Worthy but flawed
A decent but somewhat overwrought drama about police brutality against blacks in the 60s. Bigelow's attempts to give the audience a feeling of unease are rather ineffective and the courtroom drama that follows the events drags the film down, but decent acting and a few stand-out moments still make this worth a watch.
The one with the presidents. Point Break is somewhat of a cult film nowadays, though not one that is often talked about. It's really just the mask-wearing criminals that have turned into an iconic image (referenced by To it in Fulltime Killer), the rest of the film is pretty mediocre and forgettable. Reeves plays a young, promising cop who immediately gets assigned one of the most important cases in the district. A gang has been robbing banks without leaving any traces and the cops are stumped. Reeves' partner believes they're dealing with a gang of surfers, so Reeves goes undercover. Point Break is a rather basic 90s action flick. The pacing is decent, there are some solid action scenes, but it never goes beyond. It's just simple genre fare that feels a bit outdated. Performances are weak, the editing is insufficient and apart from the masks, there's nothing memorable here. Not terrible, but unworthy of its cult status.Read all
There are some semi-successful attempts to turn this into a dark and moody film, but in the end it's little more than a cheesy 90s cop thriller. Mediocre acting and a silly plot let this film down, a decent soundtrack and persistent rain make it bearable. Not the worst film in its genre, but clearly not a stand-out entry either. Just decent filler.
Dubious filler
Hollywood doing a Russian story with English/American actors is never a good idea, K-19 did absolutely nothing to change my mind. Bigelow's film is a simple succession of vintage submarine thriller clichés, with some terrible accents thrown in to make it appear a bit more Russian. Spoiler alert: the accents didn't make it appear more Russian. The first Russian atomic-fueled submarine is facing some serious troubles on its way through the North-Atlantic ocean. Captain Zateyev has to keep his sub from exploding, not just to save his entire crew from instant dead, but also to keep a new world war from happening. Getting past the casting choices was quite a hurdle, but even then this film doesn't have all that much to offer, besides the usual submarine hoopla. There are lots of "tense" moments with people waiting for something to happen/not happen, and since WWIII never happened, it's difficult to make this film truly tense. Not great.Read all
A typical Bigelow film. An interesting premise and nice (but somewhat modest buzz) raised my expectations, but the film itself is pretty plain and generic. Bigelow just isn't a very good or distinctive director, even after seeing 8 of her films the only thing that sticks out is how much her work blend in with others. Lenny is an ex-cop turned rogue. He deals in illegal disks that allow people to share and live through other people's memories. When one day he finds himself in the possession of a murderer's disk, he starts his own private investigation. What he doesn't realize is that he is about the unearth a much bigger conspiracy. The performances are rather bland, the world-building is generic and the direction is uneventful. What could've been a nice mix of sci-fi and noir elements, turns out to be little more than a bland crime thriller with minor sci-fi elements driving the plot. It's not a terrible film, few Bigelow films are, it's just very forgettable.Read all