Played

Plot synopsis:
The story opens in Los Angeles with Dillon (Val Kilmer) who receives a phone call from Ray Burns (Mick Rossi) who has just been shot and desperately needs help. Dillon is a cleaner for a gangster named Eddie (Gabriel Byrne) and has been sent to assist Ray should he require it. After a colorful opening title sequence which follows Dillon's drive to the house, he finds Ray almost bleeding to death on a sofa. Removing all of the evidence, Dillon leaves carrying Ray to his car but not before he torches the house, destroying any evidence of Ray's presence. As Dillon and Ray drive away, Dillon struggles to keep Ray conscious and relates to him a story of a humorous encounter with a Mexican auto mechanic, which coins one of the catchphrases of the film: "I'm not gonna taco".
The story then flashes back to eight years earlier and introduces Riley (Patrick Bergin) as he admires some artwork in a London gallery. He receives a call on his cell phone from the crooked Detective Brice (Vinnie Jones), who informs Riley that there is a shipment of heroin coming in, and that he wants Riley to get a team together and steal it for him. Riley agrees to the job and tells Brice that he has just the man to do it, a petty thief named Ray Burns. Riley gives a menacing stare to the gallery attendant (Caspar von Winterfeldt) in one of the films funnier moments before leaving to meet with Ray.
After they discuss the details of the job at hand, Ray agrees to do the job and meets up with his team, which consists of Nathan (Sean Power) and Terry Rawlings (Trevor Nugent) son of infamous moblord Jack Rawlings (Roy Dotrice) and Terry's girlfriend, Cindy (Patsy Kensit). Together they begin plotting the heist: Nathan will go up to the roof and act as lookout while Ray and Terry break into the warehouse to steal the heroin. Unfortunately, during the heist, Nathan loses his footing and tumbles to his death, falling through a skylight and triggering an alarm, alerting the guards. Ray and Terry manage to escape with the drugs, but lose contact with each other.
Shortly thereafter, Brice calls Riley to inform him that the heist went terribly wrong, and that Nathan is dead. To cover his own tracks, he tells Riley to find a scapegoat, and Riley immediately names Ray. Meanwhile, Ray, who has gone into hiding, tries to call Terry but doesn't get an answer. He turns to Riley to find out what happened. Riley tells Ray that Nathan is dead and that Scotland Yard is looking for him, omitting the fact that Terry has handed over the drugs and that Brice is behind the whole heist. Ray decides he needs to disappear for a while and attempts to go underground, but before he can do so the police pick him up on an anonymous tip from Brice. Ray is convicted for the robbery and the manslaughter of Nathan, and is subsequently sentenced to eight years in prison.
Ray serves his time, but has no contact with the outside world, denying even his closest lover and girlfriend Maggie (Joanne Whalley) a visit. He also learns by reading the paper that Terry has died of a drug overdose. Saddened by the news, Ray vows to get revenge on Brice and Riley as soon as he is free.
While Ray is serving time, Riley and Brice continue their crooked ways, and Brice informs Riley that he has an incriminating video tape of London Charlie (Steve Jones) that could be worth some cash. He dispatches Riley to Los Angeles to blackmail London Charlie. Riley arrives in Los Angeles along with his girlfriend Samantha Fay (Sile Bermingham) in order to pick up the cash from Brice. Meanwhile, Ray is released from prison and contacted by London Charlie, who realizes that the only way he can escape his dilemma is to have Riley terminated. He knows Ray is out to avenge his time in prison and so pays him $100,000 to come to Los Angeles. Brice, aware of Ray's release and suspicious that he may be up to something, instructs an underling, Danny, (Andy Nyman) to keep an eye on him and find out what he can about his plans. Danny confronts Ray in a busy London street and brings the situation to a head when he makes a comment about Ray's former girlfriend Maggie, whom Ray has not seen since he went to prison. Ray angrily headbutts Danny, telling him to leave him alone. Danny reports this back to Brice, who still believes Ray is up to something.
Ray is soon contacted by Jack Rawlings, Terry's father, who beckons him to come and visit. The two have a long talk about Terry and Ray tells Jack how sorry he is for Terry's death. Jack feigns compassion and tells Ray that he wants him to go after the guy who set them up, namely Riley, and gives him a contact in Los Angeles, Eddie, who can help him with the job. Ray is to pick up $100,000 at Jack's club from Big Frankie (Adam Fogerty) and then get on a plane to Los Angeles to hunt Riley down.
