The Death and Life of Bobby Z

Plot synopsis:
Don Huertero (Joaquim de Almeida) is a Mexican drug lord. His daughter committed suicide because a drug dealer known as Bobby Z broke her heart. Consequently, Don Huertero is out for vengeance.
In trepidation Bobby Z seeks shelter in an American embassy. From there he is handed over to federal agent Tad Gruzsa (Laurence Fishburne).
In order to get hold of Bobby Z after all, Don Huertero takes a colleague of Tad Gruzsa as hostage and proposes an exchange.
Bobby Z knows Don Huertero won't rest until he believes him dead. Being worried sick, he bribes Tad Gruzsa. Now Tad Gruzsa conceives a plan to deceive Don Huertero. He wants to make Don Huertero believe Bobby Z was dead without harming the real Bobby Z.
When the exchange is supposed to take place, Tad Gruzsa replaces Bobby Z. In his stead the clueless doppelgänger Tim Kearney (Paul Walker) crosses the border. During the exchange Tad Gruzsa incites a gunfight and tries to shoot the doppelgänger dead.
Even so, Tim Kearney scarcely survives. But Tad Gruzsa keeps on trying to kill him. But he fails time after time. Despite all his efforts it is the real Bobby Z who is taken down. Tim Kearney on the other hand finds love (Elizabeth, played by Olivia Wilde as a kind of it girl).

Tags: revenge

Review:
While it's no worse than much of the action movie junk that makes it to theatres, Bobby Z, originally entitled The Death and Life of Bobby Z, is a action thriller with Tim Kearney (Walker) as our hero.
This gives director John Herzfeld, whose own career hacs been on less than an up-tick since the appropriately named 15 Minutes came and went in about that long, a premise for having a good guy hero who still fits the label of a tough convict.The slightly convoluted storyline sees Kearney  whose life is in peril since he killed a biker gang boss in prison (self defence, of course)  offered an opportunity to walk free, as long as he's willing to impersonate a drug kingpin who happens to look just like Kearney, and who has just died.
Fishburne plays the Drug Enforcement Agency cop who puts Kearney up to this task.Before you can say 'gunfights are fun', Kearney is being shot at by the cops, manhandled by Mexican drug thugs, pursued by the bikers, and generally in demand by everyone, regardless of whether they think he's Kearney or Bobby Z.
Our hero, of course, dodges the bullets, battles the bad guys, befriends Bobby Z's son (who has never met his dad) and romances a beautiful woman (Olivia Wilde) whose relationship with the bad guys is a bit hazy, but clearly quite intimate.Filled with head scratching twists and cornball dialogue, this is not exactly a brilliant film.
Wilde also does a passable job as Kearney's conflicted love interest; she's mainly called upon to look good (which she accomplishes rather easily), but also doesn't muff her lines when she does have something to say.Movie was funny, entertaining and I enjoyed it..
Bobby Z is definitely a good B movie, with a rating of 5 overall considering everything listed above.
I originally thought he was only cast for his looks, but can see he has good acting abilities.Movie was funny, worked well and I enjoyed it.
He's a solid actor and his role as the DEA Agent worked perfectly.Paul's pretty love interest (Olivia Wilde from the OC)chemistry was lacking.Chuck Liddell, although was only in the beginning of the movie was convincing.
Not sure where I've seen him before, but he may have a promising career.I liked the sequence of the movie - it starts with a mystery and the flashback kept me trying to figure out what was going to happen next.
The plot: Kearny, a loser convict,is pushed into impersonating Bobby Z, a larger-than-life drug dealer, in a hostage trade, only to find both his own and Bobby Z's enemies trying to kill him.Herzfeld previously directed 2 Days in the Valley, a Tarantino ripoff if ever there was one.
Unfortunately, it's not all that great, but it did manage to keep my interest for the runtime.Bobby Z is built up as a small-time celebrity in the local surfer scene, as well as a rising star in drug distribution.
