Hard Luck

Plot synopsis:
As the film begins. A former criminal and drug dealer Lucky (Wesley Snipes) was released from prison and tries to lead a respectable life despite his troubled past. However, Lucky once or twice reflects on the wisdom of his grandfather who supposedly told him "sometimes without bad luck, it would seem you don't have any luck at all." Shortly after his release from prison, Lucky tries to get back on his feet but inexplicably ends up a victim of Hurricane Katrina's wrath, and loses his newly found life.
After Lucky returns to New York, Lucky is dealt another blow when the government withdraws funds for his yoga and samba dance classes which he uses to try to keep kids off the streets. This unfortunate event leads to Lucky enduring the bad influences of two old friends from his past life as a criminal, who lure Lucky to a strip club under the false pretense of his friend's birthday. When a drug deal with some dangerous mobsters goes bad, and Lucky is now on the run with a feisty Puerto Rican stripper from the strip club, Angela (Jacquelyn Quinones), and over $500,000 in American currency, which is wired with marking dye.
Later that night, there are short cuts of an unconventional and troubled couple, unexplained and also known to the police as the "Sawtooth Killers". Chang (James Liao), an egotistical and maniacal accomplice to his old-fashioned girlfriend Cass (Cybill Shepherd), the mother of a mentally challenged man named Eugene (Mike Messier). Motivated by Cass's son Eugene's unpleasant experiences with society's rejection of mentally challenged individuals, the couple brutally kidnaps, tortures, and presumably kills their abductees, recording their exploits on video, possibly for future viewing.
Angela and Lucky find themselves caught up in the path of violence, and Lucky ends up an unlikely hero by saving the life of a would be victim of the Sawtooth Killers. Lucky saves Captain Davis (Mario Van Peebles) from Cass's son Eugene, who is armed with a shovel. Lucky chooses to have a positive outlook on the events by using perspective gained from his grandfather, characterizes the events as being "the luckiest day in an unlucky man's life." Lucky and Angela go on to receive a $200,000 reward which had been offered by the police for information leading the capture, arrest, and or prosecution of the Sawtooth Killers.

Tags: suspenseful, violence

Review:
To bad it's not working, the stories are to different and it really feels like if someone took two movies and created a mix-tape from them.The action is average and Wesley Snipes is doing his thing, but not more then you could expect from a B-type actor.
Some of the other cast members are doing a real good job and this only makes Snipes look more like a poster name then a real actor in this case.
Every time the story shifted to the Thriller part I woke up from the "almost-sleeping-state" the gangster part put me in.To sum it all up: OK movie the fact that it's very different from Wesley Snipes' other work, and that the writing is above average makes it interesting to watch..
In one day I watched "New Jack City" who happens to be directed by Mario Van Peebles and it also happens to be a great movie about the dangers of the criminality in the New York of the 1980's and 1990's.
A few days later I had the chance to watch this one "Hard Luck" also directed by Peebles and with Wesley Snipes in the cast.
Wesley Snipes plays Lucky an bad luck ex-convict who crosses countless and weird situations after some obscure negotiation involving an old friend (Noah Fleiss), some corrupt police officers and a gun dealer.
On the road he's gonna meet a psychotic couple (played by Cybil Shepherd and James Liao) and some other strange people in a mosaic and boring film.The action scenes are annoying, weak and there's nothing special about it and Snipes was wasted in that department but in the dramatic scenes he is better than some of the supporting actors.
The story presents too many characters and situations trying to be a action flick mixed with some mosaic film such as "Magnolia" where everybody and everyone is connected although we don't know how and when.
About the psychotic couple...well they are presented in the beginning of the movie and you keep trying to understand what they're doing all the time, torturing people they find on the streets and you keep thinking what's the connection between them and Snipes?
I'm truly disappointed with this film because it had some potential, it had a social denounce in the beginning (Snipes character survived the Hurricane Katrina) and the movie totally forgot that and moved to an ordinary and crappy action movie.
I miss the great director of "Panther" and "New Jack City" who knew how to work with explosive themes and some good action scenes in the middle.
