying to get use to using the crosshair system.  Thankfully in later games they would again resolve this and in San Andreas they improved the aiming system, but here it remains pretty flawed.

In fact further to this point, I feel the main problem with the controls are that you cannot turn the camera around using R3 like you can in San Andreas and you can only use the L3 stick button to move Tommy and the camera automatically moves around as he does. If you press R3 it turns into a first person perspective view and the camera pans around that way but its pretty annoying that you can't keep it in the third person to see Tommy in that view also. 

Anyway, so that's it for the flaws....

SUM UP

So in summing up, Grand Theft Auto Vice City is still an excellent game 19 years on from when it was first released and it has in that time been released on various platforms such as Android and IOS phones (but I don't recommend playing it on them!).  It has plenty of missions (including frustrating ones that will have you nearly tear your hair out!) provides plenty of laughs, and there is a tremendous amount of variety in its missions, tasks, side missions, as well as the sheer scale of the game, not to mention it has a terrific voice cast, and an excellent soundtrack. 

There are a few downsides especially in its control scheme for moving and aiming during combat, which be pretty frustrating and it can force you to reload missions until you get used to it and that's the main thing that dates the game. Also the camera perspective being largely fixed and not being able to spin around in a 360 degree motion like most other 3D games is also a pain and can be very annoying in certain missions. 

However, despite any issues, GTA Vice City is still a classic game and one that easily warrants repeat playing. 

So, I will give GTA Vice City...

9 out of 10

So, that's it for now and I will be back with another post soon.

Till the next one, its bye fer now! 

Fast and Furious 7 Review

 

 

 

 

 

Right, well I've finally gotten around to watching a new film of late (or rather one I haven't seen!) and the film in question is Fast and Furious 7 (which came out back in 2015, so not that new!) as I had seen the first six films, so I finally got around to watching this one. 

So, with that said, let's see how the 7th film in the franchise fairs...

And the usual warning is coming up...

PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!

STORY 

So, I will quote some of the plot from Wikipedia to save myself some time.

"After defeating Owen Shaw and his crew and securing amnesty for their past crimes, Dominic "Dom" Toretto, Brian O'Conner and the rest of their team have returned to the United States to live peaceful, normal lives again. Brian begins to accustom himself to life as a father, while Dom tries to help Letty Ortiz regain her memory. Meanwhile, Owen's older brother, Deckard, breaks into the secure hospital in London where the comatose Owen is being held in, before breaking into DSS office in Los Angeles to extract profiles of Dom's crew. After revealing his identity, Deckard engages Luke Hobbs in a fight and escapes when he detonates a bomb that severely injures Hobbs. Dom later learns from his sister Mia that she is pregnant again and convinces her to tell Brian. However, a letter bomb sent from Tokyo, explodes and destroys the Toretto house just seconds after Han Lue, a member of Dom's team, is killed by Deckard in Tokyo".

Additional plot info by me:

After this, Dom pays a visit to Hobbs in hospital (at Hobbs request) who tells him who Deckard is and that unofficially he wants Dom to pursue him. So, its from here that Dom sets out on a dangerous mission to take down Deckard but in order to do it, he will need the help of his crew including Brian...

THOUGHTS

Well, after six films, its in a way reassuring to see that Fast and Furious 7 follows the formulae that made its predecessors so successful as its a very entertaining action film, which is undoubtedly the most proposterously over the top film in the franchise up to this point! And the film has its share of over the top action scenes and ridiculous gravity defying car chases and when I mean gravity defying I mean just that as in one scene, Dom drives a sports car through three buildings! 

The film however also has a more poignant theme to it because this was the final one to feature Paul Walker in the role of ex-cop, Brian O'Connor as Walker himself was killed in a car accident in 2013 at the age of 40. So, the film naturally is dedicated to Walker and it also shows a collection of clips of Walker as O'Connor at the end of the film to comemmorate him.

PERFORMANCES (No notable scenes this time!)

