If I told you, "This movie is essentially 90 minutes of an actor yelling at people over his phone while driving a car", you might not be too motivated to watch it, right?
Well, it seems like the director and the lead actor set themselves the challenge to make that movie and try to keep it interesting and exciting. The good news is, they mostly succeed, mostly on the strength of Frank Grillo's charisma and cheekbones. Seriously, you could grate nutmeg off those cheekbones. The bad news is that once in a while, in spite of moody cinematography and creative editing, the movie does become somewhat claustrophobic and tiresome. In fact, I had to pause the movie 1/3 of the way through and come back the next night.
But there's more good than bad, and once I was able to settle into the rhythm of the movie, and to figure out the double-cross in the plot, and once the major plot points had been revealed (by Grillo yelling at people over the phone and some ominous text messaging), I was entertained and energized.
I should also mention that I caught a bit of a tribute to the end of the John Wayne movie "The Searchers", as the Wheelman watches mother and daughter unite and comfort each other as he looks on from outside, still in his car, unable to join them. I really liked that, and it added a star to the rating.
Well done, probably not for everyone, not even for everyone who likes auto movies and heist movies. But very good for its scale and mood.
Well, it seems like the director and the lead actor set themselves the challenge to make that movie and try to keep it interesting and exciting. The good news is, they mostly succeed, mostly on the strength of Frank Grillo's charisma and cheekbones. Seriously, you could grate nutmeg off those cheekbones. The bad news is that once in a while, in spite of moody cinematography and creative editing, the movie does become somewhat claustrophobic and tiresome. In fact, I had to pause the movie 1/3 of the way through and come back the next night.
But there's more good than bad, and once I was able to settle into the rhythm of the movie, and to figure out the double-cross in the plot, and once the major plot points had been revealed (by Grillo yelling at people over the phone and some ominous text messaging), I was entertained and energized.
I should also mention that I caught a bit of a tribute to the end of the John Wayne movie "The Searchers", as the Wheelman watches mother and daughter unite and comfort each other as he looks on from outside, still in his car, unable to join them. I really liked that, and it added a star to the rating.
Well done, probably not for everyone, not even for everyone who likes auto movies and heist movies. But very good for its scale and mood.