Upon arrival, Ray immediately goes to London Charlie's house (which is revealed to be the one seen in the beginning of the film) to meet with him. Ray is told that there is $100,000 in a bag that he is to take to Riley and use to recover the tape. Once he has the tape, Ray is to kill Riley and bring the tape back to London Charlie. Ray leaves and begins to cover his tracks by checking into two separate motels. He then makes a call to Eddie to pick up a car for use in Los Angeles. That night he picks up the car and meets Eddie, who is waiting for him in the back seat. Eddie tells him there is a pistol in the glove box and that he doesn't want to get involved in any of the nasty business. Ray acknowledges the request and takes off into the night.
The next day, Riley is waiting to meet with London Charlie. He is surprised by Ray, who shows up at his door carrying a bag of cash. Ray has hidden the pistol outside of the apartment and so is clean when he is frisked by Riley. The two have a heated discussion about what happened eight years ago and Riley makes light of Terry's death, much to Ray's chagrin. Ray gives the bag of cash to Riley, who angrily informs him that the amount is only half of what he and London Charlie had agreed to, and ordering him to get him the rest if he wants the tape. Ray exits the apartment, retrieves his pistol, then goes back inside and demands the tape from Riley at gunpoint. Riley refuses, and Ray shoots him once in the chest, then once in the back of the head, killing him.
Ray searches the apartment for the tape, but only finds a key to a room at a nearby hotel. Ray returns to his first hotel to wash Riley's blood off of himself before he goes to check out the other hotel. Meanwhile, police are investigating the shooting death at Riley's apartment. Detective Allen (Bruno Kirby) arrives on the crime scene and discovers that there is a link to a nearby hotel—the same hotel Ray is also heading to. Detective Bartow (Mark Siciliani) and Officer Chris Anders (Aaron Gallagher) are dispatched to investigate. At the hotel they find Samantha Fay, who is startled by their appearance. When the officers inform her that there has been an incident and they need to take her to the station to answer some questions, she reluctantly agrees. Officer Anders escorts her out, leaving Detective Bartow to search the room. Ray arrives as they are leaving, running into Bartow as he attempts to enter the room. Ray attempts to keep his cool, especially when Bartow tells him he is a police officer. He questions Ray as to how he knew Riley, and Ray innocently says they recently met and that they had arranged to grab a drink. Bartow is suspicious and asks Ray if he would have any objections to coming down to the station for some questioning. Ray has no choice but to agree, and they leave together.
At the station, Ray and Samantha are questioned for hours and hours by Detective Allen and Detective Drummond (Anthony LaPaglia). The situation is tense, and they both have a tough time keeping calm. Eventually they are both let go, but not before Samantha is told that Riley is dead. Both leave the station within a couple of hours of each other and head in different directions, Ray to pick up his things at the second motel, and Samantha to pick up the tape and a gun which Riley had left in a safety deposit box earlier that day. Samantha then heads to London Charlie's house to square things away with him and avenge Riley's death. She shoots London Charlie dead in his pool just as Ray arrives to say goodbye. Ray and Samantha have a Mexican stand-off. The now-useless tape is thrown into the pool, and Samantha slowly backs out of the house, leaving Ray to sort out the mess. As Ray sits to contemplate his next move, he doesn't notice Samantha sneaking back inside, who shoots Ray in the back. Samantha leaves and Ray is left in a pool of blood, but still alive. The scene from the film's opening replays as Ray picks up the phone to call Eddie and reaches Dillon, who comes to clean up his mess.
Dillon finally gets Ray to a secure location, and Ray pays him off so that he can return to London, where he recuperates for several days in the care of Maggie. Ray thinks quickly about what he should do when he receives a phone call from Eddie, telling him that Jack Rawlings wants to see him on the rooftop of a car-park in Chinatown later that evening. After Eddie hangs up, he anonymously calls Brice and tells him about the meeting. Brice is confused, but eager to settle the score with Ray. He calls Danny to tell him that he should follow Ray to the meeting and kill him.