As for the performances, things are mostly pretty good here from the cast.

Starting with Vin Diesel who effortlessly returns to the role of Dominic Torretto, a former professional street racer and Vin plays the role with his usual mix of cool, muscle and his usual gravelly voiced delivery. Diesel also has some good action scenes in the film too that include a melee fight with Jason Statham's character, Deckard as well as some bizzarely over the top car chase scenes where Dom drives a car and smashes through three high rise buildings in Abu Dhabi! 

Paul Walker is also pretty good in his final performance as Brian O'Connor, a former FBI agent, who works as part of Dom's crew and is married to Dom's sister, Mia in this film. Walker's performance also has a poignant ring to it because there is a scene where Brian calls Mia and emotionally tells her that he might not see her again as he undertakes the dangerous mission to take down Deckard. Walker would later as mentioned, die tragically in a car accident in November 2013 and the film makers had to resort to using Walker's younger brothers as stand-ins to complete some of his scenes. 

Dwayne Johnson also makes a welcome return in the role of the DSS agent, Dobbs, who ends up being hospitalised as a result of his fight with Deckard and he asks Dom for help in taking down Deckard. Johnson himself was filming Hercules at the time of the production, which did restrict his screen time in the film. 

Michelle Rodriguez is also very good as she returns in her role as Letty, Dom's wife, who had previously suffered amnesia after being presumed dead in the film, Fast and Furious (basically the 4th film of the franchise). Letty this time round joins Dom and his crew in their mission to try and take down Deckard. 

Tyrese Gibson also returns in his role as the cocky, wise-cracking Roman Pearce, who is a tech expert and part of Dom's team. Pearce also spends alot of the time trying to be an alpha male or rather as he puts it a "double alpha male" and eyes up a British femake hacker, Ramsey, who joins Dom's crew for the mission.

Djimon Hounsou is also pretty good in his role as the villainous Mose Jakande, who is an ally to Deckard Shaw and a Nigerian born terrorist, who wants to use a special hacking device known as God's eye to track his enemies. 

Jordanna Brewster again returns in her role as Mia Toretto, who is now married to Brian and they have children but its revealed she is pregnant with another child, so obviously Mia stays at home in this film and remains in an anxious state for Brian's safety on his mission. 

Nathalie Emmanuel does very well in her role as Ramsey, the female British hacker, who helps Dom and his team against Shaw and Jakande and Nathalie has her own Bond-esque scene where Ramsey walks out of the sea onto a beach wearing bikini! Rather nice scene too! ;-) 

Kurt Russell also provides a fine performance in his role as Mr Nobody, who is the leader of a special covert ops team, who helps back up Dom and his team in tracking and taking down Shaw. Russell looks his age here at 64 but he does very well all the same in the part. 

And last of all is Jason Statham, who is the primary antagonist of the film, Deckard Shaw, who is out for revenge after his brother was left comatose at the hands of Dom's team in Spain (in the previous film I'm guessing). So, Shaw himself is a badass former rogue special forces assassin, who spends quite a bit of the film tearing up s*** around him and ends up later having a big fight with Dom. Statham does well in the role and he basically does his usual gritty Statham being Statham performance although this time, its interesting to see him play the villain.

DIRECTOR 

As for the director, James Wan, does a fine job here as he confidently handles the film's over the top action scenes but also keeps the film's pace zipping along nicely despite the film's fairly length running time of 2 hours and 17 minutes. Wan himself is the creator of the Saw and Insidious horror film franchises, so this was a bit of a departure, which Wan would later go on to direct the DC superhero film, Aquaman. 

MUSIC 

Score wise, the film's music was done by Brian Tyler who provides a decent enough soundtrack, which is very fitting to the tone of the film but its nothing overly special or memorable. Tyler however has still had extensive score experience having composed numerous film soundtracks such as the Expendables trilogy, Transformers, Iron Man 3 and the Avengers: Age of Ultron to name a few.

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

So, as for flaws....yep Furious 7 has its share...

