brother 2 is a movie that distinguishes two types of people Russians and not Russians. as a Russian i have to say that this movie is revolutionary. it destroys all the love that the Russians had for the west and firmly takes a shot at the American way of living, so is it a surprise that most western audience will find this film racist full of plot holes etc. and the notion that this movie is like a fairytale in which it's a one man battle, i say to that person who hasn't lived the Russian life and doesn't know that 12 year old boys there can do things that fully grown adults can't, a one Russian man against a bunch of fat lazy Americans looks like the truth to me. Sergei bodrov is legendary in this film and it would be great to see him in a third installment, but because of his tragic murder by the American government aka avalanche we can only dream. a legendary movie and a national favorite but if you don't understand the Russian way of life then keep away as the truth in this movie could scar u pretty bad. 10/10


Well, as promised in first part, Russian folk hero Danila goes to USA to revenge a friend and give "kirdyk"(apocalypse) to America. Everyone who stands in his way is done for. He meets and gets to know Russian Pamela Anderson look-alike and foxy black girl. In the firefight, no cops, neither negro gun-runners and pimps, not even Russian, Ukrainian and Italian mafia can stop him. He get to the BIG BOSS and demands his million dollars, and then goes home victorious. As we can see from the plot, it is kind of a fairy-tale that is transformed into the RP(Russian-Power) action flick. Although the plot is unrealistic at best, everything else is top-notch - the movie has best Russian actors (Sergej Bodrov Jr. R.I.P.,Sergej Makovetsky, Viktor Sukhorukov), director (Alexej Balabanov), and excellent soundtrack. And of course lots Russian humor. Also some episodes are just unforgettable - like "weapon-bying" or "child poem". And of course an epic showdown in Mtro club. 10/10.


"BRAT 2" is the best movie since "BRAT". I loved it. May be it looked like a fairy tale as One-man gang destroyed whole Mafia. But it was MAD. I've seen this movie may be 50 times and everytime I turn it On I still wanna see it again. I hope they gonna make part three, because it didn't look that Danila's adventure is over. If you haven't seen it go and see it ! Best movie on the market - Kick ass any Hollywood big budget movie. :o)


This movie was a real milestone, it marked the end of Yeltsin's era. Like the part one is a snap-shot of 90s, this one is the reflection of, on the one hand, started changes of RF internal and external policy. Of course, partly they were (as usual) just proclaimed changes, but it doesn't matter in this case because, on the other hand, Brat-2 showed nation's feelings and hopes of those days. As far as I remember Balabanov himself said something like "The movie was just the answer to the state of public opinion". Also keep in mind it was time just after aggression of US against Yugoslavia and time of victories of federal forces in the second Chechen war - everyone still remembered the humiliation of the first war as well as all previous decade . Now you can imagine the eye we watched Brother-2 with. And you can understand what we felt The main message of the movie is Danila's words: "So I think that the truth is the power: the one who has truth he is stronger". This phrase has become a byword. In fact, all the movie is about that: neither ascendancy and criminal (personified as "New Russians" and Ukrainian bandits), nor money and hypocrisy (American smooth operators) can defeat the truth. The idea is shown with use of violence. This point was subject of much criticism, but it's certainly not the main thing in the film, at most the decoration for its message. If you saw Brat-2 you would understand me. Another idea is that you can find good and sincere people in any country, any nation and any order. It doesn't matter what all damned governments and bigwigs do: good hearts will always find each other in this cruel world. In addition, Brat-2 is full of sentences, including humorous, which became famous: the above-mentioned "truth", "Russians never desert their own in the war", "You bitches will answer to me for Sevastopol!" and many others.

So. Despite some rude episodes I disliked, despite (I think) excessive violence shown, I give it 10 of 10. Brother-2 deserves.


This film seems to me better than "Brat" and Balabanov'some recent films("Voyna" and "Mne ne bol'no").

Danila, the hero played by Sergei Bodrov Jr.here reminds us of some well known character from action films(Travis from "Taxi Driver", or better to say,James Bond from "007" series).Hero with firearms,who never loses in love affairs and in gunfight, who revenges his friend's death, protects potential victims of villains, saves good people,and then goes back to motherland with new girlfriend. The villains here are an American cunning businessman and his mafia-like bodyguards, who are exploiting poor Russians in various ways. Too simple to be commented.

But in fact "Brat 2" is not so simple. Danila doesn't kill that American businessman,after having managed to convince him that money doesn't make a man stronger than those who are with truth. But his elder brother,who had come to America with the same purpose as Danila(avenge) is already been infected with "money worship" to the end of the film.

Danila remains as he was, to be Russian "muzhik(bumpkin),sympathetic and sometimes violent, tactful and full of wisdom of life, but not at all refined or intelligent.

The last sequence with inserted song of Russian rock band Nautilus Pompilius is really great, whole seeming reference to American and Western action films gets toppled upside-down,because when credit titles appear, suddenly the song declare:"Boodby, America, where I've never been.". In fact, the song was made in 1980s by provincial young musicians, who have never been to America. Russian "Muzhik" won fictional America and its soulless capitalism in the end.


I enjoyed Brat 2. It certinly much better than most modern Russian movies. If you grew up in a Russian home, you'll feel immediatly at home with the style and psyche behind the film. I think that if Tarantino was a bit less intelligent and Russian, he would be making movies like this: action, some messages about life and a whole lot of gags that only Russians can understand. This movie was not meant to be artsy, as some Americans may view. It was filmed solely with the Russian-speaking public in mind. No, it's not politicly correct by any means, but that's realistic, and a nice change of pace for this movie goer. I don't really know how ANYONE could say it antisemitic. I'm Jewish and I didn't see anything offending in it. The "Fashist" (Russian phonetic here) was funny, if you ask me. He even seemed almost Jewish.

But I can see how some one who does not understand Russian culture very well may misunderstand and be offended by it.

Cest la vive.


Brat 2 (Brother 2) is a sequel to the 1997 film Brat (Brother). I am a fan of Bodrov and enjoyed all the movies he made and has acted in during his unfortunately short career. Without a doubt he was a revolutionary director and actor for Russia's film-making and this film presents him in one of his best roles. To me, this movie is special because I very much love its genre and the way it was presented. It is less realistic than Brat, but contains more action and more memorable moments. Anyone who is willing to look at a life of a simple guy who thinks his life is less important than that of his friends and loved ones will not be disappointed by the presentation of the film. Danila's character is very different and memorable; for me, he is truly an idol and every time I watch the movie I can only wish I had his big heart and bravery. Because I love this film so much I am giving it a perfect score, but disregarding my connection to former USSR I still recommend it highly. Brat 2 10/10.


When I've seen Brat, I thought it was pretty silly. I just didn't like it. Though this spring we got another part of Danila's (this cute lovely guy) adventures. I thought this would not be better, so I haven't seen it... But recently we had it on the TV and I just watched it, because I heard people liked it. So I did. And I must tell ya that this is good done job. I don't even know what is so amazing there for me. Maybe I just liked the idea, because it really seemed great. And all those jokes. Damn, only Russians can understand it (well, the movie is Russian. For us.). One Bagrov-older bro (Sukhorukov) is big joke. I mean, almost everything he says is funny. No, you better know what the joke is about... Oh, yeah, forgot: maybe Americans don't like it. But don't they always make Russians "monsters that are going to destroy the world" in the movies? We have our own opinion, so sorry, guys! :))


I may be saying this with a bit of bias but this is my favorite movie of all time. Unlike a Hollywood movie it does not picture the world a perfect place but instead it pictures people and the world the way they are, racist, hateful, etc. Racism is present in any country you go to, and if you tell me different you are just to ignorate to realize it. This picture depicts the American and Russian sycie and how western and eastern thinking are different from one another. I have only watched this in the original Russian version and would recommend any Russian speaking person to see it, not sure how accurate the subtitles are and how much justice they give to the movie.


I feel that these films are great. Two brothers who make a living as Mafia hit men. I'm English so I don't fully understand the in-fighting between the Russian Mafia that goes on. The violence and shoot-outs are excessive but maybe that is the way it happens over there. The music is especially good even though I can't understand what the words are. Sergei Bodrov (The main character) who plays Danila Bogrov in both films is an excellent actor. It's a regret because there are probably loads of excellent foreign-speaking films out there that people could enjoy but can't be marketed.

The problem with both films is the fact that there are elements of racism involved, plus the fact that World War II is often mentioned. I'm not sure, but the War must have affected them so completely that they still go on about so much, especially in Brother 2. A lot of the weapons that these guys use against each other are WWII orientated. Russian mind-set must be different to our own but these two films are must watch.

Brother 1 concentrates purely on St. Petersburg, but Brother 2 involves Moscow & Chicago, especially concentrating on the differences between two of the major cities in the World. I don't want to spoil the film for you too much but Danila walks into a Black bar in downtown Chicago. Everyone stops talking & looks at him. Being new to America, he doesn't get that it's wrong. There's humour involved as well as violence.

Both films are violent but I guess it's the way the Russian underworld works.


Apparently Brat 2 was one of the most popular Russian movies of all time. Unfortunately that little statistic tells more about contemporary Russians than the film itself. While many American action flicks suffer from an overload of clichés, Brat 2 is an action film (if it can be called that) with an overload of mean spirited clichés. It basically caters to the very large segment of Russian population that believes that having racist ideas and expressing them is OK. It shows a great number of very simplistic clichés and stereotypes about the United States, Blacks, Russia, Jews, etc. It glorifies the Russian stereotypical traits of rudeness, self righteousness, selfishness, vulgarity, etc. The positive traits (caring for one's own people) are presented in a very unconvincing manner. When the hero meets a Russian woman, he shows care for her but due to bad acting and bad storytelling, this event lacks any kind of emotional impact. Aside from racism, nationalism, populism etc., the film is also guilty of exceptionally bad film making. The pacing is very bad, making action sequences seem bland and boring compared to American action film (which are often boring and repetitive in their own right). The reasons why the characters behave in a certain way are told - not shown. Relationships pack absolutely no emotional punch - When a character refers to someone as a brother we are supposed to understand he cares about them, but nothing else is shown to make the relationship plausible. The plot structure itself is incoherent and quite idiotic, with people behaving in completely unbelievable ways throughout the film.

