David R. Walker

Posts Tagged ‘Bad Bunny’

Caught Stealing

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Cast: Austin Butler, Matt Smith, Regina King, Zoe Kravitz, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D’Onofrio, George Abud, Griffin Dunne, Carol Kane, Bad Bunny

Running Time: 1 hour 47 minutes

Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Black Swan and The Whale director Darren Aronofsky returns with a zany and rambunctious crime thriller Caught Stealing set in New York City in 1998, just three years before the fall of the Twin Towers.

Things are not kosher when youngster Hank Thompson expertly played with a vulnerability and intuition by Oscar nominee Austin Butler (Elvis) is asked to look after his mad neighbour’s cat. The crazy neighbour is British punk rocker drug dealer, complete with a Mohawk, Russ superbly played by Matt Smith who shot to fame in Netflix’s elegant British drama The Crown.

The cat has a key in its cat box, which opens Russ’s secret stash of drugs and money which several criminal gangs are after including the Russians and the Hebrews.

Hank Thompson is just a regular bar tender who gets involved in a web of crime and intrigue while trying to stay sober and look after his beautiful girlfriend Yvonne played by the fabulous Zoe Kravitz (The Batman, Mad Max: Fury Road, Blink Twice). Soon the Russian mafia are after him and Hank reaches out to hardened New York detective Roman wonderfully played with menace by Oscar winner Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk).

Darren Aronofsky pays homage to the 1993 film True Romance in Caught Stealing capturing that gritty desperation which Hank feels as he gets thrust into a notoriously untrustworthy world in which he doesn’t seem capable of defending himself or escaping. He won’t use a gun or drive a car.

To add fire to the mix, screenwriter Charlie Huston, who adapted the screenplay from his book by the same name, introduces some lethal Hebrew brothers who also want Russ’s share of the money.

Liev Schreiber (Golda, Spotlight, The Manchurian Candidate) and Vincent D’Onofrio (The Cell, Magnificent Seven) play sociopathic brothers Lipa and Shmully who feel nothing at attacking a glitzy Russian disco in the middle of a wedding.

Caught Stealing is an ingenuous film in which the main character goes from being a barman to overcoming all fears, addictions included, as he strives to protect himself and Russ’s cat from any harm while trying to outwit a multitude of bad characters all heavily armed.

With minimal special effects, Caught Stealing is a riveting and comic crime drama about the underbelly of New York just before the city changed forever at the end of a century in which anything still felt possible.

With lots of plot twists and crazy car chases, Caught Stealing gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10 held together by a brilliant performance by Austin Butler whose talent seems boundless.

If you enjoy original content, then this film is highly recommended viewing.

Bullet Train

Director: David Leitch

Cast: Brad Pitt, Joey King, Sandra Bullock, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon, Logan Lerman, Bad Bunny

Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Running Time: 2 hours and 6 minutes

Based upon the novel by Kotaro Isaka, Dead Pool 2 director David Leitch stitches together a complex crime film in Bullet Train featuring a lot of dialogue and some bizarre action sequences, referencing Pulp Fiction but set on a high speed train from Tokyo to Kyoto involving a group of very weird assassins including the twins Lemon and Tangerine wonderfully played by Brian Tyree Henry and Golden Globe winner Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Nocturnal Animals), the Hornet played by Zazie Beetz (Joker) and the main star Ladybug played with charisma by Oscar winner Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood).

Bullet Train involves a sinister crime boss named White Death, a Russian emigrant who infiltrates the Yakuza or Japanese organized crime and the length he goes to to draw out his arch rival The Elder, played with panache by Hiroyuki Sanada (Mortal Kombat, Mr Holmes, The White Countess) and the Elder’s son Kimura played by Andrew Koji.

As the Bullet Train speeds from the Japanese capital of Tokyo to the artistic capital Kyoto, a menagerie of assassins appear on board including Lemon and Tangerine, The Prince played by Joey King and Ladybug whose simple task it is to steal a briefcase filled with cash and alight at the next station. Literally everything goes wrong, from bad guys drinking sleeping tablets to an escaped boomslang slithering through the high tech train.

Using multiple flashbacks to such places as Mexico and Johannesburg to establish backstory, the assassins square off against each other, as one by one they get eliminated or so we think, as they speed ever faster with deadly efficiency to the showdown in Kyoto whereby The Elder is going to meet The White Death.

Fortunately Brad Pitt’s charm carries Bullet Train to its thrilling conclusion amidst lots of witty dialogue, the occasional samurai sword, many guns and an errant poisonous snake. Amidst all the nuanced innuendo’s and gory action, there is a complicated plot which unravels itself like a boa constrictor killing everything in its path.

With flashes of anime, traditional Japanese imagery and sparkling with originality, Bullet Train is a fascinatingly bizarre film with sufficient action and fight sequences to keep audiences glued to the screen. Of particular note is the brilliantly choreographed fight sequence between Tangerine and Ladybug played by Aaron Taylor Johnson and Brad Pitt.

If audiences are looking for a weirdly entertaining film filled with cameo appearances, gory action and an exotic location, then buy a ticket for Bullet Train and make sure not to disembark before the showdown in Kyoto. It’s a riveting ride.

Bullet Train gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10 and will find an audience that enjoys quirky action with strangers fighting each other on a high speed locomotive.