For starters, the film is without a doubt the most ridiculously over the top entry in the franchise so far up to this point with some proposterously silly stunts. For starters, there is the scene where Dom drives and smashes a fancy sports car through three high rise buildings in Abu Dhabi, which he and Brian of course survive! 

However, that's not all, Dom also has nuermous crashes in the film, all of which he survives as he has a car showdown duel with Shaw twice and he survives both of them without a single scratch! Not to mention of course later on near the end, Dom yet again narrowly avoids death as he crashes his car drives it over the top of Jakande's chopper! So, yeah its safe to say that Dom is virtually indestructable in this film and nothing can take him down!

And then there is of course the ridiculous moment where Hobbs, who witnesses Dom's team in action on the TV later on in LA, as Hobbs sits up in his hospital bed, wearing a full arm cast, he decides to jump out of bed, tear his arm cast off and suit up his armour and go out and help Dom! So, yeah it is a pretty ridiculous moment not only in the film but also from the entire series. And yep before you know it, Dobbs is out there helping Dom's team and he soon grabs a mini-gun from a downed enemy chopper and starts to shooting at bad guys! So, yeahhhhh its not exactly realistic to say the least! 

I also felt that while Shaw is supposed to be the main bad guy in the film, Jason Statham was still somewhat sidelined in this film as he doesn't have much in the way of actual dialogue and its mainly just him kicking ass or ramming cars at Dom! So, I felt in a way they could have handled Statham's character a bit better than they actually did. 

And lastly I think it has to be said that series had become pretty formulaic by this time as you just know that Dom and his team will be involved in yet another mission to obtain or capture something or someone and this time its the female hacker, Ramsey. So, yeah by this time, Dom is no longer a simple street racer, he is now like a member of the mission impossible team! 

So, that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Fast and Furious 7 is a very enjoyable entry in the franchise and it is filled with fast paced action and plenty of fun moments with the main cast all on good form. Its also sad that it was the final performance for Paul Walker before his tragic death only at the age of 40 but he does get a fitting and rather poignant send-off at the end of the film.

The film of course does have some problems as the action scenes are bit too ridiculous at times and Dom once again proves that he virtually indestructable in the face of spectacular car crashes or even taking on ex special forces assassins and matching them blow for blow despite Dom having no such training himself! 

But... if you are willing to overlook its faults, Fast and Furious 7 is still worth a look and an enjoyable entry and poignant send-off for Paul Walker. 

So, I will give Fast and Furious 7...

7 out of 10.

Right, that's it for now and I will be back sometime soon with another post.

Until then, bye for now! 

A View To A Kill Review (Revisited) "What a view...to a kill!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right, so now we're into February, I thought I would fit in a quick a revisitation review and I will be taking another look at Roger Moore's final Bond film, A View to a Kill, which I've just been watching recently. 

So, with that said let's take another look at Roger Moore's swansong in the role...

So, the usual warning is coming up...

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY

So, the story begins with Bond (Moore) on a mission in Sibera where he has to retrieve a microchip that originated from the Soviet Union.  On returning to England, Bond has Q (Desmond Llewellyn) analyse the chip and Q discovers that it is designed withstand an electromagnetic pulse and was made by government contractors, Zorin industries.

Bond then pays a visit to the Ascot racecourse to observe the company's owner, Max Zorin (Christopher Walken) and after watching Zorin's horse in a race winning, they noticed that the horse was hard to control.  This leads Bond's associate, Sir Godfrey Tibbett (Patrick Macnee) who is a racehorse trainer and also an MI6 agent, that the horse had been drugged although the tests proved negative.

Bond soon meets with a private detective, Achille Aubergine (great name!) who informs Bond that Zorin is holding a private horse sale soon however their meeting is soon interrupted as Aubergine is assassinated by a masked assassin that turns out to be Zorin's bodyguard, May Day (Grace Jones).  Bond then chases May Day up the Eiffel tower but she soon dives off the tower and escapes in a speedboat, driven by Zorin.