Overall, the movie is a work of a racist, a poor film maker, a poor writer (same person) with poor camera people, poor editors and poor actors. It is fake through out, substituting cheap clichés for meaning. 20 years from now people in Russia will watch this movie, having a hard time to believe these types of movies were popular in Russia. If Russia wants its own "Birth of a Nation," it should at least make its racist epic a better movie.

In case it is relevant: I'm Russian, studied film, and live in America. I'm not offended by negative portrayals of Russians or Americans, I'm offended by idiocy, bad film making, and substituting clichés for substance.


Brat 2 is so bad it hurts to watch. Russians pictured like rude, ignorant jerks,movie is full of cliches, sexism and racism are rampant... Movie feels like low budget brainless flick made in two weeks. Everything in the movie is predictable and easy.


this is a horrible movie. beside the fact that it's full of racism, antisemitism and sexism it's simply a really bad movie (there are exellent sexist films - by and large all billy wilder movies; there are even very good films full of racism - all these comedies of the 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's with ridiculous dancing blacks or stupid black nannies, etc.). since racism, antisemitism and sexism are stupid by itself, the minimal requirement should be that they were presented in a witty way. but this movie is simply rubbish: poor, senseless plot; flat characters, that is boring stereotypes (sharp contrasts to eizenshtejn's "tipazhi"); pseudo-cool, stupid dialogues. brat-2 is full of whining resentments in view of russia's decline as a superpower. forget it.


This was OK, but it could have been better. It was known who was going to win the Ring of the Ring title, and not many matches were exciting.

Match 1 saw RVD challenging Chris Jericho in a semi final match up. This was very good. RVD got the win.

Next up was a semi final match between Test and Brock Lesnar. While this was enjoyable, it was all Test. This was strange because Lesnar is supposed to be tough, mean, nasty and damn right destructible. All this did was make him look like a kid. Next up Ric Flair challenges Eddie Guerrero in a p*ss poor contest. It was boring, crap, slow and useless. OK yeah so WWE had to find a replacement for 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, but Flair? Give me a break! Next up Jamie Noble challenged The Hurricane for the Cruiseweight in a boring match. Nidia done my head in with her interfering actions. However I must be fair, one good spot was when Hurricane gave a Noble a neck breaker off the top rope.

Next up Molly took on Trish Stratus in a usual Women's match. In other words, useless. Then Hulk Hogan took on Kurt Angle. I just fast forward this match, because I couldn't have been arsed about it. Apologies if it was good, but Hogan was getting on for 49 years of age 3 years ago, and he's no Chris Benoit is he? Next up RVD battles Brock Lesnar in the KotR final match. Common do I need to tell you who won?! This was a very good match though.

Then The Undertaker challenges Triple H in a passable main event match. This was nowhere near as good as their Wrestlemania 17 clash in March 2001.

Overall Grade - C+


I was kind of scared going into this ppv do to 2 old farts, Hogan & Flair wrestling but it turned out to be better than I thought. RVD defeated Jericho is a great match to advance to the finals. Then Brock Lesnar defeated Test in a crappy match to face RVD in the finals. In the finals Brock defeated RVD to become the 2002 King of the Ring, the match was good I guess but way too short so that was extremely disappointing. Jamie Noble defeated the Hurricane to become the new cruiserweight champ in a decent match although the crowd was really dead in it. Ric Flair defeated Eddie Guerrero with some help from Bubba. Molly defeated Trish to become the new woman's champion, thank God. Kurt Angle defeated Hulk Hogan and the dead man Undertaker defeated Triple H to retain his undisputed title.


This show is fusion... Curb Your Enthusiasm meets The West Wing. I think this was well done , but 10 episodes clearly enough. Basically ,this is a fictionalized account of DC , playing as the political version of Curb. What Larry David is to Curb, James Carville is to this show. Very intelligent though not quite as funny as Curb, the show is a fine depiction of how The inner circle of DC uses the media to get their message to the masses. I do feel the show could have used more humor but it is more of a fictionalized documentary , with roots of truth . I liked this show and ,surprisingly, I thought James Carville is a fine actor. Hmmmm , maybe that is telling in itself when it comes to our beloved public servants, but I shall digress. The material here is real and I like that the issues are more of light nature. One can easily enjoy this without taking on the somberness of the state of the world. The show is nonpartisan , so no side of the political aisle needs to be offended. Give this a watch and you will probably agree that it is a nice show and that 10 eps are just enough.


Sorry- I like Soderbergh and Clooney, and this idea was a good one. But, unfortunately, politics in the US is no longer a laughing matter.

This is a good idea which may have worked in the days of James Stewart ("Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"). That was 56 years ago. Recently, there was a televised champagne party wherein Dick Cheney was roasted by his fellow admirers and sycophants. I doubt this will be televised mass market, as most Americans will not find it mildly amusing.

Lobbyists and corporate lackeys are not mysterious or interesting;nor are they a source of amusement.

They are now the status quo, and anyone who isn't aware of this merely needs to tune in to Bill O'Reilly for the latest pablum bought and paid for by the PR spin machine.

This is sad, and the fact that even a creative innovator like Soderbergh cannot find a better creative slant to educate Americans is discouraging.


this was a very good movie i wished i could find it in vhs to buy,i really enjoyed this movie i would definaetly recommend this movie to watch i would like to see it again but can never find it in tv, it would be well worth the time to watch it again


I just saw this movie on HBO, and it was really good...a tragic love story indeed! I really appreciated the fact that the guy at the heart of the story had lost the use of his legs in an accident. It's rare to see a love story involving someone who is physically handicapped. The love that developed between that character and the woman who comes into his life nicely portrayed how I'd like to think love can heal someone's heart. Laura Leighton...all of 27 when she made this movie...was great as the woman so full of life she's able to revive this guy's heart. Unfortunately, since his family is wealthy and her's is not, "problems" develop.

It's playing on HBO some more times this month. Check out the schedule here - http://www.hbo.com/apps/schedule/ ScheduleServlet?ACTION_DETAIL=DETAIL&FOCUS_ID=598947


This is simply the epitome of what a made for TV movie should be. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon when my wife and I were in grad school that we stumbled upon this. The cheesy acting. The poorly written script. The good ol' boys. The ridiculous, yet somehow obvious, cliché, and banal premise. The riding in pickup trucks with your propped-up wife-corpse. It has it all.

You will meet familiar characters: gold-digging hussy, stupid rich boy who wants to make it on his own, friends-who-know-better, Daddy who knows better but drives son away. And the wife-corpse. Propped up. In a pick-up.

Wow: and the title. Several things in our lives have been "Texas Tragedies" since watching this beauty. Everyone involved in its creation deserves a medal.


When this picture came out in 1944, I saw the previews. I was about 12 at the time. The previews showed the three girls being spanked -- which REALLY lit me up.

However, in the week between seeing the trailer -- and when the flick actually played at my friendly neighborhood theater -- I'd goofed up at home. I don't remember what "rock" I may have pulled -- but, it was enough to get me grounded for a week. And I MISSED seeing the movie.

For -- literally -- SIXTY YEARS, I looked for this movie. FINALLY found it on e-Bay a couple years ago. Paid the well-known arm and a leg for it. First VHS copy I got didn't play. I was CONVINCED that I'd NEVER see the picture. That the fates had DECREED that I'd remained frustrated! Fortunately, the guy sent me one I could view.

Found out that there was MUCH more to the flick than the triple-spanking (which, doggone it, didn't last long enough.) For instance, one of my all-time favorite songs -- over the years -- has been "It Could Happen To You". I'd not been aware of the fact that it came from this movie. Not till Dorothy Lamour began singing it to Fred McMurray.

I LOVE Diana Lynn! I'd sit and simply LOOK at a picture of hers. The cover of the "Piano Moods" album she made with Paul Weston's orchestra -- in the late-forties -- is, to my way of thinking, the most beautiful one ever made.

This was a GREAT movie. Was glad I'd finally tracked it down.


I stumbled across this on late night TV and found myself laughing...a lot. A shining example of the uplifting wartime movie genre. Diana Lynn and Betty Hutton are great. All have perfect comedic timing proving ensemble cast concept is a timeless strategy. The lamb stew gag became a standing joke for along time amongst my crowd for years.


AND THE ANGELS SING is a utterly entertaining comedy/musical starring Dorothy Lamour and Fred MacMurray with rising young actresses Betty Hutton and Diana Lynn in featured roles. This movie doesn't have much of a reputation thanks to the fact it curiously has been seldom seen in recent decades. It has never aired on any major national cable channel to my knowledge yet it was a major Paramount film and a big hit at the time.

Lamour and Hutton are the main attractions in a sister singing quartet who get the shaft from sneaky band leader Fred MacMurray. Eventually Betty pursues Fred - and Fred pursues Dorothy. The songs in this film are sensational - Lamour croons the lovely "It Could Happen to You", Hutton stops the show with the outrageous "My Rocking Horse Ran Away", and the sister act sings a lot of songs in best Andrew Sisters harmony including the very charming "The First Hundred Years" and the sassy "Knocking On Your Own Front Door".

Too bad TCM didn't get this for their retrospective on Hutton films a few years ago - it's one of her best even if she does play second fiddle to Lamour (though she holds her own). And Dorothy Lamour gives one of her best performances, she can handle comedy and music with equal ease and of course is one of the best lookers ever in movies as icing on the cake.


The plot of "The Emperor's Candlesticks" is total nonsense in the 1930s Hollywood fantasies about benevolent despots, courteous kidnappers, and gallant spies. The story is only an excuse for a masquerade ball and a dash across Europe in pursuit of two candelabras that do not belong to the Russian czar or the Austro-Hungarian emperor, but are a gift from an Austrian nobleman to a Russian noblewomen. The carriers (the Polish Baron Wolensky and the Russian Countess Mironova, played by the stars, William Powell and Luise Rainer) lose and find and mistakenly switch the pair of candelabras.

