Welcome back, once again, to Direct to DVD Dissection, the weekly article that gives you a glimpse at some of the newer releases coming out.
This time, we look at a bit of crime drama with “Catch .44”.
Released December 2oth, 2011
The Story:
3 Girls stop in a small diner and proceed to try to rob it. It eventually goes wrong, in more ways than one, as the main girl, Tes, finds herself in the middle of a massive double cross that involves the right hand man Ronny and the big boss himself, Mel.
The Cast:
Malin Akerman as Tes, the main character in the movie, who is caught in the situation in the diner. She’s most known for playing Silk Spectre II in the Watcmen movie, or Valerie in the adult swim show Children’s Hospital.
Forest Whitaker as Ronny, a hitman that finds himself in the diner and has his own plans in motion. Won an Oscar for his performance in “Last King of Scotland”, and the “Did you need the money that bad” award for his appearance in “Battlefield Earth”.
Bruce Willis as Mel, the sleezy boss of the operation and one who brings in Tes to the operation he runs. John McClane. Nuff said.
Shea Whigham as Billy, the cook and man who reveals the sitatution to Tes. He is known as the Sniper in Machete, who learned the hard way you don’t mess with the pissed off Mexican named Danny Trejo.
The Dissection:
When it comes to movies about double crosses and crimes, you usually have to know what to expect. Catch .44 is no different. It has reveals, a stand off, guns, people getting shot, and a lot of money at stake.
While the movie takes place in the one diner, a lot of the movie revolves around flashbacks and set up. When a character mentions an incident, there is a flashback. When a character talks about meeting before there’s a flash back. When there is a mention of a character, there is a flashback about them, too. It’s a movie where it goes to the climax of the movie in the first minute, and then has to backtrack the rest of the movie to get you up to speed. The incident happens about 5 minutes in, there’s 35-40 minutes of set up beforehand, before we go right back where we left off and continue the story.
Tes (Malin Akerman) caught in a stand off in the Diner.
The movie has some good actors here, but some pretty bad dialog, mostly with Tes and her girlfriends. It does feel like it was a man writing lines for a woman. It doesn’t feel right hearing some of the things that come out of her mouth or how she approaches people. It’s like a mix of valley girl and the prostitute from “High Plains Drifter”. Whitaker is good here, as he pulls off the role of a killer for Mel really well. He has moments where he hides his identity with accents, and while it does come off silly in one, with a nerdy accent in the beginning, it works better as the movie goes on and he switches to a Spanish one. Willis does well here, as he goes up the sleeze and has a memorable introduction. The best scene really is near the end, when Willis and Whitaker share some time and speak with each other. It’s very interesting to see them work with each other.
The main issue with this movie is that, with the flashbacks, it feels a bit disorienting to watch. The story can still be understood, though. another issue is that it does the introductions of characters, where we see them on screen, it freezes, and their name pops up. However, it’s never consistent as to when this happens. Mel gets his name when he see his face, but Ronny has been on screen for a while, and only gets on after his 4th or 5th appearance.
Mel (Bruce Willis) talking with Tes in his house, with his soul patch and bad hair.
It’s a movie that relies on the strength of it’s actors to carry a scene. Besides Whitaker and Willis, you have Brad Dourif in the role of a sherrif, as well as Michael Rosenbaum in a role as a strip club patron. Small roles, really, but given to these actors to try to work something with them. Even the other girls seem to serve that purpose, with Kara played by Nikki Reed, best known as Rosalie Hale in the Twilight movie series, and True Blood’s Deborah Ann Woll as Dawn. It’s just that the stuff they are all given still feels off.
In short, it’s a movie that is powered by its acting powers, with a basic story that is the excuse to have these people talking to each other.
As for extras, there barely are any. There’s no special features, except for the director’s commentary in the set up, along with English and Spanish subtitles. Two trailers on start up only, “The Son of No One” and “Texas Killing Fields”.
The Verdict:
It’s a rental kind of a movie. It’s a movie you can watch, but you would see once or twice before taking it back to find a new movie. You will probably like the movie in parts, though it could turn off others.