Styx (2001 Video) User Reviews

Cold emotions, frozen story, icy actors

[Mikew3001 · 6/10 · 13 January 2006]

Nothing really new and spectacular in this British-American 2001 co-production. A bunch of gangsters are robbing a bank, but during their escape they have got a fatal car accident, only a few survive. Later on, they find together again and are planning their next coup... and all those things are gonna happen that you except from such a standard gangster coup movie - brothers in arms, a blonde femme fatale, a groovy sex scene, a well-planned coup with too many people involved, some more gangsters and shootings lots of revenge, of course...

At least "Cold Revenge", as the movie was titled on German TV, avoids copying the fake coolness and hipness of many post Tarantino gangster movies of the last ten years, and Peter Weller and Bryan Brown are doing a fine job, too, but the director fails to find an own, individual style for his gangster drama. There are some nice camera ankles and a thrilling bank robbery in the beginning of the movie, but later on, it all becomes boring and standard in this movie... and just like the tired Weller and Brown, who had their best points of their careers in the late eighties when they starred in the successful "Robocop" and "FX" movies, you are losing interest during this movie... and even Weller's cool Robocop sunglasses can't change that. A missed opportunity.

B-movie shoots for the top of the marquee and misses

[=G= · 4/10 · 24 July 2002]

Weller is at the center of "Styx" playing a safe cracker who is coerced from retirement to help his brother (MacFayden) pay off gambling debts. A typical Weller B-movie, "Styx" is full of unrealized potential. The beginning, end, and story backbone are strong but the middle tries too hard for the serious drama when it should have just stuck with the proven B-flick action/sex/nudity titilators. The result is a marginal small screen watch at best. (D)

WASTE OF GOOD ACTORS

[flimbuff · 5/10 · 21 April 2002]

Weller and Brown make this watchable but that is about all. Loose story of a bank robbery gone awry with Brown left to burn alive in crashed escape vehicle. A few years later Weller is lured into another bank robbery and lo and behold his former partner Brown had escaped the fire and is the brains behind the new scheme. A few little plot twists but the needless car chases and shoots coupled with terrible digital camera work make for a waste.

Gun-Slinging Team Robberies but Nothing New. Just Average.

[TimeForLime · 3/10 · 23 June 2002]

GUN-SLINGING TEAM ROBBERIES BUT NOTHING NEW. JUST AVERAGE. STYX is a `B' movie. There is nothing wrong with `B' movies. They are meant to entertain. Some are made just for TV or cable. Now, some are made for Direct-to-DVD. Many of our favorite actors make a lot of `B' movies in addition to top films: Peter Weller, Dennis Hopper, and Faye Dunaway are examples. I think the reasonableness of evaluating them too carefully is made by Leonard Maltin who confines himself to BELOW-AVERAGE AVERAGE or ABOVE-AVERAGE.

STYX for me rates an AVERAGE. The characters and their skills are established by a bank heist in the opening moments. Well-planned, but poorly executed because one of the robbers has poor character. (I can't give too much detail.)

The main portion of the film spans preparation for a second robbery. The gang is larger because more talents are required. More motives for the robbery, too, some of which are elaborated in great detail. The issue of personal character arises again. There is the mandatory assembly of specialists, acquisition of equipment. Missing is a dry run or practice exercise, often part of these stories.

Then the big heist. Its degree of success depends on every team member meeting or exceeding their assignment. But don't these groups always have a `spoiler' who fouls things up? Or is it the type of story where the spoiler surprises everyone and outdoes himself?

There is nothing new here. Most of what we see isn't scripted, acted, or filmed particularly well. But it's a pleasure to see Bryan Brown (F/X 1986) and Peter Weller (ROBOCOP 1987) in the same film, on the same side. The tensions between them are a notch above the balance of the production.

Leave it on the shelf.

[LHMovieBuff · 31 January 2002]

I admit I started from a false assumption with this film, I thought the story had promise and the leads, especially Weller and Brown would make it enjoyable. Wrong! Every element of the films production comes off as being second rate. Weller and Brown, who are not done any favors by their choice of material, struggle at first, before giving in to complete disinterest. The plot is basic, crims double cross one another for diamonds. This film seems to be double crossing just to fill the ninety or so minutes.The twists and turns are nothing new, predictability renders them a complete yawn. Save your money and put this one back on the shelf.

