Customer Reviews

Route 9

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

 

 

This film was ALRIGHT...but not much more.
If you have the DVD and haven't seen the movie...DON'T watch the Trailer First like I did! The Trailer gives TOO MUCH away.
Okay movie to watch if you're needing distraction from vaccuming or laundry.

ROUTE 9 is an extremely well-crafted rural thriller with gripping performances by Kyle MacLachlan, Wade Williams, Peter Coyote, Miguel Sandoval and Roma Maffia. The story is somewhat comparable to A SIMPLE PLAN, but the twists and turns come faster and more furiously. When two small town deputies find a million and a half bucks in cash at the scene of a drug deal gone bad, they take the money and successfully cover their tracks--or so they think. The director, David Mackay, (who made a film called THE LESSER EVIL which is as good, if not better, than ROUTE 9) does an excellent job of maintaining suspense and tension. The situation becomes perilous, but there is an excellent sense of humor throughout the film. I can't recommend it highly enough!!!

I almost gave this four stars. The only thing that kept me from doing so was the kinda formulaic plot, but in all fairness, it's done well. This is kinda like a poor man's version of "A Simple Plan" with some ham-fisted acting--it doesn't have the professionalism of Raimi's "Simple Plan"--but nevertheless still effective.

So the formula goes--unsuspecting guys stumble on dead bodies and lotsa cash and lotsa drugs. The guys take the money. Complications ensue (gee, really?). The only actor here with serious professional chops is, interestingly, Roma Maffia, who plays the FBI agent Ellen Marks. She's like moving through the whole film with this demeanor that's saying, "Are you kiddin' me? THIS is what we're doing here??" But she's pretty cool.

The other actors are somewhat off kilter (in their acting) and play characters who are mostly either dumb or illogical. Or both. But you kinda identify with them cause after all, they're only human, right? Just like the rest of us. And yeah, that includes me. Sometimes I do dumb things. Sometimes I do illogical things. Am I better than everyone else? Nope. And neither are these characters. That's what makes this movie work to the extent that it does.

The two guys who find the cash, drugs, and dead bodies belong to the Sheriff's Department in Grimley, Texas. One has an ongoing affair with the sheriff's wife and the other, at heart, is a vicious thug. The sheriff himself, played by Peter Coyote, is a crude guy (talk about yer stereotypes) but since he's a decent actor, he makes his character fun to watch.

While the plot is formulaic, it's not stupid. The characters may do dumb things, but this is not a dumb movie. It works pretty well, in fact. So if you want to relax and get yer down home slice of neo-noir, kick back and pop this baby in the DVD player.

You could do a lot worse.

Two cops arrive at a crime scene with seven shot dead bodies and a suitcase with $1.5 million dollars. They decide to steal the money and don't mention it to anybody. But it turns out one of the shot people weren't dead and has heard everything and soon, they find themselves in deep trouble.

The story is quite interesting. It shows how people can behave in ways they didn't know they were capable of, when they find themselves in strange situations. It's not too predictable and the movie has a nice, sometimes melancholic feeling. All the actors are good, especially Kyle MacLachlan, Wade Williams and Roma Maffia.

I recommend you to see this movie, especially if you liked "A Simple Plan". It's a good, suspenseful thriller.

Two small time country sheriffs stumble across a crime scene with a lot of dead bodies and a suitcase full of cash. Then they start making mistakes.Greed gets the better of them (and their friends) as the story keeps twisting tighter and tighter. Meanwhile, bodies keep pileing up and the hole they dig gets deeper and deeper.The only question that remains in this well made little film is who will make it out alive.

I found this one just flippin' through the pages of a video-on-demand
site ... and what a find. A solid, very entertaining noir B-thriller.

