Customer Reviews

Give 'Em Hell Malone [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"Malone" is a super noir-styled detective film with a high BPM rating (Bullets per Minute). Ultra-stylistically filmed, it tells the story of P.I. Malone (Thomas Jane from Hung) who has been hired by a mysterious woman to secure a braiefcase, the contents of which he doesn't know). The opening scene is a trap and the action lifts off from there and never stops...literally never stops. Ving Rhames is perfect as an ultra bad man and for those who remember the bad prison guard from The Green Mile (Percy), Doug Hutchison once again seems to be in love with fire in his role as 'Matchstick', a dude in love with kerosene and matches. Thomas Jane plays one tough dick and killing him is difficult to say the least. Even a bullet to the chest is received and discarded. The bomshell client is more trouble than she's worth indeed. Give 'em Hell is a great 'watch' for action fans as well as fans of the genre.

While I've come to enjoy Thomas Jane the more and more I see of him lately, it appeared upon first glance that Give 'Em Hell Malone may not have been one of his better decisions. Happily though, the film is a stylish, semi-enjoyable piece of pulp-noir that Jane appears to be quite at home in being in. Jane stars as Malone, a tough PI who has been double crossed and is now up against a crew of gangsters, including an old nemesis (Ving Rhames), a pyromaniac (Doug Hutchison, doing his best Heath Ledger Joker impersonation), and their boss (Gregory Harrison); all the while with a mysterious damsel (Elsa Pataky) in tow. Unapologetic in its blood-letting and violence, Give 'Em Hell Malone is certainly fun enough to enjoy and features style to spare from Highlander and Resident Evil: Extinction director Russell Mulcahy. What detracts from the film however is some just plain horrible editing and a screenplay loaded with plot holes. Still though, for what it's worth, Give 'Em Hell Malone is an enjoyable enough experience, and you could do much worse than what you find here.

Malone is a classic scotch guzzling gumshoe. He narrates during the movie in the tough guy Sam Spade style. Early in the movie he is shot and goes to a retirement home to meet his mom, a Betty White knock-off, who nonchalantly removes the bullet from his chest. He meets a dame, who is every bit as tough talking as he is. One of the guys who is trying to kill him is a pyromaniac named Matchstick, who learned to act from watching Heath Ledger as the Joker. If fact he imitated the Joker so much, it was a bit annoying. Ving Rhames is a bad guy attempting to deal with emotional issues. The plot is confused and immaterial to the movie. There is also a stereo-typical oriental female killer, who is tough. How tough? Ving asks, "Do you know where she keeps her knives?" The comedy is light but good. Simulated oral sex, very brief nudity, and drops the MF bomb.

Snappy title, sounds like a film from the 70s. Give Em Hell Malone is one of those high octane action flicks that gives us just enough plot to move us from action sequence to action sequence. Most of it is gunfights and brawls as Malone, accompanied by a hot chick(of course) demolishes bad guys in search of fellow tough guy Ving Rhames, and the top crime boss. Like I said, not much plot. It's not about plot though, it's about action, and very comic bookish action at that. It's done with that highly stylized computer slow-mo bullet crap and whatnot, as to be expected. Sometimes the movie is like watching somebody play a shoot em up video game, like in the opening scene. The movie's obviously got it's tongue in it's cheek, and it shows as in a running joke that has Malone visiting his mother in a rest home every time he's shot so she can remove the bullet and patch him up. Of course there's a smoking hot, deadly Japanese samurai chick too. Thomas Jayne is always good for the macho action tough guy, more so than a lot of guys who pass themselves off as action stars these days. Not a role that requires much in the acting department, but he's definitely got the look, as Roxette would say. The whole thing has a noir type vibe with Jayne and Rhames decked out in snazzy old 30s attire and Jayne narrating like an old hard boiled detective.
The film was directed by Russell Mulcahy, who has dazzled us with flicks like Highlander, the giant wild boar on the loose epic, Razorback and Scorpion King 2. And lets not forget the masterpiece Highlander 2: The Quickening.
Though Give Em Hell Malone tends to use a lot of the cheapo modern day action film tricks and gags that make me hate today's action films so much, and also the fact that there isn't one original bone in it's body(it's so shameless in it's ripping off of Sin City and Kill Bill), I was still quite entertained by it. Very odd. For mindless action, it's about as mindless as it gets, yet it still seems to be a cut above many others.

I really enjoyed this movie. It's a gritty, down and dirty, hardboiled flick that shines a good light on the film noir style of yesteryear. I would love to see a few squeals come out of this movie. If you are looking for a solid film that is just plan fun then this movie is for you.

Don't misunderstand my title, aside from the last 30 seconds, this film is fairly self-contained. I just thought it really dumb to end it as if there will be more to the story, knowing that such likelihood isn't very high, especially for this type of production; it's hardly a major franchise. If there is a sequel, I fear it'll be recast to account for an even lower budget and might not even be worth watching, as this film itself has some serious storytelling flaws. If not for the cast, I probably wouldn't have given it a second thought. But it's got some familiar faces; some of whom I'm somewhat of a fan.

The action and script can be a lot of fun. The visual style might have been too, if a little more went into it. As is it looks like they were shooting for the kind of stark visuals of Sin City, but didn't have the budget or vision, leaving the look somewhere in between daring and mundane. I enjoyed the films dialogue, but the actual storytelling isn't very clear, despite it being a fairly meat and potatoes noir. The editing is a bit jumpy as well.

I sincerely hope the film does do well enough on disc to at least tempt Jane back for a hopefully bigger budget sequel. But without a sequel already in motion, the ending should have been left on the cutting room floor. It was unnecessary and without a follow-up, cheapens the film.

This was a good movie, mimicking an 50's kind of tone, with a guy who drives a fast souped up 50's style cheverolet, Thomas Jane and Ving Rhimes is the action in the movie, decent movie.

This strikes me as more of a cult hit than something that will be widely accepted. A semi-modern noire/graphic novel-esque movie, it definitely is in a category of its own. Is it in the past, present, alternate present, or alternate future? Who knows, but it was still pretty entertaining. I'd suggest renting it from Blockbuster or Netflix before you purchase. I don't regret my decision, but tastes differ from person to person. I enjoyed this movie, but know exactly what you're getting before you get it. You'll either love it or hate it, there's very little room for middle ground.

I love this movie! It has a great bunch of male characters and some good female ones also. I think the beginning grabs you and doesn't want to let you go. Gets a little cheesy towards the end, but I really didn't mind. Had some great one-liners also.

Anyone who spent their youth in front of the big blue tube knows the name Mike Hammer the detective played by Darren Mac Gavin. Mike Hammer and Malone, both spent most of their time in the shadows of a low budget but high action movie. The narriation that Malone offers, adds continuity to the scenes and keeps the viewers interested as they go from scene to scene, unlike the chopped off scenes and the constant switching of cameras in most of today's movies. There probably wasn't much left on the cutting room floor and it appears all scenes were completed as directed and produced.

The movie does stray from reality, How many bullets does it take to put a man down?, but the courage and strength that Malone gathers from the quart of liquor (always in his hand) should be sold at the concession stand in local movie houses when viewing some of the recent drivel that I saw play there.

A sequel? That would be nice, but where would you go with the story line that we were left with.... . Maybe someone will pick up on the old Mike Hammer series and run with it for a sequel using this tried and true theory.