Film Summary DCCXLIX (The Messenger)

 

God it's like stepping back in a time machine. This movie might claim that it was made in 1986 but it feels more like it's from 1974. 

You got Fred Williamson who's both the starring role and the director. Playing a macho tough guy, formerly Army trained, taking out the mafia. It's like that John Wayne movie based on the Vietnam War. Ironically also revolving around Green Berets. It just feels out of time. The only difference is that this is a bit more hip and cool. 

Though equally is cheap.

I honestly thought this was a badly put together Italian movie. 

The ADR is so bad in the beginning, everybody's lip-syncing is off and you got these guys doing horrible Italian accents. 

I thought maybe it was just a repurposed film. 

But no. It's an American movie that just happens to take place partially in Italy. 

You could take that entire segment out of the film and lose nothing. 

Williamson's character is supposed to be this man on a mission to eliminate the mafia and destroy a drug ring because it inevitably killed his wife and then led to the death of this other woman (who literally only exists to get abused and molested). 

And he's supposed to travel from Italy to various American cities and then back to Italy to finish off what he had started. 

But you could remove several different elements from this movie and it would take nothing away from the main plot of killing random Mafia guys. 

You also have Cameron Mitchell as this disgruntled corrupt precinct cop who's kind of after the protagonist but also isn't. 

And there's this FBI guy who I think is supposed to be hunting the guy down but he's more happy with him just getting down all the mafia dudes. 

Once again they're just remove the cop parts or place them in completely different movie and it wouldn't really change anything. 

In a lot of ways it's not a particularly great movie and I'd complain about it not really fitting together. But it doesn't have to. 

Despite it's cheapness and lack of real direction the film is still pretty fun with Fred Williamson just running around and shooting dude.

The acting is nothing to write home about but it works just enough to give it that fun carefree action enjoyment that you want out of a movie like this. 

I guess this is what your class has a ''Hangover movie''. 

Mindless fun you don't really have to pay attention to. 

But if you are paying attention you'll still enjoy it to some extent.

I wish we could get a movie focussing on the backstory to that random pimp with the really cool looking car and the ridiculous yellow suit he's wearing with a dollar signs on the side of it. You have to have some sort of zany personality to be pulling that off. 

What's his deal?