Powell was unflappable in the midst of many ludicrous plots during the 1930s, often with Myrna Loy as a co-conspirator. Here, he is pitted against a lovely czarist secret agent, played, in a large wardrobe, by the great Luise Rainer. In the two immediately preceding films for which she won back-to-back Oscars ("The Great Ziegfeld" with Powell and "The Good Earth" with Paul Muni) and in her only other readily available film, "The Great Waltz," she suffered mightily. In "Candlesticks" she got a chance to play the kind of glamorous clothes horse role in which Marlene Dietrich specialized, with no occasion for jealousy at all. Dietrich and Greta Garbo both played spies in 1930s movies. Each appeared more sophisticated than Rainer's, but I find Rainer more credible as a spy with regrets about the consequences of her occupation than either Dietrich or Garbo. Rainer was also quite beautiful with high cheekbones and eyebrows as plucked as Dietrich, and received star keylighting from MGM.

Back in a gilded cage, Robert Young got a chance to be charming and gallant, impeded by the humorous bumbling minder played by Frank Morgan.


Back in the '30s, the studios made dozens of movies that were set in Europe to give Americans during the Depression a sense of fantasy and other world glamor, and to keep their foreign market. "The Emperor's Candlesticks" starring William Powell and Luise Rainer is such a film, with supporting roles featuring two young stars, Robert Young and Maureen O'Sullivan. Powell and Rainer are opposing foreign agents who each hide their documents in a pair of candlesticks to be brought to Russia as a gift to a noblewoman. The candlesticks were to be delivered by Powell, but Rainer talks the Austrian who has given him the task to let her do it. They are stolen by her maid and her boyfriend, and both Powell and Rainer try to be the first to recover them.

Powell and Rainer are delightful in this crazy story. Rainer, with her small face and enormous eyes, is gorgeous, playing the part of a spy with charm. Powell is always good and plays off Rainer very well. Robert Young and Maureen O'Sullivan portray a prince and his kidnapper's accomplice, respectively, who meet at a masquerade ball, he dressed as Romeo and she as Juliet. Their last scene together is very sweet.

This movie is odd for one reason. The stars all lived for a very long time, and in fact, Rainer at this writing is still alive at the age of 96. Young lived to 91, O'Sullivan to 87, Powell to 91. Must have been something in the water on the set. Wish it had been present on more films!


I've seen The Emperor's Candlesticks twice now and I'm still trying to figure it out. Why are the Russian secret police so intent on getting their Grand Duke killed is beyond me?

Polish patriots kidnap a Romanov Grand Duke while he's on a holiday in Vienna. The Grand Duke is played by Robert Young and he's with Frank Morgan as his protector. That alone should tell you Romanov security stinks big time. Young's seduced and led to his kidnappers by the lovely Maureen O'Sullivan.

She's got a good reason for doing it, her father's in a Czarist prison awaiting a death sentence. The idea is to swap Young for dad. But for some reason I absolutely can't fathom, the Poles are afraid their note explaining their demands to the Czar won't reach him.

The Poles get William Powell to deliver the message and the Russians have their own agent Luise Rainer. The note is to be delivered in one of a pair of Louis XV candlesticks and Powell and Rainer run all over Europe, Vienna, Paris, London and finally St. Petersburg. Naturally of course the opposing spies are falling for each other.

The same plot gambit was used by MGM in Operator 13 with Gary Cooper and Marion Davies in the American Civil War and also in The Firefly with Allan Jones and Jeanette MacDonald. Those were pretty good films, but MGM came up short with this one. The Emperor's Candlesticks wastes a pretty good cast in a very trite and incoherent story that Powell and Rainer can't save no matter how much they turn on the charm.


Perhaps because I was not very familiar with Luise Rainier performances (beyond "The Good Earth," which movie I didn't like), I was impressed by her in "The Emperor's Candlesticks." I use the conditional because of comments by others here.

Nevertheless, I found her charming, even entrancing.

William Powell gave his usual masterful best and all the other players were intriguing.

There were lots of "other players," too, and that each managed to be individualistic speaks of their own talents and of that of the director and script writer.

The movie was well directed, generally, and the script presented a view of a world long gone that we might otherwise never get to see.

It's a good yarn, with meshing stories of intrigue, and an adventure of an international race against the clock.

I recommend this as a must-see movie on many levels.


No wonder Luise Rainer's career went south following this film and several others. Following her Oscar wins, Ms. Rainer was rushed into some poor films and the results showed quickly.

In this film, she sounds like she has congestion, but people would say that this was because of her accent.

A tale of Polish and Russian spies, the entire concept needed reworking. The writing is weak, the performances by Rainer and Powell just aren't there because they're given such poor material to work with.

As the Countess Mironova, Rainer acts and looks like a refugee living in Brooklyn. She appears as one of the foreigners you would meet at a marketplace.

The plot is a good one. Polish nationalists kidnap a Russian emperor's son in the hopes that a Polish nationalist will be freed. Instead of concentrating on this, the film devotes itself to how 2 spies, Rainer and Powell, try to outwit each other by getting the candlesticks which reveal important information inside.

Frank Morgan provides some comic relief to Robert Young, the victim of the kidnapping. Yet, his part is mainly understated as is the problem with the entire film.


(possíble spoilers)

Russian Grand duke (Robert Young), disguised as Romeo falls in love with his Julia (Maureen O'Sullivan) during a masked ball. She had been assigned to him by her government to save the life of her father, a polish freedom-fighter. A secret agent (William Powell) is enlisted to deliver a secret treaty, hidden in a candlestick. Meanwhile the russian secret police sends a female spy (Louise Rainer) after him. Mission: replace the treaty by a death warrant for Powell - equally hidden in a candlestick. It goes without saying that a) Powell & Rainer have already crossed their swords, and b) the candlesticks are exchanged by mistake more than once...

The story in itself does not give you automatically an idea of the film's qualities. Witty screenwriters, skillful directors, talented stars have made delightful films out of even slighter plots. But not this time. Powell delivers his lines with eye-twinkling charm but he is no match for his leading lady: You know how all actresses, without exception act during the ball/party scene, when they flirt with their leading men while they are slightly tipsy? This is how Rainer acts - throughout the film. It is embarrassing to watch. A very poor film.


I've never before seen a film that made me sit on the edge of my seat practically from the opening credits. And I never got to sit back.

This was a psychological thriller of the best type. There is plenty of opportunity for you to nominate the "bad guy" and while you may be right in a sense you will probably also be wrong. The ending is a real shocker - and I suspect that the typical reaction of many viewers is to say "No way" - but if you think about it, it is the only possible ending. But you have to think about it - and the film is so action-filled that you never have time. SO the realization must come after the closing credits roll.

I'd never seen John Cusack in anything but a comedy before (except for a film called "Max", but I saw that before I knew who Cusack was). He pulled off drama equally as well as he does comedy. An impressive talent.

And an impressive film.


To be honest I didnt want to watch this movie but it was my wifes turn to choose so I had no choice. After 20 minuites into the movie I was so glad it wasnt my turn to choose. This movie was absolutely fantastic. The Premise as you will read here on IMDB or on the back of the dvd in the shop/rental store seemed very lame to me but I was so wrong.

It starts off as a classic "Whodunnit" movie but then flips and twists on its head so many times your left astounded. I cannot imagine anyone who would not enjoy this movie, It keeps you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end and I loved every minuite of it. Throw in an all star cast (Cusack and Liotta are fantastic here) And you have one Hell of a movie.

10/10

You Have to watch this, Trust Me :)


Because of what seem to be unusual circumstances, eleven people, strangers to each other outside of their respective "groups" (two families, two professional associations), end up stranded in a desolate Nevada motel on a dark, stormy night. One of the "strangers" is a death row murderer being escorted to another prison for execution. When bodies start turning up and the murderer goes missing, he's the obvious suspect. But things are not what they seem. Identity provides a "double mystery"--a traditional whodunit and an increasingly bizarre "rubber reality" mystery that we must figure out along with the characters.

This is my second viewing of Identity. I didn't like it quite as much this time, although it still earned a "B". The two aspects I had a slight problem with on the second go-round were one, the plot didn't quite envelop me to the same extent (maybe because I remembered the twist?) and two, since first watching it, I've seen a lot more films in the rubber reality genre, and Identity is nowhere near as mind-bending as many other examples. Still, this is a great film, with a lot of assets.

Director James Mangold effectively employs a number of interesting techniques here. The main standout in the first reel is the use of Tarantino-like "multiple viewpoint" shots, where we see the same span of time from one character's point of view, then another, then another. He also effectively creates two very attractive atmospheres, especially for fantasy fans--a "Twilight Zone"(1959)-like conundrum and a sustained dark ambiance. The Twilight Zone aspect makes itself most obvious beginning with the scene where the convict, Robert Maine (Jake Busey), tries to flee, but discovers that he's still at the motel, after all. The constant, Blade Runner (1982)-like rain underscores the dark ambiance, which is reminiscent of films such as Fallen (1998) and Se7en (1995).

While Identity isn't exactly a bastion of graphic violence, there are a number of strongly visceral scenes and shots that are extremely well done and effective for seeming realistic. The atmosphere is also greatly enhanced by the hotel set, which matches the Bates Motel from Psycho (1960) in dingy gloom. The film also has a wonderfully nihilistic ending.

Even though I wasn't as enraptured in suspense this time, one is still drawn into the film by the gradual quickening and spiraling of loss of control experienced by the characters. While slowly killing each one of them off as they're stuck in an isolated setting is a traditional "10 Little Indians" horror film motif that writer Michael Cooney employs, the Twilight Zone aspects allow him to trump the sense of horror and despair, as the surviving characters come to realize that they are not in charge of their own lives, they can't call the shots, and their illusions about their realities crumble before their eyes.

One of the negatives is that the rubber reality resolution is a bit too telegraphed, too overt. The solution is given too early, and ends up being spelled out note-for-note. It's a bit like giving a lecture on a joke right after one gives the punch line. It might be difficult to blame either Cooney or Mangold with this, however, as American film studios and test audiences are notoriously allergic to ambiguity, which is depressing, because I love ambiguity in films. Still, maybe the Identity is just easier to figure out when you've seen tens of rubber reality flicks. When I watched the film upon its theatrical release, I overheard more than one fellow theater-goer still trying to figure out the gist as the lights came up.

