Directed by: Shane Black
Written by: Shane Black, Anthony Bagarozzi
Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice
Could you work with a guy that broke your arm? In May 2016, apparently if the money is right, Holland’s answer is… yes.
Following the death of the porn star Misty Mountains, Jackson Healy (Crowe as the Hired Enforcer) and Holland March (Gosling as the Private Eye) find themselves working on the same case, but for different reasons. After Healy and Jackson’s case has them crossing paths, the two try to work together and figure out what it is about this case that has people chasing them around town. Maybe, if they can find a missing girl named Amelia (Margaret Qualley) things will start to make sense.
Now, like any writer/director, we’ve seen good and bad from Black. Be it his co-writing work like Monster Squad (1987) and Lethal Weapon (1987) that were really good, if not great… to his directing work in Iron Man 3 (2013), which was like watching someone with cement shoes try to swim. This time around however, Black brought his A-game to the table as both writer and director. The story that writers Shane Black and Anthony Bagarozzi came up with brings together a bunch of different elements that wind up fitting together perfectly for this 70’s themed film. It has a solid story-line that does a really good job at hiding twists until they’re revealed. The script was witty and has some great dialogue between the characters. We even get a bit of back story that helps with character development.
The play-through was really good. It has a strong start that grabs your attention and doesn’t let go till the end of the movie. Between the characters and the story something’s always going on to entertain you. The writers even threw in a few fights, shoot outs, and explosions to help keep the film moving along.
For the most part, I’ve liked a lot of Crowe’s films, but I can’t say I’ve seen much of Gosling’s work. So, I wasn’t sure what I was getting into when I sat down for this one. Between Crowe and Gosling you get this average Joe odd couple-ish team-up that when it was all said and done turned out good. Crowe’s character is funny, but is kind of the straight guy of the duo, while Gosling’s character continuously brings more comedic elements to the scenes. I thought both guys did a great job at creating fun characters you can’t help but like.
The cast line-up has a lot of well known faces that pop in and out of the film like Keith David, Matt Bomer and Kim Basinger. Now, any other time I’d be upset to see such talent under used, but here the cameos are yet another added element that makes the film better. I have to say, with all the big named talent throughout the film, Angourie Rice really shined and showed she could hold her own at such a young age. There were even a few times where Rice was with Crowe and Gosling that I thought she stole the scene.
Thanks to the work by Danielle Berman (set decoration) and Kym Barrett (costume design) the film had a great 70’s look and feel to it, which Philippe Rousselot caught with all of his smooth camera work.
Overall, this one is definitely worth catching and is one I’m looking forward to watching again when it hits home release.
