lavatch
In the bonus segment of the DVD of "Bent," the film's director, Bobby Moresco, described the film as part of the tradition of film noir. Such classics as "The Big Sleep" and "Out of the Past" are mentioned in bonus track. In the wry words of the director, "corruption never goes out of fashion." The film is successful is depicting nefarious criminals in government, intelligence, and the local police. An Everyman cop character is the protagonist, who seeks to clear his name after spending six years in prison. There was good action and solid cinematography. But overall, the film was too contrived, and the characters too superficial.Danny Gallagher is the decent, honest detective, whose undercover operation goes south, and he takes the fall for the death of a fellow officer. There was a good performance from Karl Urban, who appears in every scene in the film as Gallagher. The cast features good work by Andy Garcia as Gallagher's longstanding friend Jimmy Murtha. Sofía Vergara seems perfectly cast as the femme fatale, Rebecca.Unfortunately, the filmmakers stretch in trying to develop themes in this noirish thriller. Jimmy Murtha waxes philosophical by telling Gallagher, "you have to give up the thing you want most in the world because that's the thing that will destroy you." A firebrand priest delivers a sermon where he admonishes his wealthy parishioners about "wading into the law of fire" and "the wages of sin is death." But these lofty words fall on deaf ears with so many hustlers and degenerates obsessed with money and power.A shortcoming of the film was the piling on of too many characters. Even as the film reached the home stretch, new characters were introduced whose purpose was only to add a new plot clue. The result was both confusion for the audience in keeping all the characters straight and the lack of depth in the character portrayals. The femme fatal Rebecca was also a difficult role to figure out. Perhaps the most puzzling moment could be called "the shower scene" although it has little resemblance to Hitchcock's famous sequence in "Psycho," as Gallagher and Rebecca suddenly jump into the shower together!The most memorable relationship in the film is that of Gallagher and the man who was a father figure to him, Jimmy Murtha. In several scenes, the characters meet on an old schooner called the Anaconda, where they become nostalgic about fishing and their past. The major flaw of Jimmy is that he was incapable of following in his personal life the good advice he gives to others. There was excellent subtext between the two performers and an understated quality to the relationship of Gallagher and Murtha. The film needed more of this emotional layering, as opposed to seeking to unravel a narrative design that was far more complicated than it should have been.
nicoleharringtondmd
Engaging story-line, with lots of action and suspense. I loved the surprise ending which was absolutely worth the wait. I would highly recommend this movie- you won't be disappointed!
