Mixed up

Rating: 5/10 (5 March 2017)

From the reviews on here I was expecting nothing more than a 2 star film, so I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't completely want to turn it off (though I did consider doing so about a third of the way through). The acting was fine, the action fine, the concept weird enough to keep me intrigued and the twist (while obvious) still took the movie in a better direction than the one it had been going in.
My main problems with this film was that parts of it just didn't jive. The first two thirds are a very Fight Club-esque story of a loser escaping his loserly life, complete with voice over narration. It's darkly funny and delightfully (if often over the toply) ridiculous. The final third, however, suddenly loses nearly all humor and becomes a violent revenge tale that took me a bit out of the movie, and the ending was silly, which takes me to the second blending issue:
For me, at least, the most sympathetic character was by far the father/Cross. He's stuck in a life where he can't be with his son (who he clearly loves and has watched grow up) and wants nothing more than for that son to NOT follow in his footsteps and have a "normal" life. Then it turns out his whole career is a lie and he spends his final days trying to protect his kid from that world and that fate. I didn't get it. Wesley should be honoring that sacrifice, not abusing it with quippy little "what the f*** are you doing with your life?" endings that made me think...well, I'm living a normal life with a normal family that your dad, the best person in this film, would be proud of. Nice try honoring his memory, Wes. I wasn't sure if the film was trying to convey that Wesley's dad was wrong or that Wesley is a special case, even though not being a part of the fraternity, new or otherwise, was pretty much his dying wish. Oh well, it wasn't the worst couple of hours I've spent.