Criminal Activities

Plot synopsis:
Four young men invest borrowed money in a company guaranteed to return their venture capital tenfold or more. It does not seem to trouble them that the privileged information on which they are acting was derived from insider trading. Two little things go wrong. The company suddenly folds under the pressure of federal scrutiny and their financial benefactor turns out to be a high-powered mobster.
The mobster named Eddie (John Travolta) offers them a way out of their awkward situation. They are to kidnap and hold a man for 24 hours before turning him over to Eddie and his two-man wrecking crew. This action will clear their massive debt with him, and everyone will cheerfully go their separate ways. But a couple more annoying little inconveniences crop up. One of them is that the kidnap victim is related to an underworld kingpin who offers a two million dollar reward to the first one to recover his nephew. Another is that the four kidnappers are now required to collectively murder their victim before being allowed to leave the building alive.
Adding to these contingencies is the fact that things are not at all what they seem. Perceived motivations may turn out to be vastly different from actual motivations. What at first seemed patently predictable is anything but.

Tags: murder

Review:
It's the small things that can make an average movie turn in to a good one and this did that for me.
The writing and characters have clear influences from Tarantinos Pulp Fiction, Guy Ritchie's Snatch(and others) and the ending is quite "Usual Suspect's" type but so what if we've seen it before, it still works.
For it's budget I'm happy with what I saw.Too much of movies these days throw money away in effects and other useless crap, they still haven't learned that a billion dollars worth of effects won't make a bad script good.
Not to mention the twisting revelation at the end feels rather abrupt and might too far fetch, although it's still decent due to the outlandish nature.Criminal Activity works on parts where the acting and satire are strong, but it does try to overreach with few others distracting stints like a greedy mobster..
Criminal Activities has a good cast for talent in the main roles with Michael Pitt, Dan Stevens, Christopher Abbott, Rob Brown, Edi Gathegi and John Travolta.
So the kidnapping plan is set in motion with the four amateurs and although it hits a few snags they eventually get the kidnapping completed and they keep the mob hostage tied up for their loan shark waiting to get the green light to let him go.What follows is about 60 minutes of continuous blather by all cast members including a whole lot of four letter words that rhyme with the word "PUCK".
Most sensible film goers would at some point get up and ask for a refund but since I purchased the Blu Ray I chose to bear with the directors master(less)piece and although I was becoming very irritated with the endless blather of totally useless dialogue by the six main characters which I assumed was necessary to fill an otherwise empty void to completing a 94 minute movie I hung in there and I was rewarded with a better than average film end.I don't want to spoil any film goers surprise ending or personal experience with Criminal Activities but to summarize the film in three acts I would rate: Act One (1) with a "C" rating, Act Two (2) with a "D" rating, and the final act, Act Three (3) with a "B+" plus rating.
So if you can hang in there through a pretty boring middle half of the film with a lot of useless four letter word dialogue you may be pleasantly surprised with an above average decent film ending..
It is hard to buy Travolta as a mob boss, but this is a decent one time watch movie although nothing all that amazing.
"Sometimes what looks like a dead end to a dire situation can be an opportunity." After meeting at an old classmates funeral four friends begin to reconnect.
All the guys proceed well but the actors, including the scene-stealing, acquit themselves quite amusingly, as does director Haley, who also plays one of Travolta's henchmen.
Working from a chatty script not as cleverly hatched as it likes to think it is, Haley whips it into something decently entertaining even as you begin thinking about how truly great "Get Shorty" and Travolta's Chili Palmer were midway through those double-crossing criminal activities.
This film contains some dark humor and a surprise twist ending, but in my opinion it's barely a grade B-movie.
We've seen many similar type movies over the years, so, to me, this one came across as rather a "poor cousin" in comparison to some of the others that are named by several reviewers on this site.This is one of those films that if I revealed too much about the plot details I would be writing too many spoilers, so let's just say all is not what it seems on screen.
However, when the reasons for what's occurring are revealed it just seemed quite flimsy to me.This movie marks the directorial debut of acclaimed actor Jackie Earle Haley, who also is excellent in a supporting role here.
Robert Lowell also makes his screen debut as the scriptwriter.All in all, the film is not going to win any awards, but I was interested enough to want to know how it would all turn out, even though some of the journey was a bit painful.
I felt that this film was well thought out and for a guy who is generally pretty good at figuring out twists in a film this one was successful in tripping me up.This is not a big budget film by modern day Hollywood standards but felt it was casted very well and very entertaining.
The 4 dumb criminals, Zach (Michael Pitt), Noah (Dan Stevens), Warren (Christopher Abbott) and Bryce (Rob Brown), really didn't have a clue about kidnapping but they were stuck in an impossible situation after borrowing $200,000 from mob boss, Eddie (John Travolta).
After a bad investment, they end up owing Eddie $400,000, so to pay there debt, they have to kidnap Marques (Edi Gathegi), who is the brother of a gangster who has kidnapped Eddie's niece.
When the storyline unfolds, you soon realise that all is not what it seems, in a Usual Suspects type of way but I do have to watch the movie again to truly understand the major twist.