In fact, I'm really at a loss as to why they even opened the movie with such a dark and disturbing bit of character development if they were just going to completely ignore it for the rest of the film.
Still, it's always fun to see him, even if it's in such a small and clichéd role.If you're looking for an action movie, this will probably satisfy you, but I'd be surprised if you remembered it later or recommended it to your friends..
But there is much more promise in this film with action star Paul Walker, and the ever popular Laurence Fishburne.Walker is playing this drug dealer and is trying to get Fishburne's partner back.
Never bet against the Marines.Don't expect anything more than fast action and you will not be disappointed.Joaquim de Almeida, who you should remember as Bucho in Desperado, is the bad guy here.I can forgive anything director John Herzfeld does in this film as I am forever grateful for his introduction of the hot Charlize Theron in 2 Days in the Valley..
Although it feels good to see movie that doesn't use the much common and enough-seen style of today's action flicks, the way this film shows the action seems out-dated.
I rented this movie thinking, "Hey, Paul Walker wasn't too bad in the fast and furious films and Laurence Fishburne is just awesome so why not get it?" Well friends, looks can and are deceiving, and I learned the hard way last evening watching this film.
The whole 'syking everyone out to think I'm Bobby Z' script work got old really quick, Paul Walker's acting was sub par (I haven't seen a lot of his work but I've been told by many that he's not that great of an actor).
There are way too many close up shots of Paul Walker (for absolutely no other reason than to show off his "Good Looks" and play some really lame music along with it).
I suggest this film to people who only like Paul Walker and his close ups and not action flicks, because thats about all you get.
Let me just start off by saying that i am quite an admirer of Paul Walker even thou he is not such a good actor i kinda like his style, this particular film had in my opinion a horrible script and a lot of pieces that didn't fit at all but it was really entertaining at least for my part.
I gave it a 7, even thou i think i might have over rated it,the actress thou that played Elizabeth, i don't know her name yet but i will check it out after i post this comment, is a complete knock - out and i would see this film again just for another glimpse at her beauty-full face.In an other of business i was quite surprised by the distribution of Lawrance Fishbourne in a secondary part like the one he had, i consider him a pretty good actor, a lot better than "macho man" Paul Walker.In the end i'm just gonna say that i think they casted P.
Walker just because he is a good "moaner" seeing him doing almost the same "battle sounds" in every film he had played in GrrrAAaarRRr (watch and listen closely).
I am sure he loved the book, which rights for were purchased for a considerable sum.The story is that DEA agent Tad Gruzsa, played by Laurence Fishburne, provides former Marine Tim Kearney, played by Walker, with a way out of his prison sentence.
I felt it was a little too convoluted, slow in places (read 'quite boring'), stupid too in others, and don't think Paul Walker, or (surprisingly) Fishburne clinched their characters in what should have been an action, reasonably fast paced thriller.Please do not watch this movie.
Forget it...I was looking forward to seeing this film on the power of Laurence Fishburne primarily, Paul Walker, and secondly the author of the source (book) material, Don Winslow.
I'm sure this book was great, like the one I have read 'The Winter of Frankie Machine' which is being turned into a movie with Robert De Niro starring, 'The Winter of Frankie Machine' by Scorcese...But 'The Death & Life of Bobby Z' is one of the most woeful films, sloppy piece of celluloid dross, I have had the misfortune to see in a very long See it at your own peril..
Paul Walker delivers to us a great action film once again!!!.
I was expecting some good stuff from this movie because I am a Paul Walker fan, plus he has never been in a horrible movie and Running Scared was one of the greatest action dramas ever made.
Like I said I expected some good action from this and I was more than pleased by the storyline, the numerous action scenes, and the load of stars that follow Walker in the film such as Lawrence Fishburne, Olivia Wilde, Jacob Vargas, and more.
Paul Walker has delivered good entertainment to the audience every since The Fast and the Furious and he's a great actor if you ask me.
Bobby Z is probably one of the best straight to DVD movies I have ever seen, it delivers good action along with a tricky side that you never see coming.
