Review of Living & Dying (2007) by Todd S — 12 May 2014

Four people hold up a bank, but the cops have been tipped off and arrive in seconds. A shoot out insues and the surviving robbers are forced into a local cafe, where they take hostages. Two of their hostages turn out to be armed gang bangers, who turn the tables on the bank robbers, making them hostages as well.

It was a pretty good opening, but from there it descends into your typical, slow moving, hostage drama, with paranoid cops, scared hostages, and unreasonable demands. Edward Furlong stars in this HBO thriller, and continues to be one of my favorite actors.

He is so unappreciated and disrespected in Hollywood, because he was a child actor and will forever be known as that cute kid in Terminator 2. His Co-star is Michael Madsen is by far the worst actor I have ever seen.

The guy thinks he's John Wayne, but the second he tries to show any emotion, people start laughing, because he is really that unbelievable. Madsen brings down the credibility of everything he is in, which makes me wonder how this guy continues to get work.

Living & Dying has a great opening and an interesting ending, but unfortunately the middle is just about as boring and predictable as a movie can get.