One might be tempted to claim that Mangold under-uses his fine cast--who all turn in excellent performances, including one of my favorite character actors, John C. McGinley. But on the other hand, it makes sense that there is this large number and broad range of characters. Under this scenario, you either under-use them or you've got a 3-hour-plus film (not that I'd complain about a 3-hour-plus film).

Of course the theme of the film, as well as all of the subtexts, has to do with personal identity, and especially veiled personal identity. None of the characters are who they seem. Most of them are lying to each other in some way when they first meet, and even some of the ones who know each other already are also lying to each other. Cooney and Mangold explore the various social facts, actions, ceremonies, rituals and so on that help provide personal identity for us, such as birthdates, names, residency, marriages, benevolent versus criminal or unethical actions, and occupations. They also explore a more dynamic identity of action, as relationships continually shift throughout the film.


Today I have watched "Identity" for the second time in less than two months, now on DVD. Again, I found it an excellent and intriguing film. There are two versions in the DVD, and I selected the one with scenes that were cut in the final edition (the other option was the theatrical version). Now I paid more attention on the details of the plot, trying to identify flaws in the screenplay, but the story is very tight. There are many extras in the DVD, including deleted scenes, making of, filmography, comments etc. It is amazing the filmography of John Cusack, composed mainly of good movies. I keep my initial vote (nine).

Title (Brazil): `Identidade' (`Identity')


OK, everyone seems to be confused about this movie so let me explain it for everyone. The killer has a multiple personality syndrome, and was being treated in a psychiatric home. They have tapes of him portraying many different personalities, and they believe that one of his many personalities is the killer. The reason everyone has the same birthday is that every person is really him, all of these characters are made up in this guys mind. The way they figure they can cure him of his multiple personalities is to have them all come together inside of his head and hopefully they will all be killed off, with the risk that the killer will be one of the personalities killed. Let me repeat, the point of that motel, is to have all the personalities come together hoping that they will all die except for one, that one takes control of his life. As each character dies, that is one less personality he has left. In the very end they think he is OK because all of his personalities are dead, except for the girl. But really that kid is still alive, and he kills Amanda Peet. The exercise that they tried to do was complete, all the personalities died inside of his head, unfortunately the only personality that survived was the one that was the killer. I hope that clears it up a little bit.


This movie totally surprised me on every level. I had never even heard of it until recently; when an observant video store clerk noticed how many thrillers I was hiring and suggested it.

Having missed it at the movies, I figured it would be the usual B-grade mystery murder flick, a bit of fun at best. Instead this movie had me hooked from the opening sequence; I almost thought they'd put the wrong DVD in the box!

The story is like one big twisted, turning tunnel- with barely a glimmer of a light at the end. The cast is great, the setting appropriately scary- with no short measure of red herrings to keep you guessing.

The cast really delivers too; the characters are diverse and given enough attention to keep you engaged but not so much as to slow the action down. John Cusack is in fine form as the easily likable ex-cop trying to hold it all together; Jake Busey plays the psychotic to perfection as usual.

I don't usually go in for gore, but there's really barely more than a few hints of blood & guts. Definitely one to watch in the dark with a group of friends to scare the hell out of yourselves. You won't regret this one.


For a start,i would like to say that this film is worth seeing.It is one of the best psychological thrillers that exist so i highly recommend to those who like this kind of movies.The plot was very nice,the twist also and the cast outstanding.Cusack,Liotta,Peet and Hawkes did their best and the result was excellent.I liked a lot the flashbacks that were made -mostly in the beginning. Furthermore,the idea of the whole film was terrific.On the other hand,speaking frankly there was an excessive gore and emphasis on the murders that didn't impress me;a big part of the movie was "dedicated" to murders.Another thing that i didn't like was the continuous rain that made me feel tired,seeing again again the storm. Moreover,what i liked most-contrary to many people- was the end of the movie.It was unpredictable and,besides that,it is one of the few thrillers that you cannot find out the end easily.It was very interesting and made me sit tight on my couch .If you don't pay attention for a while you will "get lost". I should not forget to refer to the hot presence of Peer that embellished the movie apart from her casting abilities. Lastly,you should make sure that you will be 100% concentrated on the film in order to understand what is happening cause i regard it as one of the most difficult movies to understand.It is certain that this film will dominate you with mystery and in parallel make you think a lot of things that will be predicted wrong in the end. I would give 9 -at least- out of 10 to Identity.


Story genre: a thriller which borders on the lines of a horror movie

Storyline: 10 different ppl get stuck in a motel room on a stormy night.. they start getting killed one by one and the blame keeps shifting from one alive person to another

Cast: John Cusack rocks in his role - very well supported by the rest of the cast

+s : the suspense is maintained well, individual performances excellent background music

-s : the ending might not be appreciated by some folks


On a dark and stormy night 11 strangers have to take refuge in an isolated motel when a rainstorm turns into a monsoon. One by one they begin to be killed...but by who and for what reason?

The set-up is neat (if predictable) and there's a great opening showing how the actions of one of them (Amanda Peet) inadvertantly causes some serious damage for the others. There also is some great acting by Peet, John C. McGinley and Ray Liotta (who REALLY chews the scenery). There are also some moments that will make you jump and there are two neat twists at the end.

The only bad things about this movie is some clumsy exposition (John Cusack tells his whole life story while photographing a corpse), some truly bad lines and a surprisingly lousy performance by Cusack. What's happened to him? He looks worn-out and haggard in this film.

However, these are minor problems and the film is well worth seeing and keeps you guessing about what's going on till the last moment. Worth catching.

WARNING: This film is NOT for children!


Identity is a very thrilling and spooky film! The all star cast performed very well especially Ray Liotta, John C. McGinley, Amanda Peet, Jake Busey, Pruitt Taylor Vince, and John Cusak! The music by Alan Silvestri was good. The film is a little hard to understand so it not predictable! If you want to watch a horror, a mystery, a action, and a murder film then see Identity today because it has all of that in it!


Identity is not a horror flick. This is a mix of several genres, from thriller, to mystery, a who'dunnit with gore. But still a very surprising movie. Normally I don't respond well to movies who lie to the audience, who show a whole story and suddenly, in the end, without warning just say "oh well, after all it was nothing like that at all, the guy was just asleep!". Hitchcock once said you should never lie to an audience, you should never show something that isn't true. It's one thing to tell a lie in a movie, the other is to show it to the audience as if it was the real thing. It's the easiest trick in the book, of course you'll be surprised, anybody will. To understand it better see the difference between "The Usual Suspects" and "Seven". The first shows a story that wasn't there and in the end pulls a rabbit out of the hat(easy!). The other builds up to an explosive and unexpected finale without any cheap shots, it just carries you through. With Identity the movie suddenly pulls a fast one on you and leaves you wondering... But Mangold doesn't gives the twist at the very end, and keeps a tense film until the last frame. It's a worth see, inventive film and with a great cast to back it up.


More than a murder mystery. More than a psychological thriller. More than a horror movie.

With most viewers being either misled by the similarities to Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians", or just pompously broadcasting their knowledge that this movie was inspired by such, they seem to have missed the point that this was not a "murder mystery" per se, but rather, a finely-crafted journey through the mind of a multiple personality during the course of purging his violent personas.

I believe that premise (and its attendant "twists") were a TEENSY bit much for audiences to comprehend. Even taking into account the fact that film-makers construct films of this ilk to the whims of "test-audiences" and "focus groups", (read as lowest common denominators, i.e. swineherders), this particular case still elicits misunderstanding, even WITH the kindergarten paint-by-numbers explanation in the final minutes.

It seemed to be a Patrick-Duffy-shower-scene cop-out, but director James Mangold and writer Michael Cooney, were using sleight-of-hand to misdirect viewers through most of the film.

I envision those loose-lipped test-audiences (comprised of societal castes who have nothing better to do with their Tuesday afternoons) believing that the movie was taking place in real time, only to be chagrined when it is revealed that most of the action was occurring in a psychopath's disturbed mind. Instead of appreciating WHY this filmic device was used, they immediately wished they'd spent their Tuesday afternoon downing that Haagen-Daaz tub and watching McMillan & Wife explain every last G-rated detail to them like they were the last retards on earth.

Ten guests are flood-stranded at a Motel: among them, Rebecca deMornay, almost unrecognizable with her ample boob-job and burgundy hair, playing a character whom she is assuming the mantle of with each passing botox-ed day - a woman who "used to be that actress"; Amanda Peet, whose stage direction was kept simple - "Back that booty up some more, honey!"; John C. McGinley playing against type as an uber-dweeb, Jake Busey playing *exactly* his type  uber-psycho; Ray Liotta  always darkly mysterious One by one, these refugee guests start dying all Agatha-Christie-like.

Intercut with this storyline is a somber eleventh-hour appeal by doctors and lawyers to an ill-tempered judge to stay an execution. We are intrigued as to how these two disparate tales are related, but we DO sense a connection in due course, because the dry, somber doctors are talking about a "killer" and in that wet parallel Motel story there're KILLIN'S GALORE.

By the end of the second act (after the film's most neck-hair-raising moment, when all the corpses at the Motel are found to be missing), it is revealed that the Motel scenes have been taking place within a psychopath's mind, and that each Motel character was merely one of the multiple personalities of the psychopath.

That's Twist No.1  that all this rain-drenched piling in and out of rooms like the Spanish Inquisition with shocked pusses is merely a psychopath's IMAGINATION.

For a few moments we are led to believe the Shyamalan trap has been sprung  but there's a trump card  through Grand Misdirection on the film-maker's part, the doctors believe they successfully purge the psychopath's mind of his "killer" persona, but it is revealed in the last few seconds of film that the psychopath was too adroit in concealing his *real* "killer" persona in the form of the least likely hotel guest.

THAT was the true "twist" to the movie: discovering that the doctors' cure did not go deep enough; discovering that the psychopath was able to disguise his persona as a benign presence in full view of both the viewers and doctors.