HARD LUCK with Wesley Snipes, Mario Van Peebbles and Cybill Shepherd.
It has that Tarantino, DePalma, David Lynch feel to it at times that I think Van Peebles(and Snipes I would imagine)wanted to try and capture.
Faded/fading stars, newbies just out of school, a plot which makes little sense, clichés tired and banal, dialogue which adds insult to injury, performances which range from good jokes to bad, to just tired as well.
Well, I've finally tracked down Wesley Snipes's worst film and it turns out to be this Mario Van Peebles-directed stinker that attempts to mix the small-time gangster genre with a serial killer flick.
HARD LUCK is an appallingly shot, badly written B-movie that's so inept that you wonder whether Peebles went out of his way to make the worst film he could as part of a bet.The film stars Snipes and the often-naked Jackie Quinones as an ex-con and a stripper who go on the run from the Mob with a suitcase full of cash.
All very ordinary you might think, but then the plot takes a turn for the bizarre with the introduction of a serial killing couple played by Cybill Shepherd and James Liao.
Yes, that really is Cybill Shepherd in this movie, although what she's doing here I can only guess.HARD LUCK is shoddily made and particularly badly shot; all of the dialogue scenes and moments of exposition are acceptable, but the handling of the action is horrendous (a surprise considering Peebles's experience in the genre).
Hard Luck is a dark comedy about a pair of serial killers that meet up with a dancer and a guy named lucky who fell into some money.
I think I liked Snipes better in US Marshals type movies.
Van Peebles has made a movie that really relied on Snipes to create the draw.
If you like action, some sick serial killers, and some T&A you'll like this movie..
This Mario Van Peebles and Larry Brand penned movie is a unique blend of two genre films, the "gangsta" and "psycho-on-the-loose."There is also a wink that the director (Peebles) takes at the old 'screwball comedies' where a couple usually gets involved in a situation that neither wanted to be in from the beginning.
And of course part of that scenario has a 'Bonnie and Clyde' overtone as the couple (Snipes and Jackie Quinones) try and stay one step ahead of both the law and gangsters that were 'short changed' by Snipes in the beginning of the film.There is a little bit of 'political statement' at the very beginning of the movie that doesn't take away from the crux of 'Hard Luck.' For some reason Peebles wanted a 'current event' added to a film that did not warrant it.
Over time the scene in question will only date the film.Not wanting to spoil it for anybody, but lets just say Peebles has assembled a great cast -- some known faces and some relatively new ones -- and puts them to good use.
Wesley Snipes stars as a con-man gone legit (You know the type) who is involved in one more deal, done as a favor to a friend, however that deal goes awry and Snipes ends up with the money and then runs into backwoods serial killers led by Cybil Shepherd.
I must admit I give Hard Luck points for trying, this movie is so chaotic, haphazard and so over the map that it becomes enjoyable on a surreal level.
The fact that I expected a typical ' Former thief ends up with cash finds himself running from the mobsters who set him up' style movie but in the hands of Mario Van Peebles, so much is thrown at the wall and the completely different plot lines are thrown together with so much disregard toward the main plot that Hard Luck become inadvertently entertaining.
Sure the main story is underwritten and Van Peebles doesn't make a fully coherent story out of the scenarios he intersects, but make of this what you will, Hard Luck is the best film from Wesley Snipes since Blade II.* * out of 4-(Fair).
Continuity, was a bit lacking, as the movie opens the obligatory car chase is going on, and our hero is being chastised, by the love interest, in English, yet later in the film as this scene is expanded he is being screamed at in Spanish!I was left feeling that the story could have done more with the "Serial Killer" duo, I liked the humor of the Diner scene when a Halloween costumed kid comes up and says "Yahhh!
I'm a Serial Killer!" & Cybill Shepherd comes back with "Well, I'm a Serial Killer, too!!!" All the cops and robbers, and bad boy trying to go straight has been done to death, and as for getting a pole dancer to strip, so that she "won't run into the street, naked"...
There are interesting characters like the Gay XXX movie producer "Latinos are the NEW Exotic" Cass the Serial Killer "Imagine the worst thing that can happen to you, and I will show you how limited your imagination really is".