While Danny circles the streets of London in an attempt to find Ray, he stumbles on Maggie and follows her back to her flat. Ray, meanwhile, is visiting with Cindy, whom he had rescued from the streets prior to his departure to Los Angeles and had given shelter to while she attempted to recover from her drug habit. Danny forces his way into Maggie's apartment and, after roughing her up, takes Ray's remaining money and returns to his place. When Ray returns, he grabs Maggie and they head over to Danny's flat. Ray breaks in and finds Nikki (Meredith Ostrom) clutching the bag of money and Danny jamming on drugs. Ray also hears a recording on Danny's answering machine of Brice telling Danny to kill him. Ray kills Danny, then takes the tapes from the answering machine and the bag of money. He and Maggie then leave to head to the rendezvous in Chinatown.
Brice arrives at Danny's place a little later after Nikki has called the police, and finds Danny dead. Brice also notices that the tapes from the machine are missing and now has no choice but to show up on the car park rooftop for the inevitable showdown.

Tags: revenge, murder, flashback

Review:
Not as bad as some reviewers claim, but...
(contains spoilers!!).
Okay, I got the screener at the video store I work at & thought the cast was interesting enough to give it a try.
I've seen enough of these promos (especially from Lionsgate) to not expect much of a film, or more than a minute of each 'name' from the cover, so after reading some reviews here on IMDb I went in with low expectations.Overall, I'd have to say I pleasantly surprised.
Lots of nice little plot twists, several double-crosses, a few scenes of genuine suspense.The movie centers around and features (newcomer?) Mick Rossi in almost every scene, and his performance only suffers in comparison to the more seasoned actors showing their stuff.
He does a decent job as an unlucky little fish caught in a sea of meaner, bigger fish.And the long list of 'guests' do a stand-out job of fleshing out their characters & keeping the story compelling.
Val Kilmer is great as a dopey 'cleaner'; Vinnie Jones is nicely menacing as a crooked cop; Gabriel Byrne, in the few minutes of screen time he has, is perfect as an understated dark angel; Joanne Whalley is strangely enticing as a long-suffering but supportive ex-love interest.
Anthony LaPaglia & (the great) Bruno Kirby, unfortunately, add little as tough LA detectives, but arguably they didn't have much to work with.My only real problem would be the ending.
One of those films that just kind of stops, and after so many little twists it would have been nice for something tighter to finish on.If you're at all interested, and can find it cheap, don't be afraid to give it a try..
Guy gets stitched, Guy seeks revenge.
Things go to this.
Guy avenges stuff.
Guy gets the gal..
This is definitely scraping the barrel.
The filming is more than substandard.
Don't get me wrong, I am not into real pretty Hollywood cinematography and special effects for the sake of a good storyline.
However the storyline is awfully weak and seems like so many of the films that were to come after "Lock Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels".
Just this one fails and fails miserably.
The inclusion of some relatively well known actors must have been a coup for the Director and the film investors, as I am sure that most people would have been suckered into thinking that it must have some credibility.
In the words of Dillon (Val Kilmer): Someone should have "Taco'd" this movie before release..
Not what i expected.
Beware,this is a real pretender.You see Vinnie Jones and Gabriel Byrne on the poster and you see Val Kilmer is in it too,so it looks all good but then the film starts,shows the actors in alphabetic order and at the end it says:Introducing Mick Rossi.So that's what you get to see,about 88 minutes with Mick Rossi and about 1 minute Gabriel Byrnes and about 2 minutes Val Kilmer,only one who's featured a bit more is Vinnie Jones.So if you want to see a true Mick Rossi film (probably the only one he ever will have a leading part in),check it out,otherwise beware.The story is average too.Mick plays a small time gangster who got a job from the big boys which gets him into lots of trouble..
At 87 minutes this is a very long movie..
As others have said, do not be mislead by the name cast.
nearly all the major name actors have very little screen time.It is the first major role for Mick Rossi (he also did the screenplay)This film had a small budget & it shows.The production values are nil.The acting is only so-so.The script is chock full of the F word & variations of same plus other choice vulgarisms.I cant say I hated this film, Its just not good just mediocre.Ratings ** (out of 4) 52 points (out of 100) IMDb 4 (out of 10_.
London.
Just saw Played at a London screening.
Although convoluted at times the many twists and turns in the story climax to a rewarding pay off.Stand out performances: Val Kilmer is superb in that zany Kilmer way.
Gabriel Byrne is not featured enough in Played but when he appears on screen his intensity is gripping.
The lead role is played by Mick Rossi who does a fine job and creates a character that you have empathy for right off the bat, at times he reminded me of a young Al Pacino.