Bond and Tibbet then attend the horse sale, where Bond meets a beautiful woman named Stacey Sutton (Tanya Roberts) who rebuffs Bond's advances but he does find that out Zorin has written her a cheque for five million dollars.  At night, Bond and Tibbett sneak into Zorin's lab and they discover that he is implanting adrenaline inducing devices into the horses.

Zorin soon meets with Bond in person but runs an ID check and discovers that Bond is a secret agent and then afterward he has May Day kill Tibbett.  Zorin then invites Bond to participate in a horse race but it soon turns hostile and Bond tries to evade Zorin's men but he is captured, knocked out and placed in a car with the dead Tibbett which is then dumped into the water, where Zorin and May Day assume that Bond has drowned (although he hasn't as he uses the car's tyres for oxygen to stay under water long enough before he escapes).

Afterward Zorin is confronted by General Gogol (Walter Gotell) and we find out that Zorin was a former KGB agent but he has now gone rogue and Gogol is angered that he killed Bond without permission.  After this Zorin during a business meeting onboard his zeppelin, announces his plan to flood and destroy Silicon Valley to give himself and his investors the monopoly over the microchip industry.

Bond then soon meets up again with Stacey as he rescues her from an assassination attempt by Zorin's men as Stacey after tells Bond that Zorin was after her family's oil business, which he attempted to buy.  Bond and Stacey then travel to San Francisco city hall where they check out Zorin's plan but they are soon met with Zorin and May Day who set fire to the building and trap Bond and Stacey, however they soon manage to escape.

After this Bond and Stacey then infiltrate Zorin's mine where he plans to detonate explosives along the lakes that surround Silicon valley, which would leave the valley permanently submerged and thereby destroy the microchip industry for Zorin to take over.  And its up to Bond to find a way to stop Zorin from carrying out his plan.....

THOUGHTS 

As Roger Moore's final Bond film, A View to a Kill is not one of his best but its still a fairly enjoyable send-off for Moore and he certainly made his mark on the role in his tenure but it definitely has to be said by this time, he was 58 years old and simply too old to continue as 007. Moore himself had even  acknowledged in an later interviews that he was "400 years too old" to play the part by then and initially expressed a desire to leave the role after For Your Eyes Only. 

However despite Roger's old age and the increasingly uncomfortable seduction of women that are far too young for him, this is still an entertaining film and it is helped by a fairly memorable villain duo of Zorin and his female bodyguard and mistress, Mayday. And its safe to say that Zorin is one of more ruthless and psychotic Bond villains in the series, as he has no allegiance to anyone but himself. And it is also somewhat amusing to see Mayday be his bodyguard, who has almost superhuman strength as she coin hoist men over her head with ease! So, yeah its a decent send off for Roger Moore if not a great one but I will say more on that later.   

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!) 

As for the film's performances, they are mostly pretty good despite one or two exceptions here and there.

And to start off with looking at the cast we have Roger Moore who in his last role as Bond, does another good job in the part but by then he was clearly too old to be playing the role by then and you could start to lose count of the many wrinkles in his face!  Its also a bit of a stretch to assume at this stage Moore's Bond could seduce all these young ladies who were literally half his age!

Regardless of this though, Moore still has some fun moments in the film such as the scene where he chases May Day after she kills the French detective that Bond met with in Paris.  And during the sequence, Bond jumps onto a boat and crashes into a wedding in progress and he lands on the cake, ruining it, he picks up a piece and he says to the couple "Congratulations!".

Then there is the scene where Bond having snuck into Zorin's lab with Tibbett, later manages to sneak back into his quarters and then jumps into May Day's bed as she enters her room, the two of them soon get it on and as they two of them embrace Bond says to her "I see you are a woman of very few words" and May Day says to him "What is there to say?!".  And the next morning, Bond meets with Zorin who asks him "You slept well?" and Bond says "A little restless but I got off eventually!".