The movie could have opted to wrap neatly with the first Twist, or could have taken any number of juvenile turns, blaming spirits from an Indian Burial Ground, or any of the lesser characters (who all sported damaging secrets), but the writers led us on a merrier, more interesting goose chase.

Thus, this deponent sayeth: Bravo to the road less traveled.

On the other hand, my "feminine personality" thought the movie brutalized women too overtly and my "killer psychopath" personality is going to make the film-makers pay for giving away my secrets...

(Movie Maniacs, visit: www.poffysmoviemania.com)


SPOILER - Now knowing the ending I find it so clever that the whole movie takes place in a motel and each character has a different room. Even sane people have many different aspects to their personality, but they don't let them become dominant -- they are controlled. Malcolm's various personalities and needs were personified in each character. The prostitute mother (Amanda Peet), the part of him who hated her for being a prostitute (Larry), the loving mother he wish he had, the loving father he wish he had, the selfish part of himself (actress), the violent part of his personality (Ray Liotta and Busey), the irrational emotions he feels and his need to be loved (Ginnie) and his attempts to control those feelings (Lou), the hurt little boy who sees far too many traumatic things in his life, and of course, John Cusack who seems to represent Malcolm himself trying to analyze and understand all the craziness in his mind, tries to follow the rules (accepting responsibility for the car accident), help others (giving Amanda Peet a ride, and stitching up the mother). Very cleverly done!


Somewhat of a modern-day "And Then There Were None," as a group of people all meet at a motel, get trapped their in downpour that has blocked roads out of the place......and murders start happening rapidly.

Not everyone dies in this movie, however, and there is a very neat twist at the end. The movie keeps your interest all the way but the bad news is that most of the characters are profane and unlikeable, especially the women in here. The "ladies" are brutal!

John Cusack, as "Ed," has the most interesting role, followed closely by Ray Liotta's "Rhodes." Neither of those two characters had last names in this story.


I was psyched to see this movie, and I was highly entranced in this film until the BIG twist, which not only lame, but threw out any emotion towards or for any of the characters. See this movie only to see how well a thriller can be done, and how important it is not to go the cheap way and go for a big shock, that destroys characters rather than makes your jaw drop in awe. This is a film that could've been brilliant if the writers of the script had used their brains.


Identity is right up with "The Sixth Sense" for suspense, surprise, and leaving you going, "What's happening?!" I just got out of the theater, and I'm going back tomorrow to see where the clues are that I missed. What a roller-coaster ride!


I thought that this was a spectacular movie, with a good cast. The plot was cleverly put together, and the responses from the characters were quite realistic, making this movie an exciting and thrilling ride (too bad about the give away scene about 3 quarters of the way through.)

The film starts with with the "putting together" of a group of ten people, all driven to the same hotel, by a wild storm, that has flooded all the surrounding roads. As time goes by the group of people are being murdered, one person at a time. As you could expect in a situation like this, fingers are pointing all over the place, but who is the real murderer?

Ten People, One Hotel, One murderer, No Escape!

This film is one to watch!


****SPOILERS*****

I just love movies with twists and turns and this one didn't disappoint. A group of people are stranded at a motel by a torrential rainstorm and are soon getting knocked off one by one. Who's the killer???? Just watch for yourself.

What a cast! Ray Liotta! John Cusack! John C. McGinley! Rebecca "Where Have I Been?" DeMornay! My one grumble with the cast is the criminal misuse of the wonderfully freaky Jake Busey. Why go through all the trouble to cast someone like him and then only show him for 5 whole minutes!!!! Jeez.....


I watched this film this morning and i had anticipated that it would be good, im happy to say that i was not dissapointed! The direction and plot had you puzzled, i realy do not understand why the bodies all vanished though, (yes i know it was within malcom's mind) and does anyone else think that timothy looked shifty from the beginning?

I think that it was a very clever film, only critism being that the head in the drier and the con's death looked very very fake.

I also loved the ending playing on paris as she was a hooker and so was his mum it was a clever film, throughly enjoyed it!

love amz xx


IDENTITY is a very good idea how a horror thriller should be done. It achieves very much suspense from the beginning till the end. There are many puzzles to solve but it keeps you anyway asking if there is a logic for all these victims. Here is perhaps the weak point of the movie but hey it is just a movie and that must not be always a realistic one. If you have enough fantasy and imagination you can enjoy it. I think the director developed the story deep enough or too much. Perhaps some scenes could have been deleted. I have to admit that there was a surprisingly end that lets even open for a sequel. Picture was well done. I warn you there are many bloody scenes and much violence and is not an usual thriller. Rating: 6.75/10.

Films to recommend in this genre are no doubt the both FINAL DESTINATION, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER or JOY RIDE.


1st watched 3/20/2004 - 7 out of 10(Dir- James Mangold): Complex psychological thriller that ends up being a story-within-a-story. I don't want to give away too much so all I'm going to say is that this is a well-done scary movie that starts out as a drama about a bunch of people and how they end up stopping at the same motel and then 1-by-1 those that are present start dying. Eventually we find out that they all have something in common(I'll leave that for the viewer). The director does a good job of re-directing our focus so that we have no idea what's going on until the final surprise half-hour. Known for his cop movies, this is a departure for him but he does an excellent job with the material. The acting is credible enough but it's the story that's really the star in this movie. It's similar to a TEN LITTLE INDIANS type of plot but it doesn't go the same direction. All-in-all this is scary well-done escapism with a twisted ending.


This movie was really quite good, at least it was until the last act. The set up was great. The acting in the first 2/3 of this movie. The set was great, the story was pretty good and the big reveal at the end is a great concept if nothing else, and as a big fan of John Cusack I had high hopes for this movie. Unfortunately that was only true for the first bit of this movie. I don't give spoilers in my reviews, but I must say 2 things. One, the big reveal that starts off the third act is a really good concept. Had it been done differently, I probably would have loved it, but really, it ruined the movie. Secondly, the reveal of the killer was again a great idea, but incredibly poorly executed. All potential, zero execution seven out of ten


Really enjoyed this film. Well structured and pretty unique telling of a good thought provoking story.

We tried to work out what was happening and must admit to failing miserably up until the last ten minutes. In its own way the film was actually pretty pacey and I think it worked better being only some 90 minutes long. It might have dragged a little being any longer. Thought all of the characters were good and added to the overall mood of the film.

The story may well be not as original as we thought it was but it kept our interest with all the various twists. It relied upon the plot, script and acting to keep it going and all in all it worked very well.

We saw it on a recommendation and would likewise recommend it to anyone.


I've ready some comments by other IMDB users that have disliked this movie. I don't want to spoil the movie for you, if you in fact am reading this but have yet to watch this movie.

I loved the movie. This is NOT your standard slasher-type-horror movie. Go watch the movie for yourself. Have an open mind and remember, you're watching it for entertainment. (ie. don't nitpick every little detail)


I was positively surprised by the film. First of all that was Rebecca DeMornay?! She looked really familiar but I didn't recognize her.

Great story and with enough twists to keep me guessing. I really enjoyed it.

The movie managed to creep me out just in the right kind of way. Especially near the end when Cusack's character is figuring out what the connection is with the driving licences.

Jake Busey as Robert Maine was good, although a small role. He freaked me out in Contact and he managed to freak me out in this one as well.

The movie wasted Clea DuVall's talent though with that small role.

Pruitt Taylor Vince, I LOVE that guy. He will forever be the freaky dude from the X-Files episode Unruhe.

John Cusack did a solid performance as did Ray Liotta. Amanda Peet was also good in her role.

Identity is an enjoyable thriller and totally worth the rent.


When I heard that Identity lends a lot of the Classic Agatha Christie novel Ten Little Niggers my curiosity was aroused. I like this novel very much, but never really saw a good presentation on film. This movie does start off as a take on the novel: ten people are stranded in a remote location, they all have something in common and then the killing starts. It's quite suspenseful and keeps you wondering who the killer is. But there are little hints and another storyline that makes you suspect something else might be afoot.

Then all of a sudden half way through the movie you're hit on the forehead with an enormous revelation and plot twist of almost `Sixth Sense' proportions. This changes the `who's the killer' routine completely and unfortunately also reduces the tension felt before the twist. But still a very good thriller until the decision of the writers to put in another plot twist at the end that completely spoiled the movie for me.

The performances in this movie are anything between average and very good, but it's John Cusack, who seems to get better with each movie, again who really carries the movie. Both sound and vision are very well balanced to serve the mood of the story.

So would I recommend this movie for your viewing pleasure? I would even with that extra twist at the end that spoiled it for me.


With out ruining all the films twists and turns (I recommend reading as few reviews as possible before seeing the film), this is a great little thriller. Very stylish cinematography and good characters. The twists (there are only a few, so don't let them be ruined by careless reviewers!) were unpredictable, mostly.

Great film, only complaint would be the very horror-slasher ending which left me a little disappointed given such an intelligent premise. And no I don't think that will ruin anything for the first time viewer...


This movie is a great thriller. The story is really coll and good actors portraying it. It was scary with the kills even though it had slasher movie kills the plot kept you guessing who it was instead of knowing it's some guy from a lake with a hockey mask and no life. Watch the movie and you'll get what I mean when i say "A one man movie".


Identity is an above average horror film and I am always rooting for B-movie filmmakers when they break into classier material(the writer of jack frost 1 & 2). While listening to the director's comments on the DVD made me appreciate the film more I am going to review based on the feelings I had walking out of the theater.

Identity Starts off with greatness and if you didn't watch the last chapter you would get a much better film. I understand what the writer and director were trying to do with the end but it took a high quality horror film and shot it in the foot.

The film presents a interesting idea for a story that I will not give away for people who have not seen it. John Cusak has a really strong performance the kind that is brilliant in a way that never gets noticed. The cast is strong, with quite a few bigger named actors who seemed willing to be wet for weeks.

The film is in a genre that the director refers to as single location horror. Panic room and phone booth are better recent films in the same vein. Classics include Rear window and Alien. The confined space provides a lot of the tension. Worth a watch.


