Criminal Activities

Directed by Jackie Earle Haley, "Criminal Activities" from 2015 is about four high school friends - Zack, Noah, Warren, and Bryce (Michael Pitt, Dan Stevens, Rob Brown, Christopher Abbott, who meet up after the funeral of their friend Matthew.

Warren tells them about a stock that's about to go up - he has insider trading info - and the agent who has been stockpiling the stock is getting nervous about being caught and needs to dump his shares. He wants $200,000. Noah says he can get it.

The stock tanks and wipes out the investment. Unfortunately, Noah neglected to tell him the money came from a mobster, Eddie (John Travolta) and he wants repayment of $400,000 - accrued interest.

He will wipe the slate clean if they will help him with a problem he's having - kidnap the brother of the man who kidnapped his niece so that he can get her back.

Boy could this have been better. It's a complicated story, and a good one, but the script and direction aren't strong enough to carry it. It's similar to many other films of today with its surprises, but at the end of the film I was left confused about certain money issues.

There is an homage to Pulp Fiction with the presence of Travolta and the guys' initial meeting at the Royale. And it has gross violence, just like Tarantino. It's just not Tarantino.

The acting is uneven with some good performances. Travolta does a great job, but earth to Travolta: if you're bald, shave your head and/or wear an expensive hairpiece, and stop looking like a chimpanzee with that hairline. It's so distracting.

The director, Jackie Earle Haley, hands in a good performance, as do Pitt, Edi Gathegi, Pitt, and Stevens.

For all the gritty title and noir poster it has, the better part of Criminal Activity is its satirical attempt on crime genre. The thriller works by introducing subplots while playing out the main story with a lot of twists and turns. While not every narrative pays out, there's a solid acting here and it's pretty exciting to see the diverse characters as they are put in highly volatile situations.

Four young men reunite on the funeral of their friend. After a smoke they are intrigued by an investment opportunity that fails almost immediately. Unfortunately to them the investment is already tied to a mafia and they must do a difficult favor to clean the slate. Their hardship eventually turns into a spiral of dangerous power struggle with kidnapped niece and nephew while agents and assassins chase after them.

It's a deeper premise than it originally shows, creating layers of subplots as it progresses. Some of the sequences are highly entertaining due to their absurdity and good delivery by the actors. Edi Gathegi as the gangster involved in all the shenanigans stands out even among the capable leads of John Travolta and Dan Stevens. There are unexpected outlandish mafia themed narratives, or perhaps slight parody of it, that will deliver chuckle or thrill to audience.

However, even with most of the story manage to be entertaining, the movie tends to overreach. It has plenty of side characters or events that may not be that important yet still get a lot of screen time. It tries to pull off too many tricks that don't resonate better than its core story. Not to mention the twisting revelation at the end feels rather abrupt and might too far fetch, although it's still decent due to the outlandish nature.

Criminal Activity works on parts where the acting and satire are strong, but it does try to overreach with few others distracting stints like a greedy mobster.

"Sometimes what looks like a dead end to a dire situation can be an opportunity." After meeting at an old classmates funeral four friends begin to reconnect. When they hatch a plan to play the stock market for a sure thing that will make them all millionaires they jump at the chance. When things go wrong they not only lose their money but they find out that one of them borrowed money from the mob. Now, left with no other choice they must make a deal in order to survive. I love mob movies and was looking forward to this. This is not the type of mob movie I was hoping for. The movies is essentially a kidnapping and little by little more truth is uncovered. The movie isn't that bad and does keep you watching but it was a little slow and not really what I was expecting it to be. The acting is really good, even though it is hard to buy Travolta as a mob boss. This is a decent one time watch movie but nothing all that amazing and nothing I think I would watch again. Overall, good but nothing to scream about. I give this a B.

Im not going to say much other than it reminded me of suicide kinds with a much better twist. Iveseen a lot of reviews where people are complaining about the twist at the end. I found it totally unpredictable and actually gave you an answer to the whole movie unlike so many movies today where it ends with someone just walking away and you are left saying "that's it"? I gave it a 7 only because 7.7 isn't an option. I would watch it a second time and i do suggest this movie as a good movie that will not leave you feeling you've wasted your time. Also, i had no problems with any of the acting, overall i would give the actors a 7 as well.

First time writing a review for any movie. I actually rented this movie and viewed it in the comfort of my home.

The movie kept me totally interested the entire length of the film. Lots of twists and turns to keep one from getting up and leaving your comfy seat.

Had me captivated from start to finish. I always enjoy watching John Travolta in any movie from his beginning many years ago.

The ending with all the twists and turns leaves you with the feeling there should be a follow-up in the near future.

Great casting for this movie especially with the up and coming actors Rex Baker and Tyrone Jenkins.