Utter pants

[PowerSheep · 1/10 · 25 December 2001]

This is the worst film I have ever had the misfortune to sit through. Painful as it was I managed to get to the end, but many of the people I watched it with didn't. I am surprised at this films high rating, I gave it no more than 1!

visit YouTube instead

[zimbo_the_donkey_boy · 2/10 · 6 February 2010]

They had the perfect plan. Just one thing was missing - any relation to reality whatsoever.

It's unfair of these jamokes to market what was obviously a student film as a real movie. This was a collection of clichés. I counted 87. The plot didn't make sense. The characters didn't make sense. The vehicles didn't make sense. The bullets didn't make sense. I hope the stars got paid well. It was the filmmakers' who failed rather than the actors. It appeared that I missed a nude scene of a hot broad by watching this on TV but I did see it on TV so, if that nudity was worth one more star, that wasn't earned from me. I did enjoy my hamburger though.

Waste of Talent

[wtrbby52 · 1/10 · 31 March 2005]

This movie was a terrible waste of good talent. I have seen Peter Weller and Bryan Brown in much better movies. This is sad that they had to stoop this low just to make some money. Better luck next time guys. I have seen some bad movies in my day, but I must say that if I were a school teacher and were to give this movie a grade, it would probably be a D-. This isn't a B movie it is a D- movie. Sorry this is so cruel but I can't think of a worse waste of time and money than this movie. The plot of the movie was interesting, but very poorly laid out in script. It lacked a lot of organization that is necessary for a movie or a play to be successful. All this movie was, was a lot of murder, mayhem and sex. None of which make it a movie that I would enjoy. My family did not enjoy it either.

inferior cinematically

[SnoopyStyle · 4/10 · 17 April 2016]

Nelson (Peter Weller), Mike (Angus Macfadyen), and Art (Bryan Brown) are part of a crew. They do an armed bank robbery. It doesn't go exactly right and a guard is killed. They are about to kill the incompetent drug-addicted gun hire when he shoots first. They crash and Art is injured. Afterward, Nelson tries to move on with a normal life. Mike gets into trouble over gambling debts and Nelson is pulled back into doing one last job.

This starts with a promising action section. It's inferior cinematically and is more fitting for a TV movie. There is still an explosion, a car chase, and some hope. It is soon obvious that it's not good enough. The action looks more like 80's TV. It's a lot of slow motion and bad dying. These are solid actors. I'm left with the conclusion that director Alex Wright and his South African crew are up to the task of making top rate movies.

Decent, if you like Eighties Action B-Pictures

[martin-secker · 5/10 · 26 October 2007]

Okay, this isn't going to win any awards. However, it's not a bad piece of popcorn entertainment as long as you can ignore some glaring continuity errors and clunky dialogue. The lead performances are unusually strong Bryan Brown plays it just right, MacFadyen does a great scumbag impression while Weller adds gravitas to an unoriginal character. I hadn't seen Weller in anything for a few years and he looks very good for his age, the verbal sparring between Brown and himself are one of the highlights. In many ways, it reminded me of the John Flynn movies of the Eighties full of tough-talking, testosterone blokes, good action and risible dialogue.

Plot twists just keep coming!

[JoySparks · 17 June 2002]

Kudos to Peter Weller and Bryan Brown for bringing a lot of heart and soul to what could have been a typically average crime drama. Instead of greatly depressing me the way a number of films do that are told strictly from the criminal's point of view, I found this one to be original, eminently watchable, highly entertaining -- and one I look forward to seeing again.

Not even my vacuum...

[DonnyProAm · 8 December 2002]

I'm watching this movie right now and...wait, hold on...Okay, so I'm not watching the movie anymore. What does that tell you?

Somebody should have told the camera guy to STOP MOVING SO MUCH! My sister made better movies when she was eight and decided to tape herself dancing.

Good actors acting badly, loose plot, annoying camera work, and sub-par directing. A real hoot.