The acting isn't bad from the whole cast, especially Edi Gathegi and Michael Pitt but the professionalism from John Travolta, makes the rest of the cast look quite amateur.
The character that I really liked throughout the film was Jackie Earle Haley, who also directed the movie, so he really gave his all to this project.
It's not in the same league as Usual Suspects but it's a watchable movie which isn't bad for the directors debut.
Watchable!Round-Up: I first saw Jackie Earle Haley, 54, in Little Children, we're he played a paedophile and was extremely creepy, and since then he has starred in some big movies like All The King's Men, Semi-Pro, Fragments, Watchmen, where he played Rorschach extremely well, Shutter Island, Lincoln, A Nightmare On Elm Street, Dark Shadows, Parkland, Robocop and the upcoming London Has Fallen.
As for this movie, I think the ending was extremely rushed and a lot of the scenes with the 4 kidnappers were average.
He was lucky to get such a diverse cast, who all brought something different to the project but I would have liked to have seen more from Travolta and Haley, who were the best thing in the movie.I recommend this movie to people who are into their crime/drama/thrillers starring John Travolta, Michael Pitt, Dan Stevens, Rob Brown, Jackie Earle Haley and Christopher Abbott.
He wants to talk to ALL of us!"John Travolta standing in the middle of the cover in a "Pulp Fiction" -like pose and according to the brief description he has something to do with the mob.
He's flanked both by Michael Pitt, who I saw recently playing in the grandiose films "I origins" and "Rob the Mob", and by the alertly looking Dan Stevens.
Directed by Jackie Earle Haley, "Criminal Activities" from 2015 is about four high school friends - Zack, Noah, Warren, and Bryce (Michael Pitt, Dan Stevens, Rob Brown, Christopher Abbott, who meet up after the funeral of their friend Matthew.
It's so distracting.The director, Jackie Earle Haley, hands in a good performance, as do Pitt, Edi Gathegi, Pitt, and Stevens..
I always enjoy watching John Travolta in any movie from his beginning many years ago.The ending with all the twists and turns leaves you with the feeling there should be a follow-up in the near future.Great casting for this movie especially with the up and coming actors Rex Baker and Tyrone Jenkins..
Michael Pitt, fresh out of Boardwalk Empire and Hannibal, was great-- top notch actor; Rob Brown was excellent; Dan Stevens was also excellent; Chris Abbott was good; and as I said, Travolta was amazing.
And people pay money to be subject to this?!This is a bad movie, so bad that I consider it one of the unimportant signs that we are coming to the end of the world.Do not waste your precious time.
His Film will Probably have You saying this isn't the first time for this Type of Thing.
Haley plays a Glib and Aloof Mob Enforcer and John Travolta is in one of His Slumming Roles with Bad Makeup, but Manages to be an Anchor of Sorts for the Young Turks and Their Concern with High School Camaraderie and Current Girlfriend Fidelity.It's a Scattershot Story with some Intrigue and Interest, not a lot of it Works but some Things Do and it is Worth a Watch for B-Movie Fans, and Tarantino Rip-Off Spotters.
The Ending may be more Complex than Needed, but it Feels like the Filmmakers think that the Overly Twisted Wrap Up makes this Something Special.
You never quite know what's coming around the corner, which is refreshing; I watch A LOT of films and I normally have a good idea of what's going to happen.
If you like QT, you'll love this movie, and the end is GREAT!!
The end could be better if it takes sometime to describe the strategy better.John is fine as last years of his career, but the director should explore his talent a bit more.I expected a longer action in this movies.]But it is fine if you just want to see some actors making the best they could.As I commented before, some more know actors would improve this move performance, once there is a good role play behind.thanks for the opportunity of watching it based on IMDb comments..
And even then, with each scene that he is in, you spend more time looking at his glued on hair piece than following the movie.Essentially the plot is 4 guys get mixed up with the mob and incur a large debt.
To wipe the debt clean, they're forced to kidnap some guy for the mob boss (Travolta).At the end of the movie, there's a 'The Usual Suspects'/ 'Now You See Me' style twist, and that is all explained thoroughly at the end.
Whilst I think the twist is convoluted enough to make it not predictable (the last 10 minutes of the movie is needed to explain the twist), at the same time it is not all that surprising or satisfying when revealed.
The big surprise Usual Suspects twist ending is so convoluted that I really didn't understand where the money came from even if it was satisfying to learn that the victim of bullying was really the one in power all along.
I watched this because of the John Travolta and Jackie Earle Haley connection as I've enjoyed much of their previous work.
Four friends become four dumb criminals when a huge investment deal turns sour and realise that the money for the investment came from an underworld criminal boss who wants his money back.Noah (Dan Stevens), Zach (Michael Pitt), Warren (Christopher Abbott) and Bryce (Rob Brown) are offered a get out deal by mobster Eddie (John Travolta) who wants them to kidnap a rival gangster Marques, because he has kidnapped Eddie's niece and he would later wipe the slate clean.Gerry (Jackie Earle Haley) is a henchman for Eddie supposedly trying to locate Eddie's niece.
