mistertcj

First of all then, my proper mark out of 10 here should be 6.5. I think that a 7 would be too generous for a film which, in the main, is very good indeed. I am not plot spoiling here by saying that the film contains unnecessary female topless boxing. In all honesty, the director could have chosen something completely different to link his characters. But then I believe that he has openly admitted that the audience can make their own mind up as to if the boxing is just in there to titillate the majority of the male contingent of those watching. This, in itself, is basically admitting that that is just the reason why it's there. However, if I were a female spectator, I would feel somewhat uncomfortable. This is unfortunate really because, in the main, the bulk of the story is more one that would appeal to the female movie watcher. I think that what I am trying to say here is that I have marked the film down purely because of the inclusion of the boxing.

It is true that the DVD box and its description are a little deceiving. This is a film far more involved in dealing with relationships. The oh so very close relationship between father and daughter, between the father and his new partner (and how the daughter copes with it), and then the relationship between the new partner and her sister. The box clearly depicts the daughter (Sonja Bennett) as a boxer....well, she isn't. Clearly unstable and ready for fight maybe.....but not a boxer.

I believe that Sonja Bennett received awards in her homeland of Canada for her acting in this movie but I really can't say that she was at all brilliant. Her maniacal display of tap dancing was more funny than anything else. However, I feel that the acting awards here should go to the father (Michael Riley). He was outstanding, and his monologue story about his first meeting with his now deceased wife was so so heart wrenching and beautifully done.

I have to admit that when I read that Sonja Bennett is, in actual fact, the daughter of the director Guy Bennett, i felt just a little uncomfortable by the fact that there are two scenes of nudity involving his daughter, one of which leaves nothing to the imagination. It therefore made me watch the scenes with the directors audio commentary to see what he had to say about them. Happily, he did say that he wasn't in the room when these scenes were shot.

So to conclude.......it is a shame to say that this very good movie could so much have been a great movie. Some viewers should not be left feeling uncomfortable about what is, in essence, a simple tale of relationships. Please give it a watch.

We all love a hero don't we? Either that, or we all like a character that we can route for. The reason why this film bombed at the box office is because this film has neither. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad film at all and the acting from the three leads James Marsden, Lena Headey and Norman Reedus is very good indeed. However, Marsden's character is a complete dick (can I say that? Oops....too late). Headey's is stupidly naive and Reedus's is just plain weird. Oh, and by the way, Kate Hudson's character is extremely important to the plot, but Hudson herself actually has very little to do.

Now then, I do my utmost not to give away any plot spoilers. I try and make my own opinion of a film before reading any negativity about it. I therefore don't read any reviews that give the plot away beforehand......what's the point? Having said that, this film is difficult to describe without giving too much away. For a film of only 85 minutes, it builds up very well and is very well pieced together. Sadly though, and it says a lot for my simple imagination, I guessed what was going to happen before the disappointment of the last 5 minutes arrived. And before it arrived, I said to myself 'surely not.......surely they can't do that with the amount of people that would have to be involved in going through with it'.

Yes.....unfortunately, the ending was very poor (no wonder they made an alternate one). But then I suppose when you guess what's going to happen, it can be disappointing can't it. It was the same when I watched 'The Sixth Sense'

All in all then.......a good, very well acted film that should put an end to Chinese Whispers forever. Well worth a watch.