Another amusing scene is when Bond first lays eye on Stacey and Tibbett asks him "Another wealthy owner?" and Bond says to Tibbett "Who knows? But she certainly bares closer inspection!".  And Tibbett wearily says to Bond "We're on a mission" and Bond replies "Sir Godfrey, on a mission, I am expected to sacrifice myself!".

Then later there is the scene where Bond fights off Zorin's men who have come to kill Stacey at her house and he takes her shotgun and shoots one of them, who doesn't die leaving Bond puzzled.  And Bond asks Stacey "What's this thing loaded with?!" and Stacey says to him "Rock salt" and Bond exclaims "NOW you tell me!!".

Another good moment from Rog is when Bond and Stacey travel to San Francisco and go to the city hall where they are soon confronted by Zorin and May Day.  And Bond warns Zorin " My department knows I'm here. When I don't report they'll retaliate" and Zorin says "If you're the best they've got, they're more likely to try and cover up your embarrassing incompetence".  Then Bond says "Don't count on it, Zorin!" and Zorin laughs saying "You amuse me, Mr Bond!" and Bond angrily says to him "Its not mutual!".

Christopher Walken does pretty well in his role as the villainous Zorin and he manages to make his character quite sinister as he kills his victims with a smile.

Walken has some good scenes also that include the one where he first meets Bond, who says to him "I take it you ride" and Zorin says "I'm happiest in the saddle" and Bond then tries to apply a bit of pressure by discreetly referring to May Day's killing of the private eye Bond met with with a fish hook.  So, Bond says to Zorin "A fellow sportsman. So, what about fishing? Fly-casting?!" and Zorin realising he's been rumbled makes an excuse and says "I'm neglecting my other guests. Enjoy yourself, you'll find the young ladies stimulating company".

Then there is the scene where Bond is captured by Zorin and about to be drowned along with the dead Tibbett in Tibbett's car.  And in the scene when Bond sees Tibbett is dead, Zorin says to him "You lost, 007" and Bond says "Killing Tibbett was a mistake" and Zorin smiles and says "Then I'm about to make that same mistake twice!".

Another good moment for Walken is when Zorin holds a business meeting with some of business partners who are out to destroy Silicon valley but one of the tycoons present refuses to have any part of the plan, so May Day escorts the tycoon out of the meeting and ejects him from the zeppelin and the tycoon falls hundreds of feet to a watery grave.  And Zorin after says to his partners "So, anyone else want to drop out?!".  And in the next moment we see the Zeppelin fly over the Golden gate bridge and May Day says to Zorin "Wow! What a view..." and Zorin says "To a kill!".

And lastly there is the scene where Zorin confronts Bond and Stacey at San Francisco's city hall and he says to one of the office workers, Howe "You discharged her, so she and her accomplice came here to kill you. Then they set fire to the office, to conceal the crime but they were trapped in the elevator and perished in the flames".  And Howe says "But that means I would have to be...." and Zorin completes the sentence "Dead!" and he shoots Howe and he turns to Bond and says "That's rather neat, Don't you think?!".  And Bond sarcastically replies "Brilliant. I'm almost speechless with admiration!" and Zorin says "Intuitive improvisation is the secret of genius".

Grace Jones next up does OK in her role as May Day, Zorin's ruthless bodyguard and lover, who seldom says much but is lethal with it. although Jones's performance is not overly great her unusual, quirky appearance makes her quite a unique Bond villain.   

Jones has some good moments in the film though that include the one where Bond sneaks into her room and he lies in her bed waiting for her.  And Bond says to her " May Day, where have you been? I've been waiting for you... to take care of me, personally" and May Day get's undressed and get't into bed with Bond.  And Bond says to her "I see you're a woman of very few words" and May Day mounts on Bond and says to him "What's there to say?!".

Then there is the moment where May Day kills Tibbett and in the scene Tibbett takes his car to a car wash and as it goes through the wash, we suddenly see May Day appear in the backseat and she then proceeds to kill off Tibbett.  Its definitely one of the film's more sinister and memorable moments.