I give this movie a 9 out of 10 because of the tremendous action and simply macho portrayal of it by Paul Walker.
He's a great actor and no one thought this movie was going to be good before they seen it so I hope they believe me now.
I highly recommend this movie if you are a Paul Walker fan like me or if you are an action junkie like me.
I quite like Paul Walker, just the way he did in Running Scared and Into the Blue.
Bobby Z wasn't something that was high on my list of things to see, but it was streaming and fit my mood, so I watched it and what a surprise, a well written, Action film, with a pretty good plot!
The clever folks at the FBI decide to find someone who looks like Z and send him in, that man is Tim Kearney (Paul Walker), and his life depends on how well he can trick people into believing that he is Bobby Z, a man he's never met.
Paul Walker is the star of this clever film and he does a tremendous job.
Bobby Z was really a lot of fun to watch, and it will keep you guessing while at the same time showing you some terrific action sequences, I was more than impressed by this film and by Paul Walker for that matter.
So obviously I have no idea why this audience-tested badly or why people think Paul Walker can't act.
Plus he's got a great cast to back him up...The mystery of why this was going down hooked me early & I cared about what happened to these people (at least the good guys) For the girl-watchers out there ~ Olivia Wild is jaw-droppingly GORGEOUS!!
It's starring Paul Walker & Laurence Fishburne, but features appearances by a gang of MMA fighters.Chuck Liddell, Tim Sylvia, Pat Miletich, Robbie Lawler and others all are in various fight and chase scenes etc.
The film which stars Paul Walker, Laurence Fishburne, Olivia Wilde, J.R Villarreal, Jason Flemyng, Keith Carradine, Joaquim De Almeida, Chuck Liddell and Jason Lewis is also absolutely brilliant and has some excellent acting by these actors.
I loved watching the film because it had so many great things about it and I love Paul Walkers acting as well as some of his other skills such as his fighting skills.
I have 17 of Paul Walkers films on DVD and I love to watch his films which shows him fighting because he is an excellent fighter.
The film is awesome, has some great fight scenes and Paul Walkers fighting was awesome and powerful.
He was charged and convicted of murder, yet he and a Mexican kid can go easily across the US/Mexico border with no id, wallets, cash - after being ragged looking and Bobby Z being known as a convicted murderer and drug dealer.I had a hard time going across the border into the US with unpaid parking tickets and a small charge of theft under $100 from when I was 18 years old.Now Bobby Z can go with a child and himself - who have been beaten and are ragged looking, as well as Bobby Z wanted by both US and Mexican police for murder charges - and in addition, they can do it with no ID papers - unless they happen to have them stuck up their butt-holes.This story loses credibility 5 minutes after it starts 0 and it just gets worse and worse.After watching plenty of movies with Paul Walker in them, he seems to take them - even though they lack a story or any thought into that story.This is just dumb on every level.The 2 star rating is for camera work, locations and for the extras who weren't paid enough to work in this crap fest..
The plot suffers from stereotypical characters like the bad cop, loser-turning-into-an-honourable-"doing-the-right-thing"-man, evil latino mafia boss, and cynical drug dealer.
Not a bad movie that I would ridicule people for participating in but it is definitely a straight to DVD B-Grader.How the mighty have fallen, from the Matrix to this for Laurence Fishburne, who would have to recognize he is on the way down if he is taking on projects of this caliber.
Olivia Wilde on the other hand is stunning, although more than a little lacking in emotive range and is hopefully using this as a vehicle on the way up as she develops.I am beginning to suspect Paul Walker only has one character in his range and I just hope he makes enough money off that before the gravy train derails.
Comparing Paul Walker to Jean Claude Van Damme may seem a tad harsh at this stage in his career but if he wants to avoid the same level of career it might be an idea to employ someone else to pick film roles for him.
I like a good action movie as much as anyone and I've certainly nothing against excessively pretty people escaping from tough situations with never a facial blemish.