Cop Kyle MacLachlan and his partner aim to steal a cache of loot from a
crime scene ... think they'll get away with it?? Kyle Mac is sort of
bullied into the scheme by his bumbling, loudmouth, forever-in-debt
partner. And as soon as the idea is hatched, things go wrong, Murphy's
Law-style, for the next 90 minutes. There were plenty of twists and
turns in the plot: many were quite predictable, but some were real
shockers, and the intrigue carried through until the final scene, with
the viewer never *really* sure who would come out on top.

This is a made-for-cable movie from the '90s but does not feel lowbrow
or shot on-the-cheap like many such movies do. MacLachlan is joined in
the cast by familiar faces such as Amy Locane, Peter Coyote, the
striking Roma Maffia (who is terrific as a very sharp DEA agent), and
Miguel Sandoval, later to star in TV's "Medium". There are a few very
nice stunts including a big gun battle to start the pic, a mountainside
car chase, and numerous big explosions. Director David Mackay manages a
few very clever setups and cutaways as he keeps the story moving along.
The music score features a prominent bluesy slide guitar dropped in for
effect here and there, it is very nicely done.

This is in the end a B-movie, but B-movies when done well can be as
exciting and diverting as a pic of any stripe, thanks to simple,
efficient construction and skilled execution. ROUTE 9 has those in
spades. B- or 7 out of 10 stars.

i didn't give it one star as kyle maclachlan's emoting scenes had me in stiches but the film was tedious. i guess it was supposed to be a moral about how ordinary people can go bad when money is involved but we didn't get to know anything about the 2 cop guys to begin with except kyle maclachan's character loaned his friend some money and trusted him to get it back (which since his pal had big gambling debts makes him more dufus than lovely guy). the filmmaker obviously thought his idea was so strong that he didn't have to put any work into developing it but really, this story is old. if you enjoy seeing kyle machlachlan you may get something out of this silliness.

Other possible titles for this review.

1. A SIMPLETON PLAN

2. THE LOVE OF MONEY IS THE ROUTE 9 OF ALL EVIL

3. IF YOU ARE THINKING OF WATCHING ROUTE 9, YOU MAY WANT TO TAKE THE DETOUR

4. ROUTE 9 (ALTERNATE TITLE: ABBOTT AND COSTELLO FIND A BAG O' MONEY)

5. TO GET TO ROUTE 9, MAKE A RIGHT AT CLICHE ROAD, THEN DOG-LEG LEFT TO BAD ACTING BOULEVARD

6. MAYBE IF I SAW ROUTES 1-8, I'D HAVE LIKED ROUTE 9 MORE

7. ROUTE 9 = STRIC 9

ROUTE 9, as you probably have guessed, is a pedestrian effort where you can easily guess the next line, the next scene, and possibly the amount of seconds between your eye rolls. There is nothing new here, yet it took 3 writers 18 months to cobble it together (I may not get my 102 minutes back, but they'll never get their 18 months back). But hey, at least they got a movie made so they can be proud of that. And embarrassed at the same time.

Almost everyone in this movie is a moron who makes irrational decisions. And they're mostly law enforcement officers. Who works the HR desk at these places, Leslie Nielsen?

I can go on for years, but I won't. I'll die so that you can live. I will tell you this, though; on the director's commentary (I could only get through 15 minutes of it), helmer David Mackay said he saw Amy Locane in the movie CARRIED AWAY where "she did a phenomenal job" and "that performance sold me." And that, my friend, is all you ever need to know.

Dashielle Hammett came up with the original idea that once people committed to murder, their thinking became simple and so they made error after error leading to their own destruction. It was the letting of the blood that converted them into morons. This film runs with that premise as did "Simple Plan" and "Blood Simple". Two deputy sheriffs come across a crime scene that seems too good to be true and within fifteen minutes they become thieves and murderers. From that original activity, all hell proceeds to break loose. This film also has a good natured sense of humor about it and you will find yourself at times laughing at the two leads and their descent into criminality. Well done. We enjoyed it a lot.

I saw this by accident on HBO and really got into it. It doesn't stop moving. It's like "A Simple Plan" only better, more pulp-y, and lots of cool twists and turns. Not a bad video to check out for under ...