Review of Catch.44 (2011) by Phil H — 19 Jun 2012

Odd title but familiar film with Willis taking part in another Tarantino-ish outing that does leave you feeling somewhat disappointed.

When I say Tarantino-ish I mean the plot is basically cut up and all over the show. We start at the end and work backwards with flashbacks aplenty to find out what happens. Thing is we never really discover the whole point behind most of it (only some characters) and frankly I didn't much care either.

The plot revolves around a trio of women (terrible casting and boring performances) whom I'm guessing are suppose to be sexy drug dealing associates of Willis (epic fail there). They are to wait in a diner and pick up a shipment but they are setup and everything goes tits up (yawn!). The problem is these characters aren't developed in any way and don't last too long either, so you aren't given the chance to like them and simply aren't bothered when the shit hits the fan.

The other characters are a mixed bunch that include Willis who is badly miscast as a drug dealing kingpin, Whitaker as a associate of Willis, acts well as usual but has this really annoying Spanish accent (I think it was Spanish) and Dourif in a cameo really. He isn't really important in any way, no point him even being there.

The setup and shootout that happens at the start (which is the end) is the best part. When you see it you wanna know what happens next but instead you are fed about 1h 20mins of flashbacks showing what happened before and how it all led up to the shootout, which isn't very interesting. So in short the finale stand off is the best bit where as the rest of the film is uninspired and dull with drab acting.