And then later there is the scene where May Day (SPOILER!) is betrayed by Zorin who leaves her to die in the mine but she teams up with Bond in order to escape.  And in the scene, May Day realises that Zorin has double crossed and she says "And I thought that creep loved me!".  And in the next scene May Day sacrifices herself as she rides a mine cart carrying the explosives that meant to detonate under Silicon valley out of the mine and she yells back to Bond "Get Zorin for me!".

Tanya Roberts next up however is the weakest link in the cast as her performance as Stacey Sutton must rank as one of the worst Bond girl performances in the whole series and its a typical case of a character starting out as appearing to be sassy and tough but is soon reduced to a damsel in distress and a shrieking one at that later keeps shouting "JAMES!! JAMES!!".

Still, Roberts has the odd decent moment here and there such as in the scene where Bond first meets Stacey and he takes over a bottle of champagne to her and tries to work his charm on her (unsuccessfully).  And Bond says to her "Hello. I thought you might like to join the party. By the way, the name is James St. John Smythe. I'm English" and Stacey says "I never would have guessed!".

And lastly there is the scene where Bond fights against Zorin's men who set up an ambush on Stacey and Bond shoots Stacey's shotgun, which is loaded with something other than bullets.  And Bond asks her "What's this thing loaded with??" and Stacey says to him "Rock salt!" and Bond says in surprise "NOW you tell me!".

Sadly, Tanya Roberts died in January this year of a blood infection at the age of 65.

Patrick Macnee however fairs much better as Tibbett, Bond's associate who is unfortunately later killed by May Day.

Macnee has some good moments too but the one I liked best was when Tibbett is busy cleaning his car and Bond tells him to get into town and trace a cheque although they are under the watchful eye of Zorin and May Day.  And in the scene Bond says to Tibbett "Be quick.  If those guards we laid out identify us, we'll have to most fast" and Tibbett says to Bond "What shall I say if they ask where I'm going?" and Bond says "Just tell them you have to get the car washed".  So Tibbett then takes the bucket of sudded, dirty water that he used with the sponge and he throws it back onto the car!

As for the other cast members well to save time I won't quote any dialogue or scenes but will quickly them.

Desmond Llewellyn does pretty well once again as Q although he isn't given a great deal to do her except monitor Bond later on using a rather feeble looking robot, which appears earlier on and in the film's final scene when (SPOILER!!!) Bond is in the shower with Stacey.

Lois Maxwell also does what she can with her role as Moneypenny as she only really appears in a couple of scenes and by this time time she was clearly too old to be playing the role herself as she was the same age as Roger was!

Walter Gotell too puts in another good turn as the KGB General Gogol, who is always something of a morally grey character who sits on the fence when it comes to British-Soviet relations.  And Gotell has an amusing scene where he sends a beautiful female spy (played by Fiona Fullerton) to steal a tape from Bond but he tricks her into taking the wrong one, which she takes it to Gogol's car it plays Chinese music!

Robert Brown also reprises his role as the new M, taking over from the late Bernard Lee, and he does pretty well as Lee's replacement and would soon go on to appear in both of Timothy Dalton's films.

And last of all David Yip (best known for his role in the 80s BBC TV series, the Chinese detective) does ok in a minor role as Chuck Lee, an FBI agent who briefly works with Bond.

And last last of all its worth mentioning the inclusion of Dolph Lundgren who has a very small part in the film as one of Gogol's KGB agents but its not even a speaking role really (a bit like Drago in Rocky IV then!). Lundgren however was actually cast in the film as an extra as he was dating Grace Jones at the time.

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

As for the director, John Glen, this was his third Bond film feature and he does a pretty good job here with the action but there are some minor issues with the pacing as some scenes feel a bit slow such as where Bond and Tippett infiltrate Zorin's lab and where Bond is met by the Russian agent.  I think its safe to say that Glen had directed better Bond films than this one but I still think its an improvement over the previous one he did, which was Octopussy!