I applaud Mr Mangold for making an excellent film, and for telling a unique story. The motif of the dark stormy night, and the cheap motel invokes the a 'Film Noir' feel to the movie. Strong performances by all the cast, including John Cusack, Amanda Peet, and John C McGinley. This movie is an exploration of the "reality" of the inner mind, and it's power to shape reality to it's own preferences. My only criticism is that the movie seems to move backwards and forwards in some parts, thus confusing the viewer that the Point of View may be in flashback. I think the story would have been just as effective to not use the flashback scenes, and just show everything in chronological order. The flashback technique, though well executed in this movie, does nothing to enhance the story, or the viewer's understanding of the film, unless of course the director wanted to that merely to keep the audience off balance.


This anime adaptation of Takao Saito's long-running manga classic is one of my all-time favorite action movies, animated or otherwise, and I'm at a loss to explain why so many dyed-in-the-wool anime junkies despise it (cruise the internet and you'll see what I mean).

Duke Togo is the world's greatest assassin-for-hire, better known as "Golgo 13," and if you're on his list you might as well dig the hole because there is no way, repeat, NO WAY you will elude him. Once he's hired, it's your ass. Togo's adventures take him across the globe, and his skills with weaponry, hand-to-hand combat, and damned near anything else a human being could master are constantly put to hair-raising tests. Though lacking in actual meta-human superpowers, Togo could nonetheless be considered a superman, so with that in mind it's seldom in doubt that he'll come out on top in any given situation, so the suspense lies in seeing just how the hell he's going to pull off the often impossible assignments he chooses to accept. All of this information is old news to readers of the venerable manga series, but it's given the most cursory noting in the feature, seen briefly in a C.I.A. transcript at the film's beginning, but it's vital to suspending one's disbelief and once past that we're immediately thrust into Togo's violent world.

Gazillionaire industrialist Leonard Dawson throws a birthday party for his son, Leonard Jr., aboard his private cruise ship, a lavish ceremony in which he names his son heir and successor to his empire, but Dawson's elation is shattered when his son is surgically shot through the forehead with but a single bullet, killing him instantly. The assassin: Duke Togo. The senior Dawson, now nearly insane with grief, launches an all-out war against Golgo 13, employing the most vicious and lethal professionals that his bottomless coffers can procure, including horrific ex-military sociopaths, crooked intelligence officials, and an unspeakably terrifying monster of a man who rightly goes by the moniker "Snake," all while Togo hops the globe carrying out other "jobs." Togo must stay one step ahead of his assailants, each as hard as he is, and figure out how to survive one Christ Almighty perfect storm of graphic violence. And there also lurks the mystery that spurs the plot: exactly who wanted the junior Dawson murdered, and why?

Loaded with more action than most films have any right to possess, Golgo 13 is a breathless kick in the ass that fans of old school James Bond and other such espionage will simply eat up. I first saw it on an untranslated VHS tape in 1986 and I've been a staunch supporter ever since, sharing it with as many people as I can convince to give it a chance despite its reputation as a bomb. I think it may come off a tame when compared to the later excesses in Japanese animation, such as post-apocalyptic slug-fest filled with showering viscera, city- leveling psychic children and titanic robots, female ninjas with poisonous naughty bits, and the ever-popular spectacle of sailor-suited schoolgirls having their every orifice explored by the tentacles and other bits of demonic rapists just before they explode in a torrent of offal and demonic DNA, but Golgo 13 has all of them beat for sheer quality entertainment that even your parents might dig.


The Professional Golgo 13 is a manga-film about an assassin called Golgo 13. Golgo 13 is the world`s greatest assassin, he has never broken a contract, but one day he kills Robert Dawson, the son of an oil-billionaire(Leonard Dawson). Suddenly, Golgo 13 is hunted by FBI, CIA and the U.S.Army. The action found in are explosiv as he¤%, and very bloody. This manga is better than many of the hollywood-produced action-films, this is original and with a superb story. The ending is also very unexpected and innovative. A movie you must see! 10/10


Of all of the conventions that appear in many of the retro action films, it is The Professional: Golgo 13 that mixes them all into one package.

There is the lone quiet hero, his cliched womanising, a group of codenamed mercenaries each with unique skills and mysterious histories, a man in opposition to Duke who hates him purely, and over the top action sequences throughout.

And although this is what many people would just think of as an animation, there are performances that actually seem as though they are real. We feel Golgo's loneliness and Leonard Dawson's hate and his daughter in law's pain.

It is the art of the film that really is portrayed amazingly throughout. The scene in which Duke's car speeds along the beach, or when Gold and Silver (Two of the hired mercenaries) attack him in Dawson's office building near the climax of the film are genius. It is the simplicity of the art that shows what needs to be shown and keeps the story linear, instead of making a muzzled storyline as in other action films.

This film doesn't try to make itself more than what it is. It knows that it is an action film and uses this as the foundation to work with, instead of making out it is some sort of psychological examination of killers like so many Hollywood films. It just is what it is, and does this well.

Just another note: The scene in which Gold and Silver are introduced and their violent histories are without a doubt one of the greatest and chilling scenes in cinema history.


The baddest professional asassain I've ever seen! Good anime flick. The main character, golgo 13 is a character so stoic, so stonefaced, that he hardly cracks even a hint of emotion even when in the act of having hot sex. There's a good deal of that in the movie, and it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the plot, but that's the standard bug about most anime movies I've seen. Oh well, the kiddos should get a good thrill out of it anyway. The action is intense! This guy is an amazing shot, with either his modified M 16 or his revolver. My favorite scene is when he goes head to head with Snake (a repulsive, toothless villain who uses bladed yo-yos to kill his victims. I'm not making this up,) in an elevator. The final brawl he had with the twin killers Silver and Gold was cool too, but given how much they hyped up the two characters beforehand, I frankly expected them to put up more of a fight. Anyway, it's a great anime flick.


Duke Togo. Man on a mission. And the mission appears to be kill as many people as you can'.

This film is what James Bond would be if Eon had any balls. The Professional is a gun for hire. If he accepts a contract then he always hits his target. He takes all the best parts of Bond (being as hard as a coffin nail and bedding various beauties) and detaches all the cheesy dialogue.

Duke Togo is a cold blooded killer. We never feel for him, but we do root against the baddies. He never smiles, isn't ever nice, but lives by a marginal code of honour, which we sort of respect. Like I said, its hard to empathise with Duke Togo, but we do sort of understand him.

The story itself is pretty good and amazingly coherent for a title of this genre. It deals with deception, double crossing, revenge, hate and violence. We soon come to realise that Duke is a pawn in the middle of things. Albeit a pawn with the ability to shoot the head off a match.

Being an early 80's production, the animation isnt that impressive, although the realistic approach is very good and gives the film some authenticity. We also get to see some rudimentary CGI (which shows the ambition of the project), in the form a helicopter gunship.

All in all The Professional is a very entertaining watch. Girls, guns and a whole lot of maiming. It looks a shade dated now (20 years on), but still packs quite a punch.


One of the earliest Japanese animation films I can remember seeing, this film was a perfect introduction to me in how great a textured and visually appealing an anime story could be. Shot like a noir detective film with all the action and speed of a spy thriller, this film set a new benchmark for the sniper/hit-man genre.

Duke Togo, while devoid of most emotion, captivates as a steely and ruthless assassin bent on survival as well as completion of his tasks. The stylish and dark film has conspiracies, presidential assassinations, serial killers, sex, guns, explosions and insane escape scenes.

The story is straight forward; someone has paid Golgo 13 to assassinate the son of a wealthy business man and oil magnate. Revenge is to be taken on Golgo 13 at all costs, involving crooked cops, serial killers, generals, CIA, FBI, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Special Forces. Basically, Leonard Dawson is taking his son's death a bit hard and feels just a little raw toward Duke.

The American translation is passable with pretty good over all emotional tone and great music setting for mood. One of my favorite anime and overall examples of noir style in graphic arts of the 80s if you can ignore that very dated helicopter scene that makes everyone so angry... Personally I didn't think it was bad, just out of place in a film with a perfect fever pitch already. Great ending, great film overall. Well worth a look for anyone who enjoys spy films, hit men or noir.


It should be known before I start that I'm not a fan of anime at all whatsoever. It usually bores me or is way too bizarre for my taste. That wasn't the case with The Professional. I loved this film so much and I'm very glad that I saw it. I was entertained the whole way through. It truly is a blast.

The blood is this one is absolutely awesome! I also loved Golgo's character and the story moved pretty well also. It's not a movie you're gonna wanna show to the kids but if you love gory action flicks, you'll definitely want to check it out. And please, please don't let the fact that it's an anime discourage you from seeing it, it's the best anime I've ever seen!


Since this is now out on DVD, none of you have any excuse for not having seen it. When it comes to assassins, Golgo 13 is the man. Period. (He's not too shabby with the ladies either.) After completing one of his jobs, a hit on a powerful and very connected businessman's son, he becomes the target for revenge. Killing Golgo 13, though, is no easy task at all. The story here is solid, with some great moments (like the ending), cool sub-plots, twisted characters, and plenty of bloody action. The execution of this classic (1983) anime is, in a word, stylish. Freeze frames, split screens, and other such techniques are prevalent throughout. There's also a noirish feel to much of the film, often accompanied by soft, bluesy-type music. Of course, being made so many years ago, much of it seems dated (especially the very early CGI helicopters) but for me, it's a minor complaintthe movie still rocks hard. Check it out. Now. (If you don't have a proper audio system, I recommend changing the track on the DVD to mono to avoid a tinny echo sound on the voices.)


Oil industrialist Leonard Dawson had a 60th birthday on a cruise ship and his son Robert was making his day happy until a single bullet kills his boy. The man who killed him is Golgo 13 who is a mysterious hit-man who loves the ladies as he scores with them and goes out for some killing as being his choice of sport. Dawson vows revenge as he hires assassins and the FBI to go after Golgo 13 but can the unstoppable assassin live through all this ordeal?

