I stumbled across this movie on Warner Brothers TV and even though I missed the first part of the movie it was so captivating that I had so watch it.
The premise though seemingly simple, relied upon character studies of people in a stressful situation where everybody feels over their heads, even those supposedly in control. This has been done many times before so it's not unusual, but I liked the idea of Canadian 'gang kids' who have an executive treed in a park overnight.
All in one scene emotions could run through fear, bravado, self doubt and aggression; the darkness of the people mirrored that of the night. Both inner and outer group conflicts manifested themselves as the night wore on. There was subterfuge, guile, bluffing and cunning and for the most part, the dialogue didn't seem forced or false. Throughout all and the acting was excellent.
In disagreement with another reviewer I thought that just having another thoroughly evil gang passing through and not choosing to involve them further was wise and kept unnecessary complications from distracting from the group dynamics we'd already gotten familiar with. The other gang just served to highlight the insecurities and more human aspects of our gang's personas, and therefor made the outcome more plausible.
Detractors of the film should know that for the most part, Canada is a kinder and gentler country, where firearms are restricted so are not common, and we don't have as many issues with large inner city slums or ghettos. The makeup of 'our' Toronto gang was African Americans, Caucasians and one girl, which is certainly not stereotypical. The movie speculated how Canadian 'wannabe' gang members might try to ape the actions of the more street hardened thugs south of the border who make the papers every day, but in reality be more unsure and fearful of the real consequences of their actions.
Lastly, all the situations and changes and revelations the individuals underwent made the ending plausible and showed that sometimes in extreme circumstances when the poop really hits the fan, opposing sides can come together to offer kindness and caring and come to the aid of others even at risk to themselves.
That's the Canadian way.
The premise though seemingly simple, relied upon character studies of people in a stressful situation where everybody feels over their heads, even those supposedly in control. This has been done many times before so it's not unusual, but I liked the idea of Canadian 'gang kids' who have an executive treed in a park overnight.
All in one scene emotions could run through fear, bravado, self doubt and aggression; the darkness of the people mirrored that of the night. Both inner and outer group conflicts manifested themselves as the night wore on. There was subterfuge, guile, bluffing and cunning and for the most part, the dialogue didn't seem forced or false. Throughout all and the acting was excellent.
In disagreement with another reviewer I thought that just having another thoroughly evil gang passing through and not choosing to involve them further was wise and kept unnecessary complications from distracting from the group dynamics we'd already gotten familiar with. The other gang just served to highlight the insecurities and more human aspects of our gang's personas, and therefor made the outcome more plausible.
Detractors of the film should know that for the most part, Canada is a kinder and gentler country, where firearms are restricted so are not common, and we don't have as many issues with large inner city slums or ghettos. The makeup of 'our' Toronto gang was African Americans, Caucasians and one girl, which is certainly not stereotypical. The movie speculated how Canadian 'wannabe' gang members might try to ape the actions of the more street hardened thugs south of the border who make the papers every day, but in reality be more unsure and fearful of the real consequences of their actions.
Lastly, all the situations and changes and revelations the individuals underwent made the ending plausible and showed that sometimes in extreme circumstances when the poop really hits the fan, opposing sides can come together to offer kindness and caring and come to the aid of others even at risk to themselves.
That's the Canadian way.