The music score however by the regular composer, John Barry, is excellent and its a score that has his usual mix of dramatic themes and lush orchestration.  It is also backed up by one of the very best Bond title songs in the whole series, "Dance into the fire" by Duran Duran, which is a great song in its own right even if it isn't in one of the very best Bond films!

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

As for flaws....yesssss...A View to a Kill does have a few.

And to start off one of its main problems is that it suffers from being very cheesy in places and having some cringeworthy moments particularly the one where James Bond pretends to be a financial times reporter called James Stock!  James Stock.....yep that shows a total lack of imagination I think!  I mean surely the writers could have come up with something better than this! Also further to this, when Stacey witnesses Bond kicking ass at her home, its funny how he still tries to pass himself off as a writer! Hmm, just doesn't add does it?! But of course Stacey just accepts it. 

Another example is Bond tries to woo Stacey and she brushes him off but later in the film he saves her life and then Bond offers to cook for her so he makes her a quiche!  I mean when the hell did Bond ever show off his cooking skills before this film???  Never!  This scene almost reduces Bond from a spy to just a fatherly figure to Stacey in this scene and when they finally get it on at the end, it almost feels like witnessing a moment of incest! 

I also had a problem with the uncomfortable mix of violence in the film, particularly in the scene in the mines, Zorin guns down his own men before he leaves and he does it laughing.  It just feels a bit excessive and unnecessary for Zorin's character to do that although I guess it just highlights what a psycho he really is. But as a violent scene I just felt like it didn't belong in the film itself.  

Then there is of course Stacey's character who for the most part is pretty useless in the film and she is reduced to a damsel distress as it goes on as I already mentioned.  And there is one really stupid bit in the film where Stacey fails to notice as she flees from Zorin's mine, Zorin's zeppelin come behind her as Zorin himself grabs her to take her hostage.  I think somehow you would in reality have noticed the noise of something as big as that come up to you!

I also felt the intro sequence to the film was pretty stupid also as Bond is in Siberia and he tries to evade Russian enemies and at one point Bond uses a makeshift surfboard to escape from them and he is accompanied by The Beach Boys song "California Girls".  Its one of the stupidest moments in the Moore era and that is saying something in itself!  Not to mention in the next scene, Bond makes it back to his covert sub, which is manned (or womanned!) by a hot girl, who again is probably 30 years younger than Bond is!  So at this point any already limited existing credibility has totally gone out the window.

I also felt that Bond's whole chase scene with the police as he steals a fire truck and has Stacey drive while he dangles from the fire truck's crane was also pretty pointless and remains one of the film's more tedious setpieces. Its also complete with the inclusion of the cliched American cop, who is out to arrest Bond similar to Sherriff JW Pepper in Live and Let Die! 

And lastly I felt the earlier subplot in the film regarding Zorin artificially enhancing his horses to make them faster felt a bit irrelevant next to the main plotline of Zorin wanting to take over the whole microchip industry.  It was used as a way of introducing Zorin himself but when you think about it, it really had little or nothing to do with his main plan so looking at it that way, the drug enhanced horses is just a red herring (although aren't they horses?! I joke).  So basically this means the first half of the film itself is pretty pointless.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, A View to a Kill was an entertaining end to Roger Moore's era as James Bond, it has some entertaining moments and a pretty sinister villain in Zorin as well as a good performance from Walken, not to mention a top score by John Barry and a great title song by Duran Duran. The film however does have some plot issues and the lack of a decent Bond girl in Stacey Sutton drag it down in places, not to mention the simple fact that Roger by this time was far too old to be playing a character such as James Bond.

That aside though, A View to a Kill is still a fun send-off for Roger Moore, who was always one of my favourite Bond actors in the series.

So, I will give A View to a Kill a rating of:

6.5 out of 10. 

Right, I will be back with another review sometime soon. 

Till then its bye for now!