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Reviews
The Criminal (1999)
Ambitious, edge-of-the-seat conspiracy thriller
The little-known and underrated Steven Mackintosh stars in this ambitious and complex British thriller which keeps you right on the edge of your seat until the end.
Sadly, the end is a little bit disappointing but when you watch this endlessly twisting conspiracy story you'll soon come to realise that it is just too clever for its own good. And while that's not exactly a compliment, at least this low budget attempt at North by Northwest proves first-time writer/director Julian Simpson is not given to compromise.
The story begins late at night in a Soho bar where unassuming thirtysomething musician Jasper (Mackintosh) is drinking alone until he's joined by stunning blonde, Sarah, played by Natasha Little. She seems very keen to go back to his place, crack open a bottle of vodka and spend the night doing whatever two broad-minded and drunk adults like to do. But at 2am there's a knock at the door and suddenly the pace of The Criminal picks up as Jasper gets a smack in the face and wakes up to find the blonde had been slashed to ribbons and he is the number one murder suspect.
Up steps Bernard Hill as a hard-bitten copper who effs and blinds his way confidently through some fairly ropey dialogue. Unable to come up with substantive evidence, he lets Jasper back on the street (pursued by bumbling police, naturally) and our hero immediately begins to unravel the very murky story behind the murder. Be prepared to pay attention very closely from this point onwards because The Criminal is not a movie for those suffering post-MTV attention deficit disorder.
Mackintosh, whose character probably seemed pretty flat on paper, is onscreen almost constantly and thankfully he's up to the job, rescuing what might otherwise be a celluloid disaster. You might not know his name, but if you've seen Lock Stock, Blue Juice or The Buddha of Suburbia, you'll know the face. There's a good role for Soldier Soldier star Holly Aird as Hill's sidekick but unwarranted top billing goes to stand-up comic Eddie Izzard, who pops up fairly unconvincingly for about ten minutes of screen time in a role that's perhaps a little too vital for someone so inexperienced. Comedy lovers should also watch out for Red Dwarf co-star Norman Lovett in a very brief cameo.
Pick it apart and The Criminal doesn't hold much water. But despite its faults (of which there are a fair few) you are going to find it very hard to switch off without finding out what happens in the end.
Final Destination (2000)
Top-notch teen date thriller entertainment
Great fun teen horror thriller with an unknown cast and a very original twist on the slasher movie genre. A party of US smalltown high school kids are setting off for a trip to France when Alex (Devon Sawa) has a sudden, fearful premonition that their aircraft is about to explode on take-off (be warned, nervous fliers, this is probably the most chilling crash sequence since Alive). He flees the plane and in the panic five of his schoolmates and a teacher go with him. And sure enough, minutes later, the airline is blown to smithereens. So far so exciting, but if this is a slasher movie, where is the killer? Well, we're getting to that. As they try to rebuild their stricken hometown after the horror of the accident, the surviving kids start dying off and Alex soon realises that, having cheated Death once, destiny is trying to catch up on its homework. In a a sense, Death itself is the killer.
And for another twist, Alex works out that the victims are dying in the same order that they would have been killed had they remained in their seats on the airliner. And so, by the logic of rather silly paranormal movie lore, he leaps to the conclusion that by breaking the pattern of mystery killings, he can escape his otherwise certain doom. All this nonesense is delivered with frenetic pace and no small amount of directorial wit from former X-Files back-room-boy James Wong. Although it's not original in its use of pressure-cooker suspense (the train speeding towards the car stuck on the level crossing, the loose mains power cable whipping in the wind as teen X struggles to escape electrocution just millimetres away) but to his credit, Wong never ends these scenes quite the way you expect. Final Destination is delicious date movie entertainment; compares favourably with such comical teen thrillers as Scream and The Faculty and boasts a glorious surprise ending which will leave you with a wickedly satisfied smile on your face.