Review of Give 'em Hell, Malone (2009) by Edward S — 28 Jan 2010

Give 'Em Hell, Malone brings back those old crime noir films of the 30's and 40's and gives them a present day twist as former private dick turned hired gun Malone (Thomas Jane) goes through a ton of criminals and degenerates to retrieve a briefcase for a client.

Interesting in what's in the case, he opens it up to reveal nothing but a small toy. With that, he goes on a rampage to find out who set him up, which takes him to client Elsa Pataky (beautiful as hell but can't act her way out of a plastic bag) and several other nefarious people, led by major crime lord Gregory Harrison who enlists his top people to go after Malone, including Boulder (Ving Rhames, always fun to watch), Matchstick (Doug Hutchison; another person I enjoy a lot.

..usually), and Mauler (Chris Yen). I like the idea of blending two eras together to form a somewhat classy looking modernized crime noir film. I like such an interesting cast, which also includes bit roles from the likes of Leland Orser (Alien Resurrection) and French Stewart (Surveillance).

I especially liked how gritty and violent the film got at times. My problem is a lot of the film fell flat in terms of delivery. There were several awkward (carried out, not emotion) moments that seem to come off as confusing or not very well strung together.

Jane is always a treat to watch. He has the balls to do cool-sounding projects that interest him, despite the fact that it could potentially hurt his career as an A-list actor. Rhames was good as well, and so was Stewart who was actually another scene stealer (he did the same in Surveillance).

Me thinks this guy needs bigger and better roles because he is definitely proving himself to be better than what he served on 3rd Rock from the Sun. Also, I usually LOVE Hutchison's performances (Burrowers, Punisher: War Zone), however, he's coming off as too much like Ledger in The Dark Knight.

It's too eerily similar for my enjoyment. Overall, I wanted to love this movie; I really did, but in the end, it was just ok.