Very underrated cult Japanese animated action thriller based on the popular Japanese comics is a sensational one. This one isn't for the kids due to graphic bloody violence, scenes of sex with nudity and language but the film is very well animated and stylish. Sure the CGI in the climax is kind of laughable by today even though back then it was a little cheap and the storyline is very compelling as well as the old school type of animation here. The score is very good here that ranges from jazzy to more heartfelt even during the dramatic powerful climax.

If your looking for an underrated Japanese animated diamond in the rough, check this one out.


This was one of the first anime movies I had ever seen. It is still also one of the best. There are aspects of other anime movies that bug me, but Golgo 13: The Professional doesn't have any of those problems. This movie is non stop action. The characters are very real and very complex. The plot is very well written and the ending will completely surprise you. This movie makes you completely forget you're watching a cartoon. One complaint: The music sounded like something out of Scooby Doo.


Golgo 13 is one of the most interesting anime movies, if you can get past the first half hour. That part of the movie is just to set up that Golgo is the ultimate assassine but the film makers already did that with the first look at Golgo. But once it gets rolling, get ready. It goes full throttle and never lets up. This movie contains one of the coolest shots ever, tracking a bullet Golgo fires through a building. The animation is a mix of hand drawn, comic book frames, and computer animation making it one of the most interesting movies to look at. This is a must see anime, along with Akira and Ninja Scroll. 10/10


The Professional Golgo 13 is a movie about an hitman called Duke Togo.

One day he kill`s the son of an ego-centric oil billionaire and he want`s revenge. The oil billonaire has different goverment agency`s and even the US Army on his payrole so he sends them after Golgo 13. They try to set Golgo 13 up but Golgo 13 sees their bluff and kick`s their asses. The oil billionaire then sends out a couple of hitmen to stop Golgo 13 but he stop`s them to and at the end it is only Golgo 13 and the oil billionaire again and you have to see the movie to see how it ends.

This was a very short summary of the movie The Professional Golgo 13,it has a very good story and a lot of sex and violence. I`ll give this movie 10\10


I have been a Golgo-13 fan ever since I first played "Top Secret Episode: Golgo-13" for the 8-bit NES back in the fall of 1988. It was a game that involved side-scroll shooting, first-person perspective shooting, dialogue scenes, helicopter shootout, scuba-dive shootout, and a 3-D action maze scene. It was a game of intrigue, and international espionage, that dealt with the concept of how "One man can accomplish the impossible...One man can make a difference" in the chaos and confusion that surrounds our complex world...

What I do remember most about the 8-bit NES game is that the gameplay was as in-depth and complex as your typical Sherlock Holmes mystery novel. As Duke Togo, you travel from Germany, Greece, Brazil, to Antarctica to gather clues and find information on the whereabouts of the evil mastermind responsible for stealing the Cassandra-G virus (If unleashed, could destroy all life on Earth..). Not to mention, 2 romantic hotel interludes that raises Duke Togo's life meter back to 200 (Now, that's what I call a good night's rest!!). It turnsout in the end, after all of Duke Togo's near misses and narrow escapes, "a brain" housed in a control center is responsible for stealing the Cassandra-G virus, and you must destroy the sensors guarding the brain, and destroy the brain itself, before it is too late...

The game was so tough, it took me over 7 1/2-years just to finally beat it! (But, it was well worth it.) :)


One of the best in adult anime, this one has it all. A taciturn, near unstoppable assassin, a rich man who want's the assassin dead (and is willing to let one of his paid killers rape his own daughter in law!), a bunch of crazed killers and a dedicated cop out to get him. Golgo 13, Duke Togo is the worlds greatest assassin, but in this, he's the hunted. Very realistic and grim, this is not for children. Watch for the scene when he shoots a guy THROUGH a skyscraper, especially for the shadows thrown by the beer sign he's under! Superb film!


When the credits of a movie contain listings like "naked junkie girl" you know this is going to be about as far removed from art as you can get. Okay, maybe I am being a little too hard on this movie. On second thought . . . no I'm not. This starts out as a straightforward drama about a yuppie who tosses his career into the dumper because of his addiction to drugs. Actually this all happens rather fast and I was hoping for a little more character development but heck, the director was in a hurry to get to the gore and that's what the people who went to see this movie were waiting for.

So then . . . Jack, our anti-hero, has a job as night watchman for a warehouse and he is usually too stoned to even do that. His supplier is after him for money, his boss fires him, his only pal dies in his arms of an overdose; what's left of his world is crashing down and what's a drug addled loser to do? He goes nuts of course and grabs the nearest power tool he can get . . . in this case a jackhammer.

Now then here's the stuff you were waiting for. Anyone who ventures into that warehouse for the rest of the movie is fodder for Jack's hammer. There is ample gore but you have to wonder when one of the potential victims is going to figure out the obvious; just run far enough that Jack runs out of extension cord! Does that ever happen? Maybe I should tell you and save you from having to suffer through this movie like I did. Hmmmmmm . . . no! Ain't I mean?

The acting is okay, the effects are pretty good, the plot is cabbage. This is the sort of things that would have played in grindhouses back in the heyday of 42nd St and the Combat Zone. Now you can rent it on DVD and turn your own living room into a grindhouse. Hey, it's much safer that way.


Walking, with my friends, through our local video rental store, we happened upon the 2-for-1 special rack. Most of these movies were old releases of good movies, but than there were some we had never heard of. Looking through the alphabetical arrangement of the movies we happened upon the J section. We had been here before, joking about all these cheesy movies, but one movie we had always mentioned was Jackhammer Massacre.

We'd always joke this was the perfect movie. First of all it had jackhammers. What is more manly than a pneumatic jackhammer? Just imagining the scenes that were capable with a jack hammer. And the word after Jackhammer...? Massacre. Do I even need to explain? OK I will. This implies many people will die. Together with jackhammer means that many people will die involving a jackhammer. Can it be this simple? The answer is, abso-freaking-lutley! The grisly death scenes combined with the super special FX make for a morbid gore fest. If that doesn't make you want to rent or buy now, let me mention it has a wonderful plot. I don't want to spoil this movie so i'll give a simple explanation.

Our main character, aptly named, Jack, has fallen into the world of drugs. The movie starts out with Jack, a successful man with an expensive car. His problem, drugs. Jack can't get enough. His addiction turns him in to a mindless drug fiend, hanging with lower tier of the social pyramid. Eventually he loses his job, his car is repossessed, and now he lives with his social deviants in a cheap, run-down apartment in a bad neighborhood. When his friend dies he must leave the apartment. The scenes where he is homeless are very moving. We see how he tries to live, and feed his addiction. Eventually he finds a job as a warehouse security guard. His boss lets him live there, in a little sideroom. Jack tries to quench his thirst for his addiction, but being a security guard doesn't allow enough drugs for his appetite. Unbeknowst to him, a local dealer is hiding drugs in the warehouse. When Jack comes upon the drugs he has a feast. I'll stop here because the ensuing massacre with everyone who comes into the warehouse is too good to be spoiled.

In conclusion this movie shows the life of squalor addicts live with. I felt compassion, fear, and pity for Jack. This movie is not about some cheesy death scenes. It is about a man's fall from grace. A man with nowhere to go, a man who succumbs to his abuse, and becomes mentally unstable. This movie will change the light at which you look at life.

Rent this movie!


From a horror stand-point...this movie was terrible. As a message on saying NO to Drugs, this movie hits the nail on the head. I remember being moved after watching Leonardo DiCaprio in "Basketball Diaries" and I can honestly say this movie did the same. It proves that nobody is out-of-reach from drugs. It started with a young man who had a very good job, was respected by his peers, nice car, lots of money and the drugs took everything away from him until the final outcome. I'm being honest saying the producers should remove all the garbage scenes involving the jack hammer, re-arrange a few things, cut some, add some and this would be an ideal movie to show in schools to teach kids drugs can totally destroy your life. I'm going to ignore some of the ridiculous garbage in this movie and from an anti-drug point of view...I'll give the movie a strong 7 !


The Jackhammer Massacre (a.k.a. Jackhammer  2004) C-89 min. D: Joe Castro. Aaron Gaffey, Kyle Yaskin, Bart Burson, Nadia Angelini, Evan Owen, Rob Rotten, Rachel Rotten, Desi O'Brian. A direct-to-DVD revenge/slasher movie details a successful businessman's fall into insanity and growing love for his jackhammer, thanks to drugs. The first slasher movie in memory to blame its killer's antics on drugs...for a while, it even works too (with some nasty & gory special effects). It's nice to see a direct-to-DVD slasher gorefest. Unfortunately, the film's horrendous acting (worse than anything the 80s slasher films had to offer, which is really sad) and laughable last 20 minutes lead to its downfall. There is no excuse for the filmmakers to have been satisfied with the amount of bad acting in this movie (though the lead, Aaron Gaffey, isn't half bad). RATING: 3 out of 10. Rated R for graphic violence and gore, grisly images, drug use, sexuality, adult themes, and profanity.


I remember walking through Blockbuster and seeing this on the shelves. The thing is, I knew I couldn't take this movie seriously. The acting is laughably bad. But, that didn't stop me from enjoying it.

The movie revolves around Jack(Aaron Gaffey) who has a severe addiction to drugs. He injects drugs into his arm where you see a huge massive pus-filled infection. Whenever he pours alcohol on it, lots of pus comes out of it. It is not for the faint of heart. Anyway, two men find his hideout and ask him where the money is. Apparently, he owes money to these guys. When he doesn't pay, they inject him full of their special cocktail of drugs. Amazingly, it doesn't kill him. It just awakes him. He grabs a jackhammer and starts killing. The film is very bloody and gory which is what I loved about it. The special effects are horrendous though.

If you like B movies where you like gore, then pick this up.

I give this movie 10 stars out of 10. Excellent B movie!


