stayinflyte

Always fun to watch Depp back in his early 30s finest, especially as a befuddled, terrified, fish-out-of-water dad of a young daughter forced into a role he's nowhere near prepared for. And Christopher Walken as the bad guy? Yes, please! Both are in top form here. Walken is especially at his scene-stealing best. This is a sadly-overlooked role in his long acting catalog in fact, in my opinion.

But if you look too closely beyond the fun action scenes and these two fantastic performances the story looses some steam almost entirely because of the absurd storyline. As I stated in my header, the CONCEPT of this story is imaginative and clever, but the problem is that our protagonist is not only watched, tracked, and threatened while performing his assigned (forced) task, but he's also literally followed - often by closer than ten feet! - by Walken. What's the point of forcing another man's hand to commit murder if you're going to be his shadow the entire time? If the shooter is caught, whether physically or by security camera, wouldn't the criminal instigator also be identified?

Despite this little gripe, the entire production is pretty impressive. Our two leads of course steal the show, and the supporting cast are convincing enough to keep us engaged (Loved Charles S. Dutton as "the shoeshine guy"!), but the cinematography, filming locations (always fun seeing the old Bonaventure Hotel again), scoring, and direction choices also make this an enjoyable cloak-and-dagger/parent-forced-to-action romp.

I'm not commenting on the "surprise ending" - one mid-movie and one at the conclusion, actually - because I'm not a spoiler lover (everything I mentioned before is literally what the story is, so not spoilers), but I will say it's a good one! Really inventive stuff. I'm usually pretty good at seeing where things are headed when I'm watching movies, but this one got me and I not only readily admit it but also thank the team who got me to miss it. I enjoyed the ride.

I'm not sure how I missed this flick when it was released (I guess I was a busy 30-year-old), but I'm glad I caught it today. Highly-recommended.

This ages PRECISELY well and should be commended for that, in fact. When you put into perspective that the entire premise of this show is that we watchers get to go back and forth through time while watching it and (hopefully) figuring things out, I feel that this episode's writing was perfectly suited for the times. And yes, even by the detectives. This was made in the mid 2000 and, like them or not, the acting, language, and reactions all admirably fit those production times. In fact, this episode should be given a high score (thus my 10 to counteract someone's absurd 4 given a couple of years ago) because of the story's openness and celebration of love regardless of social parameters. I think this is an absolutely masterful filmmaking lesson is mature and powerful direction. Had there been any snarking, eye-rolling, or head-shaking I'd agree that it "didn't age well", but instead I found the complete opposite. I thought all aspects of this mystery were handled with the maturity and dignity that this group of detectives gives all of its cases. Because the WORDS of the time that were used don't match the accepted ones of today does not entail a "does not age well" punishment by a faceless virtue-signaler.

Regarding the production itself, I liked the lighting and cinematography (some of the camera angles and effects were very effective), but my biggest takeaway was how much I enjoyed the exceptional character actors. I love this series as a whole, but my usual complaint is that one or two of the character actors doesn't quite have the acting chops to keep me engrossed without a chuckle or two. But every one-time character in this episode is stellar.

Great episode. Don't miss it.

Kate Mara? Seriously? They couldn't find a talented Scottish actor to play her role so they went with an American New Yorker? Why? And I love Charlie Cox in just about anything, but an English guy playing a Scot? Admittedly he does a fair job with the accent, but again they couldn't find a Scottish actor instead? Billy Boyd as a Scot too?! Sigh...

This could've been a standout movie, but the odd casting decisions just made it laughable and, ultimately, unwatchable for me. It's hard to immerse one's self in a story with such glaring language idiosyncrasies.

Despite the casting missteps, this is beautifully photographed movie, the direction is top-notch, and although the script takes a few liberties with the real story it's still believable and engaging. I just wish the production team had found some actual Scottish talent for the front side of the cameras.