Across the Line: The Exodus of Charlie Wright

Shame I spent full price on "The Tourist" when "Across the Line" was leagues more enjoyable for a dollar Redbox rental.

Charlie Wright (Aidan Quinn) is a man apart-he ripped off billions from unsuspecting people in a Las Vegas Ponzi scheme and has retreated to Tijuana to escape persecution. His self-imposed exile is quickly interrupted by Andy Garcia's character, a Mexican gangster who wants a shot at Charlie's money, as well as Raymond J. Barry and Luke Goss playing former clients going for revenge.

This was a great film about redemption. I'd agree with another reviewer in that it's an "artsy" portrayal, in that the cinematography is vastly beautiful. The shots of Tijuana and the glimpses of Vegas are astounding for a straight-to-video film.

The cast is also great. Aidan Quinn just knocks it out of the park in the lead role, Luke Goss is great as the leader of a group of thugs that includes the grossly underrated Bokeem Woodbine, and Andy Garcia is pitch-perfect as well. Mario Van Peebles does a great job as the tough federal agent going after Wright.

"Across the Line" was immensely enjoyable, a cool flick with just the right touches of drama and action. Definitely recommended.

Just as his billion dollar financial empire is about to crumble, a scheming businessman evades the authorities and goes on the run. Hot on his trail are two different crime organizations as well as the FBI.

The scope of the story is enormous considering what looks like a shoestring budget but "Across the Line" is what I'd call a straight-to-video thriller done right and much of the credit should go to R. Ellis Frazier who wrote, directed and produced this movie.

Frazier has penned a classic thriller which would end up below average but thanks to the different story threads he has crafted as well as an attention and love for the characters and the setting, it rises from mediocrity. The direction is gritty, down to earth yet tasteful and aesthetic enough for the genre, with tight editing and a great score.

However, where this movie shines the most is probably in the acting department when again, we consider this is a straight-to-video thriller. This movie's casting stands out in all ways. Aidan Quinn stars as Charlie Wright, the con men on the run who now seems haunted by his past. Quinn is simply amazing and it is almost unfortunate to see him give such a performance in a movie that will give him absolutely no chance of recognition at any kind of award ceremony.

Andy Garcia is also breathtaking as a crime lord. Far from the standard caricature of the merciless, threatening boss, Garcia plays up the fragility of his character due to past failures. There is a lot of depth here thanks to Frazier's writing and Garcia's portrayal. Every other cast member is good or even better. Even Van Peebles, who has mailed performances in so many direct-to-video lemons gives a better than usual performance.

Despite Quinn getting the lion's share of screen time, this is very much a story with an ensemble of characters, a dozen or so. Many of those given more attention than we are used to, even in bigger productions.

There are few action sequences here but one stands out in the middle of the film. An intense shootout that may not be as spectacular as Michael Mann's Heat or Christopher McQuarrie's Way of the Gun but is close enough and memorable as well as unpredictable.

The film is not without flaws and unfortunately, loses steam in the last third or so. Clocking at around 90 minutes, there could have been a few more twists and turns and an added 15 to 30 minutes further exploring some of the characters. Perhaps due to the short running time, the film also relies a bit too much on unlikely coincidences and certain characters crossing path a little too often.

But all in all, this is great writing by Frazier (who seems to favor stories taking place south of the border), a solid directorial effort and some smart choices as a producer to surround himself with actors whose stars may have faded a little but are still able to deliver great performances.

I'll be sure to watch Frazier's next effort.

With no other reviews of this film at present, I guess I'm working without a net but I'll give it a try. I'll let the pre-provided summary above handle the plot description and move directly into the film itself, which I could best describe as a somewhat "artsy" crime drama, (and I mean that in a good way.)

Filmed mostly in Tijuana, it takes wonderful advantage of the various atmospheres and the smaller sets were also extremely well chosen for realism and visual interest. There are some action sequences but the film is not particularly violent nor "action" oriented, there are numerous personality conflicts and those are what mainly propels the story through the urban Mexican landscape, providing tensions which are occasionally punctuated by violent confrontations.

The players put forth a fine effort in delivering a multi-layered plot which is interesting enough to hold our attention but only barely, it's that type of movie that if you wander away from it for a few minutes, you may not care if you return to finish it. The story-line is littered with implausibilities which in themselves are not deal-breakers, for instance: the quandary of how to arm a foreign hit-squad traveling over the border is beautifully handled by the artifice of having the weapons cached in a pit in a field for them before they arrive but when recovering them, the squad parks about eighty feet away and unnecessarily carries the weapons back to their van in plain view of the surrounding buildings instead of parking right next to the pit and blocking the view of the transfer with the van.

But if it's not going to be uber-realistic like Traffic or testosterone driven like Die Hard or mentally intense like The Usual Suspects or absolutely drip atmosphere like The Godfather or Once Upon a Time in New York or be over-the-top like Kill Bill, it does need something to hook us into it and really hold us there. For me, ultimately that turned out to be the scenery but I don't think that they were actually trying to make a travelogue.

As a kiosk/netflix rental there is enough to recommend here, some great scenery and vignettes, very solid acting, some very good twists and a great score and while the whole may not quite be the sum of the parts it is still a decent enough crime flick.

Looking over reviews of the writer/director's few earlier works it appears he is quickly maturing and there is a lot of potential here, to be certain. His eye is excellent but the story is just a little too clichéd, I'd really like to see his considerable talents utilized in a better story. I would like to see what he, the cast and crew could do with a story that has more impetus, like Man on Fire. I may seem a little harsh because there are no other reviews and I'm trying to cover everything alone; so do your duty - go out and rent it and write an accompanying review.

Nice screenplay writer who did the nice directing. The casting was great, the acting of all the actors on both sides of the border were also top-notched. There was a very strong nostalgic feeling and melancholy touch throughout the whole movie. Rarely a movie would portray from so many angles from so many different parties: The FBI agent in charge with a big heart, the loyal FBI young agent with a dubious gender mix-up, the two past prime Russian mafia, the hired hit-man and hit team from U.S., the desperate Don of the Mexican Northern Cartel(Andy Garcia was so great in this movie), his younger brother(a very cool Mexican actor), his wife, then, there's the lonely Mexican whore, the scamming con artist(Quinn also did a great and very reserved job) who's so desperately trying to locate his estranged Mexican lover and their love's product, a daughter the guy never met before. All these ingredients were put together so smooth, and sometimes, very poetically beautiful.

The gun fight scenes were carried out pretty good, the sound track, the camera, the editing, the colors...they are all very classy. An obvious low budget movie, but definitely not a B movie, the production money was well spent. Absolutely worth watching.

Tbh regardless of the fact whether this was based off of a true story, or not I cared more about the cartel storyline than Charlie Wright. You really don't know much about him besides the fbi being after him, and that he has a daughter in Mexíco. Love Mario Van Pebbles tho.