If only QT had done it...

Rating: 6/10 (3 June 2005)

Tarantino sold this script in the 80s to attempts to raise funds for the making of Reservoir Dogs. For me, this is a great shame. Tony Scott was handed the duty of trying to turn it into a great film after the success of Reservoir Dogs, but failed. Each scene is just about pieced together in the most standard possible way, and Scott brings absolutely nothing to film of any distinguishable note. The awesome cast, obviously attracted by Tarantino's script (which hard large parts edited by Scott, including a different ending), is undoubtedly a true ensemble of modern greats, and yet Scott does them no favours. He gives the film virtually no direction, and keeps everything simple and safe like many of his other films. The lead characters played by Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette, seem dazed and confused through most of the film, and do nothing to grip the audience. Slater's character, for example, makes a bizarre transformation from loner to drug dealer, without ever really drawing a line between the two.
The film keeps itself moving but by no means at a excitable rate as you predict each scene before it starts. It's one saving grace however, is a truly fantastic scene between two Hollywood heavyweights - Walken and Hopper. In Chris Walken's only scene in the film, he dominates and becomes his ruthless Mob boss character. Hopper is superb as a father hiding his son's secret. Apart from this intense scene (you can cut it with a butter knife), the film has no other stand outs, and is quite disappointing and an anti-climax.... if only Quentin Tarantino could of directed it, we could of ended up with a far superior piece of film...
I would still recommend it to all film fans, if not only because of the Walken/Hopper scene... if it wasn't for that, there would be no point in seeing it.