In the meantime Marques plays with their heads that causes tensions.Jackie Earle Haley directed the film as well as appearing in it.
"Criminal Activities" represents the directorial debut of Jackie Earle Healey, who also plays a featured role as Gerry, a dispassionate and hard-as-nails enforcer for mobster Eddie (John Travolta).
Simply brilliant and one of the most interesting finish to a film since "now you see me" the story of a group of friends who take out a loan with the wrong person (travolta) and cant pay him back so they have to end up doing a job for him, yes this story/plot has been done a number of times but this one stands out as it is a bit of a slow burner but the acting in this is brilliant with a hint of the dark comedy that you got in films like "in bruges and seven psychopaths" criminal activity is one of those low budget ($7million) indi films that surprise you and with a big name like travolta its a added bonus.
If there is one criticism, and I'm guessing this is where the low ratings come in its that the production quality could have been better.While the acting is good, some of the scenes feel a little too stifled and not tight enough.
The only way they can clear there debt is by kidnapping a member of another organised crime unit, and holding them for 24 hours.But things are not what they seem.......The makers have obviously been inspired by the likes of Boiler Room and Reservoir Dogs, and while it's always a risky move to try and impersonate the likes of Tarantino, Jackie Earl Haley has done a decent job with his film.Character wise, the film offers nothing new.
And this time the guest star is one John Travolta.Don't be fooled by the one sheet, the mans hardly in it, but when he is he makes the film all the more watchable, but for two reasons.Firstly, he's brilliant in these sort of sarcastic roles, the one where the bad but has the swagger, and knows he can't do no wrong.
Imagine him as Castor Troy in Face/Off mixed with his performance in Swordfish, and you have him here.Secondly, what on earth has he done with his face and hair?Once the main plot is implemented, it's a war of nerves for the group of fellows, as they start to bond with the victim, and in turn, the victim begins to play them off each other, and tensions rise.What saves the film from mediocrity is the ending, and showing us the set up with the pay off, it makes for quite entertaining viewing.That, and the soundtrack is stupendously over the top.So it's nothing special, it's funny in places, Travolta steals the movie from everyone, and it never once threatens to challenge the grey matter.Perfect for a cold winters afternoon..
This is an O.K.movie a little elevated by the performances of the actors.The story feels like it's been done before.
But all the reveals and twists come nicely placed and make sense at the end of the movie.It's a good action/thriller but it misses to much production value to ever be great.Easy comparison would be "bone tomahawk" which feels like it's been done with the same sort of formula.I think it is good for the indie movies and this just delivers more than usual.Also fair to say that this is more a thriller than an action flick.Some of the scenes also feel a little dragged.Definitely worth a watch.Just don't expect block buster material.Okay!.
and this move ends up cleaning up after itself for the last ten minutes of the movie EXPLAINING which dick did what so that we could see that nobody gets a good deal.....
There's no faulting the performances or the work of actor Jackie Earle Haley in his directorial debut, but the problem with this one is the lack of likable characters and the clichéd nature of the plot.
From early on you get the impression there is more to the story than meets the eye, and indeed there are numerous sub plots, this is not a movie to watch casually.The various twists and turns for the most part come totally out of the blue, but slowly combine to explain each other gradually, pulling you further in till the final ending which I must admit came as a total surprise to me...and ultimately left me with a big smile on my face and a movie that I fully enjoyed..
With a great cast and a decent script - why was I not captivated by this from the start?Thrillers in cinemas over the past few years have been so lame that I didn't expect a twist at the end.
BASIC OUTLINES.The first 30 minutes of the movie i didn't know how to feel, I was not liking some of the characters but not because of acting persay.
All these other reviews with low rating i'm guessing they got the basic concept and didn't look deep enough into the script to actually appreciate the way they ended the movie/played it out in the beginning.
I highly suggest this movie if you enjoy clever plot twists and some good acting( Not all the actors did a great job but 90% did)..
Unfortunately, it fails on all three levels of a crime saga, action picture, and dark humor.John Travolta is good as a mob boss who appears to be the center of convoluted crime story.
Their scheme backfires, and they are now confronted by Travolta's mob boss for payback time.There are too many stretches of the film that are poorly paced and thin on action.
Behind the camera, Jackie Earle Haley does make the movie look fairly good despite his limited budget (the photography, for one thing, is quite good), but seems trapped otherwise by the script, such as with the final twists near the end, which he is unable to make them make much sense to the audience.
Not Clever Enough to Pull it Off. Even The Usual Suspects wasn't clever enough to pull off a surprise ending but the house of cards built in that film was so interesting and so fun that by the time you realized what had happened the lights were already coming on in the theater.
I liked the kidnapped guy, the two bald henchmen, and Travolta's character.
The film was Jackie Earle Haley's directing debut and a pretty fine job he made of it too.
Noah borrowed the money from the mob and Eddie (John Travolta) wants his money with interest.
Then at the very end the film twists in multiple ways which frankly I didn't see coming.Travolta looked like he is using Botox and his hair looked like it was plastic.