Slow moving, a little incoherent and with next to know pay off.You must have been sniffing paraffin if you think this is good a GCSE student scripted this after an all night Tarantino movie watching session Incoherent, badly scripted, hammy dialogued, in places poorly acted.
See Wesley Snipes amble from one flung together scene to another (with little or no continuity) as he inexplicably meets a lot of deranged, unbelievable, two dimensional characters.The only value this movie has is that it features Snipes, who manages to put in an OK performance (unbelievably under the circumstances).Its tried, its old, its clichéd, it's a waste of your money and/or time and finally it features Mario-Van conducting one scene wheeling about imparting dialogue on a push-bikewhy?
How come people give this lousy film so many good reviews but superior Snipes films like Art Of War II and The Marksman get so many negative reviews?
Plus to make things worse the terrible serial killer subplot is shoehorned in and takes away the focus from the main story with Snipes character.
Well I like serial killers to be threatening and they failed miserably at that here, and they're torture methods aren't so much disturbing as confusing, exactly what the hell did those helmet things do to people?
Snipes along with his female companion at least look they're trying to make the best out of lousy film but the awful performances from everyone else make it a lost cause, even the half-way decent finale dosen't make the film worth watching.
It's surprising how bad this film is, considering it was directed by Mario Van Peebles, who's proved to be a talented director, I certainly hope his next film has more thought and effort put into it then this crap fest..
'Hard Luck' is one those many half baked direct to DVD movies that Wesley Snipes starred in after the third 'Blade' movie.
Snipes stars as an ex-hustler gone straight, but with the string of bad luck he ends up as a witness for a deal gone bad.
Throw corrupt cops, striper, stolen money and couple of serial killers into the mix and you get quite interesting over the top and action packed thriller (that lacks the actual thrills).
As the film was trying to be serious and hilarious at the same time, it was little hard to feel for all the characters and take some of the actions seriously even in the context of the movie.
In that sense, 'Hard Luck' felt like someone's first experiment as feature film director, but by that time Mario Van Peebles had became quite experienced filmmaker with some critically acclaimed works under his belt.
The most entertaining part of the film was Cybil Shepherd as demented serial killer - her performance was so wonderfully hammy that it would have been perfect fit also into Tarantino's universe.Not the usual Wesley Snipes movie, but nothing very exciting either..
Well, I certainly think people look into this movie way too much.
They had some bad vibes going on.Jackie Quinones was very sexy, and Wesley Snipes was super cool.
Now they are on the run from corrupt cops and Captain Davis (Mario Van Peebles), who has an old score to settle with Lucky.
If that's not enough plot, Cass (Shepherd) is a totally unrelated character who likes to torture people.
Even though it's a different idea to throw a serial killer into an "ex-con goes straight" story, it doesn't work at all.
Van Peebles' character has a great intro, but his story with Lucky isn't explained too well.
It gets tiring fast.Overall, "Hard Luck" is decent, don't expect it be another Snipes action movie though.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com.
Mario Van Peebles has done some good work in his past but this bizarre, confusing, silly dud is not one of them.
The script feels like someone gave a party for wannabe writers, told them each to submit a plot for a far out film, then mixed them all together and came up with a hash that in the end is merely a re-do of the bad guy turned good guy on the run - with diversions.Lucky (Wesley Snipes) is released from prison with the plan of going straight.
Of course his buddy covets his reputation and invites him to his birthday party where Lucky lusts after a pole dancer Angela (Jackie Quinones) and manages to become involved in a dirty cop drug deal that sends him on the usual wild car chase with Angela looking for a way to hideout with the corrupt money stashed in metal suitcases (rigged of course).
Behrman) who just happens to be in on the dirty cop aspect of the drug deal.Off Lucky and Angela drive to a wooded area where they hole up next door to a weirdo pair of serial killers - Cass (Cybill Shepherd), who is angry at the world for negative response to her retarded grown son Eugene (Mike Messier), and Chang (James Hiroyuki Liao), Cass's strangely sick lover and wannabe martial arts expert (yeah, that is thrown in, too) - who kidnap victims and torture and kill them in Hollywood-style videotaped sequences.
