This movie is a real mixed bag as it combines some excellent ideas with poor execution. I am in two minds whether it is underrated or over rated. I suspect if you do like it on first watching, further watches will increase your appreciation for it.
The premise of the story surrounds a husband's hiring of a hitman (played by Simon Pegg) to kill his wife and how that plays out. The story is told three times giving us a slightly different perspective and providing additional layers of story uncovering different plot line and motivations of the different characters with a number of twists.
The story told is actually interesting and does gets better and more intriguing as the film progresses, however it suffers from a particular slow and tedious first act (which i would suggest trying to get through). The opening scene is somewhat ridiculous and has a comical chase between the hitman and his victim, but this daft humour for the most part doesn't continue through the first act, so as a watcher you are not entirely sure what type of movie you are watching.
Watching this movie i couldn't help thinking that a better director and producer could have put created an excellent movie. The ideas are great, the script is reasonable, but the dialogue in many instances is fairly terrible. The casting is very mixed, whilst Pegg is a star he stands out amongst a very average and limited ability cast, some of the acting is incredibly wooden I'm looking at any scene with Hemsworth, particularly in the garage. That being said Pegg's character does not seem to be consistent from one act to another. The visuals are at odds with themselves. Some good bright cinematography, nice blood work but poor fire effects mixed with a daytime soap vibe in many of the 'talking scenes' inside.
And that's where we are, my overriding feeling i get from his movie is that Home and Away tried to make a Pulp Fiction - esque feature. Maybe i'm being unkind here comparing it to a daytime soap, but it very much has that feel in many scenes (not just because it is set in Australia). Likewise it feels like a TV movie rather than a feature, which i guess it very much may be, without knowing the full background.
Ultimately I would say this is a reasonable watch, worth persisting with, has some clever and interesting ideas, but lacking in many areas.
The premise of the story surrounds a husband's hiring of a hitman (played by Simon Pegg) to kill his wife and how that plays out. The story is told three times giving us a slightly different perspective and providing additional layers of story uncovering different plot line and motivations of the different characters with a number of twists.
The story told is actually interesting and does gets better and more intriguing as the film progresses, however it suffers from a particular slow and tedious first act (which i would suggest trying to get through). The opening scene is somewhat ridiculous and has a comical chase between the hitman and his victim, but this daft humour for the most part doesn't continue through the first act, so as a watcher you are not entirely sure what type of movie you are watching.
Watching this movie i couldn't help thinking that a better director and producer could have put created an excellent movie. The ideas are great, the script is reasonable, but the dialogue in many instances is fairly terrible. The casting is very mixed, whilst Pegg is a star he stands out amongst a very average and limited ability cast, some of the acting is incredibly wooden I'm looking at any scene with Hemsworth, particularly in the garage. That being said Pegg's character does not seem to be consistent from one act to another. The visuals are at odds with themselves. Some good bright cinematography, nice blood work but poor fire effects mixed with a daytime soap vibe in many of the 'talking scenes' inside.
And that's where we are, my overriding feeling i get from his movie is that Home and Away tried to make a Pulp Fiction - esque feature. Maybe i'm being unkind here comparing it to a daytime soap, but it very much has that feel in many scenes (not just because it is set in Australia). Likewise it feels like a TV movie rather than a feature, which i guess it very much may be, without knowing the full background.
Ultimately I would say this is a reasonable watch, worth persisting with, has some clever and interesting ideas, but lacking in many areas.