Southern Cross

Southern Cross, written and directed by James Becket is a waste of good celluloid and actor's efforts. A formula film is not necessarily bad if it pays off on it's promise, which this film does not. It is a tiresome concoction of movie cliches that can be traced to a thousand different films from the past. It is full of random and empty plot twists that add nothing but aimless action, such as a trip by the protagonists to a ghost town where the villains (unexplainedly) follow them. This was obviously concocted as an excuse for a shoot out and escape scene bordering on the preposterous, with people popping in and out of doorways and running past windows while firing pistols at each other. It makes one believe that somebody told Becket there was a ghost town in the Chilean foothills and he said, "Oh great, lets do a shoot out scene there."

Don't even waste your rental money on this. It is a bunch of random bits and pieces from a hundred different films thrown together to call an action drama.

SOUTHERN CROSS isn't exactly a movie that could have had Academy Award nominations. After all when I saw it last August it had a score of 3,9 (now 4,0) and the highest rated review for it has 5 but when I saw it last August I felt in the minority on this one and isn't certainly the first time it happened... I liked it very much and I wonder if the other users saw a different movie.

Philip Solano (Esai Morales) is a mining businessman and the illegitimate son of rich Felipe Solano (Malcolm McDowell) that has to inherit a fortune but one day Felipe is kidnapped by Garrison Carver (Michael Ironside)'s men that plan on dump nuclear waste illegally in the abandoned coal mines in Southern Chile. Up until Philip frees his dad he'll end up with Mariana Flores in a ghost town where Garrison's men reach them resulting in various chase scenes up until the big showdown with Garrison in the church.

I liked this movie more than the other eight reviewers not just because I like action movies but also because I loved the shooting in the cilean city of Santiago with the background of nice South American music reminiscent of the Inti-Illimani songs. Also the chase scenes and the confrontation part were great in their own right.

Overall, another of those movies for which you shouldn't read the reviews before watching it because it's best to see a movie for yourselves and then say an honest opinion about it. Great for action fans or if you are in the right mood for this sort of movie.

He's the only reason to see this film. He gives a very good performance--much better than this crap deserves. He's very handsome and very talented--he deserves better than this. Also depressing is to see Malcolm McDowell in this. He's another talented actor who deserves better but, like Esai, he gives a very good performance. So, if you're fans of either of them you might want to watch. Otherwise, stay away. One more complaint--couldn't we have had more scenes of Esai shirtless?

Formula movie about the illegitimate son of a rich Chilenian who stands to inherit a fortune and gets mixed up in the affairs of bad guys and falls in love with a beautiful female lawyer (Vargas). It looks very much like a TV movie, not really exciting. The only reason I bothered to see it was because Valentina Vargas was in it. No real surprises here, though it is nice to see Vargas. Great looking Chilenian landscapes on display but Malcolm McDowell's part is very small and doesn't add much to the movie. Michael Ironside plays as usual a bad guy but this is not one of his most memorable parts. The chase scenes are standard fare.

I'm watching this right now on tv55 - I really like it. I can't believe I'm so alone in this.

It's slow and the other actors are not so hot - it's true Esai is giving the best performance, but I like the plot as well. It's more plot than a straight "character" movie, but not a full blown thriller, I'll give you that. But for someone whose favorite movies are all either character movies, or suspense films - I think it's great.

The dime-store support cast is almost irrelevant as they have such tiny parts. Give it a try. Esai is GREAT! The plot is intriguing. The music is fantastic and the scenery - as mentioned previously, is amazing.