This tired, poorly acted, hyper kinetic desert film wastes the talent of some good actors, gives plenty of killings to watch, and then introduces counterfeit kindness as a reason for making the film, is a movie to avoid.Paul Walker is the released Bobby Z look-alike who will be freed from his life in prison by Laurence Fishburne's cop image if he merely shows up in Mexico as bait for drug lord Joaquin de Almeida's hostage demands for Fishburne's partner.
Walker overall is a rather poor actor, and his straight-man face and actions pull his role off only with generous intimations on the part of the viewer.
I'd point out specific moments, but if you've seen Walker in the Fast and the Furious movies, I have a feeling you didn't pick this one for the plot.The redeeming features, if there are any, are that there's a fair amount of eye-candy (no outright nudity, though, if that's what you're looking for), and you can sit and cheer as a sadistic woman-beater gets chained up and drug behind an SUV..
Paul Walker, Laurence Fishburne, and Olivia Wilde definitely earned their keep in this one.The most random and unlikely of situations land Paul Walker in the drug cartel with 3 different groups of people out to kill him and no one thinks he is the same person.The only questionable acting in this movie was from the kid (Paul Walkers kid).The action is heavy, the plot good, and the ending very unlikely.I think it was a great movie though and if you have a chance to see it, please do..
"15 Minutes" director John Herzfeld's "Bobby Z" rates as an above-average action thriller with double-crosses, shoot'em ups, and surprises, but everything seems a little too routine in the long run.
"Fast & Furious" star Paul Walker plays three-time loser Tim Kearney.
Herzfeld and scenarists Bob "4 AM: Open All Night" Krakower and Allen Lawrence recount Kearney's career in an amusing series of flashbacks that may be the funniest thing about "Bobby Z." In short, "Bobby Z" is a tolerable beer and pizza movie with an R-rating and about 90 minutes worth of mayhem.
D.E.A. Agent Tad Gruzsa (Lawrence Fishburne of "The Matrix" trilogy) offers former Marine and three-time loser Tim Kearney a quick and easy way to get out of prison.
Meanwhile, Kearney learns that Bobby Z has a child, eleven-year old Kit (Juan Villareal of "Harvest of Redemption") and the two bond when Kearney escapes from the hacienda with the bad guys hot on their trail lead by Johnson (Keith Carradine of "The Long Riders") who likes to spit every time that he meets somebody of whom he disapproves.
You will be amazed at how this obnoxious character buys the farm."Bobby Z" is complicated enough to be interesting, but it remains altogether a little too smug to be attain the greatness of something like "True Romance." Happily, Walker doesn't play a dual role.
The whole thing is the idea of a corrupt law enforcement officer who thinks he will use the former marine to get at the kingpin of the drug empire who supplied the original Bobby Z with his merchandise.The movie is not totally horrible, as action films go.
The credibility gap is huge when the people involved asks us to accept things that don't make too much sense.If you can buy the fact that Elizabeth would not know who the impostor was right away, then there is no problem enjoying this film that from all indication went straight to video.Paul Walker is the action hero.
Paul Walker is a great actor who gets bad roles.
Paul Walker's acting is at its low in this movie.
I think Paul Walker did a better job in Running scared than this movie..
The story is silly and convoluted, involving a usually lack-lustre Paul Walker impersonating a legendary Drug Dealer, played by the deliciously floppy haired Jason Lewis.
Laurence Fishburne plods along with a by-the-numbers bad guy role and Olivia Wilde as the love-interest, female lead is dull and mediocre.
Tim Kearney(Paul Walker)is a former Marine, and a three time loser and is serving his time in prison.
His life has the chance to change when a scheming DEA agent, Ted Gruza(Laurence Fishburne), needs somebody to impersonate drug lord Bobby Z(Jason Lewis), who has died of a heart attack while in a prison in the Philippines.
This story's writers have invented a lot of messy situations in which corrupt people and criminals try to fool each other, and the one who gets away with it is, obviously, our nostalgic actor Paul Walker.
i loved the novel by don winslow, and i was disappointed in the movie.first the positives: i liked paul walker.