His low key performance works well in a world of pop up colourful characters.
Played with it's powerhouse cast and it's street cool is something to watch out for..
Beats U-Turn for Worst movie ever..
New contender for worst movie ever.
Do not be misled by Val Kilmer's name appearing in the credits, he appears for all of one minute.
Reminiscent of Executive Decision's posters who made it appear as though Steven Segal played a central role in the film (even though he disappeared after 5 minutes).The film has no plot, no story, no point.
Worst of all, it has no ending.
To date I had listed U-Turn as worst movie ever, but I think Played has taken the bottom spot.
It reads as a gangster thriller, but none of the scenes are backed up.
They appear more like events that follow each other rather than integral parts of a story.
No climax is built up, the love story is stated but never portrayed.
Characters dart in and out before any portrayal is required.
All in all a complete waste of time.Best advice: DO NOT WATCH..
No budget makes for a great film..
Finally managed to buy a copy from Amazon as its not been released in the UK yet.
Good plot with more twists and turns than the Big One roller-coaster in Blackpool.
A Gangster film that shows the double dealing and lack of respect for human life that is a true mirror of the criminal world.
The amazing point to make about this film is Mick Rossi managed to put together so many big names in the movie world with virtually no budget.
Some facts about Played...
Val Kilmer and his ex wife Joanne Whalley both appear in the film.
It proved to be Bruno Kirbys last film as he passed away shortly after....
Well worth getting hold of a copy.
Mr. Rossi you done Manchester proud.
I give it a massive 10/10 because it shows what can be achieved if your heart is in it and not just your money..
Not as bad as some would have you believe, but not very good..
I'm not sure what I was expecting from this movie, especially since reviews have stated that much of the script was improvised.
The film seemed fairly tightly-scripted to me...perhaps this is a tribute to the cast or director.I also expected to be put-off by the limited screen time of the major names in the movie.
To the contrary, I found it refreshing to have good actors in such small, but crucial, roles.
This is the only way to avoid making movies into star vehicles that sacrifice story and direction for the sake of glorifying one or more of the lead characters.On the other hand, the plot left a bit to be desired.
There are quite a few loose ends that never get tied up, including the massive loose end right before the final credits roll.
There's a difference between being ambiguous and simply stopping the story in the middle of an arc.
This is your basic 2.5-act movie.Overall, I enjoyed the movie and the characters.
There's virtually no character development, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
This is worth watching if you enjoy "small" stories about tragedy and get a kick out of a bunch of well-know actors suppressing their desire to be the center of attention..
Played To The Hilt?.
"Played" was a decent crime thriller despite it's budget shortcomings.The plot: Ray (Rossi) is a small-time thief who is framed for a crime he didn't commit.
When he gets out of jail, he falls back into the same life.The budget for this movie was $338,000, so I understand why it was shot on video instead of film.
I was worried about that because the usual Lionsgate (shot on video) output is usually terrible ("Green River killer", "Heebie Jeebies").
It actually looks good in most scenes.Mick Rossi does a fine job as Ray. But the big name stars are only in this for maybe five minutes each.
Kilmer does his usual professional work.
His dialogue was improvised and it shows.
("You're not gonna Taco, Ray.") Jones plays a good bad guy.
Byrne appears stiff and looks like he wants to be anywhere else.
I also noticed that almost all the actors are on the phone.
It's pretty cheap just to shoot actors talking on a phone.Overall, "Played" was a satisfactory crime flick, that's a good second or third choice at the video store.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com.
A one way road to perdition.
Loved it.
Granted you have to pay attention, but a film for those connoisseurs who love the genre and like to think a little.
Only discovered it recently, do not know why it had no theatrical release.
Great acting(Especially considering it was apparently improved-) ,great pace, and believable story that drew me in.
Impressed how the acting across the board was at such a high level.
Val Kilmers scenes in the car were brilliant, as were the scenes with Anthony LaPaglia and Bruno Kirby interrogating suspects.
Also really enjoyed Patrick Bergin's quirky psychotic character.
As well as Joanne Whalley and Brit mob boss Roy Doltrice.
Don't know why Colin Farrell wasn't credited?
But most important this film is tops for capturing gangster culture- most realistic I've seen in years.
Years.
It will be considered a classic in 20 yrs.
I thoroughly enjoyed it.
For those who didn't, surely SpongeBob is avail on DVD!