And things change and intertwine and nobody really cares.Wesley Snipes does have charisma and it is because of him that the film is watchable, but even his role doesn't explain why this mess was made in the first place.
It was hard not to think about Pulp Fiction when watching this movie.
Starring Wesley Snipes, you expect a straightforward action/crime drama.
Well, they tried to throw a little twist in with some deranged torture sequences as an overlapping subplot.I wasn't really interested in Snipes' character, even though it felt like they tried to make him something different than the typical action protagonist.
Eventually, while trying to lay low, they end up neighbors with the eccentric couple who have been kidnapping, torturing, and videotaping people, although it's never really said what they do it for.Actually, not knowing what the motivation was behind the kidnappings worked well, because we were shown just enough to imagine what these people are really up to, and it seemed to offer several possibilities.
"F**K" "F**K" "F**K" "F**K" "F**K".Thanks also for the worst music I have ever heard, "f**k" all of you sound-directors and musical "sh*tters".Want to say "f**k" to to the whole cast and film crew but specially to:Mario Van Peebles Donald Kushner Brad Wyman Larry Brand Peter McIntosh G.
I'm giving this a 6.5 and I'm pretty loyal to movies with wesley snipes.
If you keep throwing characters in with out giving the viewers a personality to attach it to then you are mudding the waters.They did a good job with the serial killers.
But it seems like you watched the movie and you learned something new.
If you are going to make a low budget film make it to where they viewers is like "ah, I am learning something new thats cool, is that really how that works".
It stars Wesley Snipes and is written and directed by Mario Van Peebles.
At first glance, it's a combination of a typical Snipes action movie and the modern-day blaxploitation films that Van Peebles specialises in.
Snipes portrays an ex-con desperately trying to go straight, who innocently blunders into a drug deal/police sting gone wrong, and is forced to go on the run with a Cuban stripper he's only just met (played by Jackie Quinones).
So far, so expected.However, the movie then begins cutting away to an entirely separate 'Saw'-type storyline happening many miles away, concerning a couple of backwoods serial-killers who abduct and torture people to death, filming themselves while doing so.
And in the first indication that this film is going to be out of the ordinary, one of these snuff producers is played by Cybill Shepherd - yep, Cybill Shepherd!!!Meanwhile, back in the Snipes storyline, the crime aspect is practically forgotten and it almost turns into a standard road movie, complete with a cameo from veteran character actor Luis Guzman as an extremely camp gay porn baron.
Eventually the two separate plot lines converge when Snipes crosses paths with Shepherd at the movie's climax.As a result, Hard Luck is bizarre but strangely fascinating.
It really is like watching two entirely different movies that have been edited together.
You can almost imagine them whispering in your ear as the film unfurls - "yeah, we know there's absolutely no good reason for her to get her kit off in this scene, but look, that's one shapely butt she's got." Quinones' entry on the IMDb reveals only a few minor credits, and this is her biggest role so far.
There have been a lot of films in the narrative format in the past and this was a good addition to a long line including Pulp fiction and Sin City to name a couple.
I have not seen anything else by Mario Van Peebles only the films he has taken part in as an Actor.
All I could think of with van peebles was the fact that he doesn't appear to have aged in the twenty or so years it has been between the first and the last time i saw him on screen.
Wesley Snipes was what he always is, hugely entertaining and kick ass at the same time.
With the sub plot of the serial Killer, I thought Sybyl Shepherd was chilling in the role and think she should do more like this as this suited her like a glove.
It was interesting throughout giving good character plots, leaving us with a good one liners and a thumping sound track.To be honest i think the serial Killer plot could have been a whole new film, however the way it was introduced into the main plot which in any other film would have been the sub plot, was very well done.Over all?
We see some good acting from shepherd and peebles and I would recommend it to people who like to sit down on a Friday night with beer and a Burger.
This is your usual Wesley Snipes movie.
Mario van Peebles doing his version of Pulp Fiction.
2. Cybill Sheppard - her character is just so way out in left field that watching her in this movie is like watching a train wreck - you know it'll end badly but you just can't tear your eyes away.