One Way Out

The fact that financing was actually found to make this travesty is appalling and miraculous. That Michael Ironside would lend his name to this abomination is nothing short of heart stopping, no one can possibly be that hard up for cash. The script, if you can call it that, deals with an ex con teaming up with a bunch of other misfits and they then proceed to go on a multi state crime spree whose main objective seems to be stealing as much junk food as possible. Scenes seem to have been shot in back alleys, hovels and condemned property. Shoot outs and chases are everything but, and acting isn't even third rate. The cameraman seems to be having a seizure throughout. The lighting, sets and soundtrack are minimal and if you've heard of any of the performers, you're way ahead of me.

You can say a lot of things about One Way Out but you can't say it's normal. The film tells the story of a group of misfit criminals working their way south towards their ultimate goal, a bank robbery. On the way they hold up a variety of gas stations, general stores and restaurants. Sounds pretty standard huh? Well it's not. This kind of feels like a cross between Jim Jarmusch and John Cassavettes except that it doesn't really work. There's an attempt at a ultra naturalistic approach to the acting (a la Cassavettes) but it usually fails, the only exception being Jeff Mohanan's strong performance (which is far better than his script). Basically you have a lot of scenes of people sitting around doing nothing (a la Jarmusch) except there's no charm or naturalness to it. The film is packaged as an action flick but it offers very little in that department either. The originality appeal of the film is often lost as the script is loaded with clichéd dramatic plot points that go nowhere and are ultimately meaningless to the almost non-existent story. This movie does have some beautiful images in it. A lot of the shots are wonderfully composed and most scenes are covered in only one or two shots. Michael Ironside makes a fun but brief appearance. The ending is refreshingly down beat (although it doesn't tie the loose script up in any way). It's obvious that One Way Out was made on a low budget and it's strangely fascinating to watch it's failures and occasional successes. Five out of Ten… six if I was feeling generous.