JACKHAMMER aka Jackhammer Massacre , Director's Cut. Written and Directed by Joe Castro. Starring Aaron Gaffey, Rachel & Rob Rotten and Joe Haggerty. This is an amazing ride, It has stuff YOU have never seen in Horror, Before ! The acting was all believable, The story very unique. There were tributes to Laserblast, Leaving Las Vegas and American Werewolf in London. Special effects were something like Davids, Cronenberg and Lynch. Let's discuss the relationship of a man and his Jackhammer. The tool looks real and makes hamburger helper out of a lot of victim's body parts. While watching it,Got a weird sensation of Déjà vu and it's because of Charles Band handling of Laserblast. This movie showed you don't pick on someone with Issues or Aliens will make Him KICK UR ARSE ! Some scenes,should be spoiler warnings; The dueling Land Of The Giants hypodermic appendages/ screw driver brain surgery/ and never unplug your extension cord, Too funny. Joe Castro and Steven Escobar should be given more money to make the film there effects can imagine, But JACKHAMMER is a good start. Oh,yeah, Great Anti-Drug message too, In case the MPAA is reading this, LOL.


I hope the actors in this film kept their day jobs before going into acting because they put forth the worst effort I've ever seen. The screenplay made little to no sense from the beginning to the very end. The dialogue was confusing in that most of the time what one person was saying had nothing to do with what another was saying.

The director should be shot. You can blame the actors for sucking, but you can also blame the director for not doing anything about it. You can also blame the producers for not realizing that toilet paper is worth more than that script.

The story begins with two strong men looking through a warehouse for Jack, who owes them money. The warehouse is filled with empty boxes and plastic wrap. The guys find Jack asleep. They hit him a few times, then inject what one can only guess is speed into his neck in an attempt to kill him. The movie would've been a lot better had he died and the ending credits rolled. Instead, he awoke, picked up a jackhammer and drilled the first's face in. In the process, accidentally showing that at least one person involved on this film knows what he's doing. And that's the props guy. The blood and gore, although unrealistically excessive and unnecessary, looks realistic. Now, don't get me wrong  the death scenes are unimaginable, and the amount of blood was impossibly copious from certain wounds. And the lack of bones raised a question mark.

The death scenes are indeed questionable, and tend to be laughable. There's one where Jack takes the jackhammer to a guy's shoulder, and that kills him. How? We'll never know.

After the first scene, we go back in time to sort of show how Jack got to that point. Jack's friend overdoses, and Jack flees. Then Jack loses his job and becomes a junkie, and he can't pay for his fixes. That's it. Then it goes to the first scene, and we watch that again. Then we watch Jack kill more people. The best part of the movie is the ending credits.

Just so you know, almost every character takes off his or her shirt at least once in the film. Don't get too excited: there are only three girls, and one of them stays clothed, but the female nudity is within the first twenty minutes, so there's time to watch it and shut it off, which is probably your best bet if you're looking for a nipple shot.

Watch for parts that don't make sense if you do in fact take the lesser chosen path, and watch the film. Notice that in a series of death scenes in the same room all take place in a curiously clean space, even though someone died brutally in the same spot not five minutes before.

The ending was far from surprising, and the only part not expected was that it does not in fact end. It's around ninety minutes, but it feels like a lifetime. The ending leaves hints of a sequel, and that's the scariest part of the movie  realizing that the idiots who made this just might make another and another and turn it into a franchise.

Final grade  0.5/10


This movie was awful. But..amazing, at the same time.

Okay, what the hell was that thing on his arm? It looked like a scrotum to me. And he had to like drain it and feed it? Was that why he was crazy? Or what? So confused.

And his jackhammer's extension cord went on FOREVER FOREVER and FOREVER! Hell, he even chased a girl up onto the roof with it! How does that work? Oh my...he freakin' sodomized a lesbian with his jackhammer! Now, if that doesn't defy everything,I don't know what else does.

Oh well.

I am in love with some of things in this film though. Like in the beginning when he kills his first victim, and his face gets smashed in with the jackhammer...oh my.

This movie just made me laugh hysterically.


After getting involved with lots of drugs, poor Jack goes absolutely nuts and begins killing all who enter the warehouse where he works. A friend of mine suggested this film to me, saying; "Jackhammer Massacre is the scariest, goriest film I've ever seen." Those are his words exactly. From the title alone I knew this wouldn't be the epic horror picture my friend described, but WOW, this movie really, reallysucked. Every cliché in the book has been rolled up into ninety minutes of pure torture. It seems every 5 minutes or so some miscellaneous character, always jackhammer fodder, enters the warehouse, just to meet up with Jack and die a gruesome death. There's a very generous amount of gore, though the make-up effects themselves vary in quality from pretty decent to chintzy. The acting is flat and the characters; uninteresting, but that's to be expected. Director/Co-writer Joe CastroOne of the effects artists at SOTA effects, a company who's work in the past has usually been less-than-stellarwould have been much better off handling the gore rather than writing/directing, because he shows no sense of pacing. Maybe that, combined with the film's predictability, is what made in so hard to sit through.

Tiny spoiler ahead!

"Jackhammer Massacre" has good gore but nothing else going for it. Skip it unless you're desperate for entertainment, or if you think a character being killed off via a jackhammer up the anus is funny (I'll admit the scene was pretty funny).

And no, I didn't kill the friend who recommended this to me, he redeemed himself by showing me "Shaun of the Dead". 2/10.


I rented Jackhammer Massacre, after hearing the first half was good. I would give it a chance since i heard there were a few good gore scenes, and Rachel Rotten and Her only other partner in a sex scene, Rob Rotten were in this. I figured well if this movie is a total waste of time at least there's going to be a sex scene with a hot girl in this movie. God was I wrong. It starts in the middle of the story for some reason,In some kind of construction company warehouse, with Jack the junkie, the "Jason" of this "movie," getting pushed around by some pushers, and injected with some PCP/crack hypodermic in an attempt to kill Jack but instead its suggested that it makes him insanely stronger and insanely insane. Well Jack wakes up and kills one of them with.....A JACKHAMMER! Woah didn't see that coming.

Now this first gore scene was possibly the third best effect in the movie. They pull this Jackhammering off with a fake jackhammer being jiggled around in the pushers mouth, while he spits out some blood, a cut to Jacks smiling face, back to the Jackhammer which is being shaken by Jack into a fake smashed head. That was pretty cheesy. It is so ridiculous it was funny. But after that its all downhill from there.

The story goes back 3 years or so which shows how Jack becomes a junkie, where you see a topless Rachel Rotten, and thats it. I was sadly disappointed at this point, as the deciding factor for me renting this move, of a sex scene was non existent. I saw pics of her topless in this movie around the net, so I figured sex scene, but they just added in the boob shot, just so they can have a boob shot. they could of saved money and used an extra instead of a porn-star, and used that money for better effects, better actors, or a better script. Forward 1 year and then back to the jackhammer to the face scene. The rest of the movie, Id say 3 quarters of it takes place in that construction company building. Its more of a shack than a building. Anyways, Jack gets delusional and sees his friends ghost. he overdosed and Jack lets him die in the flashback scenes, so he wont get in trouble with the law. I read that this ghost pats Jack on the back every time he kills someone, which I thought was genius, but he just complains and commands Jack to kill. near the end of the movie some characters are introduced that you don't know crap about. They just come to the construction warehouse and they get killed. You are supposed to care about these people, but how can you when they just pop out of nowhere? So basically everyone gets killed except the girl of the group, and Jacks lesbian sister, who came to help jack, but got locked up in a closet after the ghost told Jack she was really "one of them". So during the "climax of the movie" Jack is about to kill the girl, his extension cord gets pulled out of the Jackhammer by somebody. Jack decides to "Choke the the bitch." his sister pops out and stabs jack in the back with the drill bit of the jackhammer. She then slaps him with the drill bit, and he falls of the building top, where the scene was taking place. The ghost tells Jack to get up after falling off a 3 story building. The 2 girls walk out of the building, and they see that jacks body is missing! OH NOS! camera does a close up of the girls faces, they scream. credits roll. That is an original, and unexpected ending.

This movie is terrible in every aspect. The acting is terrible, the lines are read as if off from a cue card. The plot and story, are too broad that you have to use your imagination to fill in certain plot holes. The only slightly OK parts from this movie are the first jackhammer smash, a scene that suggests that Jack shoves his weapon up his lesbian sister's girlfriend's crack, which had no visual shot of this, but the idea was funny as hell. and a scene where Jack slams a guys face with the side of the jackhammer, and his brains pop out, but the way its pulled off is terrible. This movie has an OK concept which if elaborated upon, could of been a great movie. But it gets pulled off like a train wreck. Ignore this movie at all costs. You and your friends could get more entertainment out of making your own no budget movie than watching this load, which looks like it was make by a group of friends making a low budget movie.


There is not one thing about this movie that is good.

The first half of the movie focuses on this guy shooting up, and hanging out with half-naked men. The guy's friend overdoses and dies, causing him to continue his downward spiral into street drugs which completely turns him into a junkie.

Suddenly, the junkie starts to hallucinate, and see his dead friend (who is still half-naked, even as a mirage) who tells him to kill people. The junkie obliges, and starts to murder random people who come into the business (that looks more like an abandoned warehouse) where he is working, since everybody in town somehow has a key to the front door.

Despite the jackhammer being attached to an extension cord, the junkie is still able to chase people and kill them, easily. And, for some reason, when he is injected with what looks like radioactive waste, it actually gives him superpowers, and he regains all his stamina and is able to jump onto rooftops from the ground (after falling off of them).

The acting is atrocious, the story is incredibly boring, the make-up was crappy, the dialogue was terrible, etc. basically, just everything about this movie was complete garbage.

And, seriously, what was up with all of the half-naked men? I think every male character stripped for absolutely no reason at all. I'm glad they all got killed by a super-powered, jackhammer-wielding drug addict.


This movie brought to full and vivid life the powers of addiction. My girlfriend does not understand how strong addictions can be. My addiction is only to cigarettes, Thank God, but I still understand Jack's addiction. I have sold personal items and even looked in dumpsters to feed my addiction to cigarettes. That probably sounds pretty pathetic to you, but unless you know the power of an addiction, it would sound pathetic.

If the gore could be toned down some, I bet this film could be used in drug rehab clinics and in schools to show exactly what drugs and addictions can do to people. After all, who in their right mind would want to wind up like our friend Jack? It was a cheap, low budget gore fest with a message. How many films can do that?