The fall of Gil Renard

Rating: 8/10 (24 February 2011)

The Plot: Gil Renard (De Niro) is an everyday guy with a lot of problems. He's divorced and is barely able to hold his job as a knife salesman. But there is one thing that Gil can find solace in: baseball. He's a dedicated fan of his San Francisco Giants and now that prized player Bobby Rayburn (Snipes) has been added to the team, Gil is all the more into the sport. But as his life spirals down further, the unstable and short tempered Gil becomes psychotically fixated on his favorite player and will do anything, even murder, to make sure that Bobby is the best in the league.
I don't see why critics dogged this movie. This is actually one tense thriller and I liked the lead performance by De Niro as this whacked out fan. You actually kind of feel bad for the poor schmuck. His life has hit a bad pitch (no pun intended) and he tries to make things better by taking his son to ballgames among other things. And when he goes into full-on psycho, De Niro is perfectly creepy. As for Snipes, he's not too bad. He's got problems of his own, too, as his character has to deal with being distant from his own son. The soundtrack is pretty good, with multiple versions of the Nine Inch Nails song "Closer" playing during the more intense scenes. Film score legend Hans Zimmer also provides the official score, which is both twisted and somewhat heartfelt (mostly during the earlier bits of the film).
On the bad end, there was some cinematography issues throughout. And sadly, this movie could have used a better script. Gil's poem during the opening credits and his baseball logic he learned from his old "mentor" Coop are the only real high points in the writing. And I wasn't too impressed with the film's limp ending.
Overall, this is actually a pretty good film. It's directed by Tony Scott, who's had a pretty good track record with films like Man on Fire, Enemy of the State, Top Gun, and the remake of The Taking of Pelham 123. Sadly, this is one of his most underrated films that deserved a whole lot more than it did.