Illtown

Though a deliberately confusing ending ultimately undermines this film's potential, an excellent cast and unique storytelling approach make it well worth the time for anyone not expecting a straight-forward crime picture.

Director Nick Gomez, also responsible for "Laws of Gravity" and "New Jersey Drive," once again proves that he refuses to be predictable. The former plays like an updated "Mean Streets" overseen by the ghost of John Cassavetes and the latter like a straight-forward entry in the "Boyz in the Hood" sub-genre. "Illtown," on the other hand, is an ultra-stylized revenge/crime thriller mixed with a character drama mixed with wierd surrealism. The only thing I can think of to compare it to, at least on some levels, is Sergio Sollima's equally slow-paced and dreamy "Violent City." The Florida locations fit the mood perfectly. The protagonists are a bunch of laid-back, golf playin' smack dealers one would genuinely enjoy serving in a restaurant or at a ticket counter; the stereotpyes normally attached to their way of life are conspicuously absent. The final shoot-out between Rappaport and Trese is all style and no substance, but in such an oddly good way, it had me gawking with awe.

Lili Taylor, Adam Trese and Kevin Corrigan, all relative unknowns (which irks me), are all great here. Michael Rappaport, while somewhat over-exposed at this point, was also under-appreciated at the time of this film's release. He, Gomez regular Saul Stein, and even the oft-annoying Tony Danza all rise to the material, for which they are aptly cast.

Like I said, the end left me frustrated, but the overall experience is well worth it.

This film is very poorly directed and edited. I got the impression that the editor took all the pieces of the film and put them in a hat and then spliced them together in a random order. Flashbacks merge into present-tense without any rhyme or reason. Momentary images of characters pop up without justification. I watched this because I love the work of Lili Taylor who is forgettable but not offensive in this; not so for Michael Rappaport who appears to be using some of the drugs that he sells in the movie. There's an amazing last shot in the film where Rappaport is supposed to have hit a golf ball on a golf course. His gaze goes up and out to show that he's hit the ball `hundreds of yards' but it is obvious, even without freeze-framing, that the ball actually dribbles about 20 feet in front of him. The reason that I hated this movie so much is that it COULD have been good with it's fine cast and interesting script - I'll never watch a Gomez film again.

...artistic, cultural and intellectual oriented toward the liberation of the mind by emphasizing the critical and imaginative faculties of the "unconscious mind" and the attainment of a state different... the "sur-real", or "more than real". Drug dealing and dirty cops are confusing...the movie reflects it. It's no tour de force! It is a series of vignettes often presented out of sequence. George(aka Isaac Hayes) = racial undertones. Needless to say this movie is not about race. Or is it? Inner city youth dress, speak and display "Illtown" attitude(s). FINAL ANALYSIS: this production has the players, enablers, misguided youth and violence that is expected in the genre. The film is not likable because it is top heavy with editorial and special effects that are not needed to depict the morass of drug abuse. Just say NO!

Illtown's a startling 180 from the documentaryish "Laws of Gravity", from the same director and much of the same supporting cast...this is a dreamlike, strangely structured film about drug dealers that sets up an expectation of a typical revenge flick, but by the end we don't quite know who's the "good" guys or the "bad" guys, and despite the narrative setting up one set of characters as the protagonists, the antagonist ends up in many ways as sympathetic, if not more, for this is a film that doesn't fill us in on the backstory for some time...watch it for Corrigan's great monologue about his wife three quarters of the way in, just one of many great moments in this truly weird, violent, unsettling film...

Many people hate movies that skip over the happy endings, or fail to feature any likable characters, but I'm not like that, at all. If you are, you probably won't like this movie.

Most of the characters are unscrupulous, and in some cases, downright despicable. I love that in a movie. Hehe.

It kept my attention all the way through with lots of action, and the final shootout was awesome.

I love Lili Taylor in anything, and she's great here. Also worth noting are the performances of a couple of highly underrated actors....Paul Schulze and Adam Trese. Watching Tony Danza play a gay crimelord is a hoot.

Sure, it's downbeat, gritty, and dreary, but isn't that what gangsters and drug trafficking is all about? Love it!