Killers
Deep Within us All
Crime films often strike me as one of the most difficult genres to work in. On one hand, any film needs to have characters that are at least interesting and preferably sympathetic, in order to hold the audience’s attention. On the other hand, it’s generally very difficult to generate a great deal of sympathy for drug dealers and hitmen.
It’s a difficult balance to strike, but it can be done. In Perdita Durango, for example, you find yourself drawn into the lives of Perdita and Romeo Dolorossa so that, no matter how perverse they become, you still find yourself caring about what is happening to them and wanting to know how things are going to pan out.
Lethal Force is another example of getting it right. If it wasn’t for the fact that the characters of both Savitch and Frank are well enough drawn to keep the audience interested in what happens to them, all the humour, style and violence in the world wouldn’t save it.
Killers tries to position itself in this territory, going so far as to clam to be “In the same tradition as Reservoir Dogs.”
This is true in the same way that Night of the Living Dead is in the same tradition of Biker Zombies from Detroit. Both films have zombies in them. And… that’s it.
Killers and Reservoir Dogs are both films about criminals. And… that’s it.
Where Reservoir Dogs is loaded with sharp, funny, fast-moving and heavily laden with pop culture references, Killers… isn’t.
The characters in Reservoir Dogs are well drawn, interesting and (in the case of Mister Orange and Mister White) sympathetic. The characters in Killers… aren’t.
And finally, the plot of Reservoir Dogs is both coherent and entertaining. The plot of Killers… isn’t.
What plot there is revolves around a group of bikers who manage to get their hands on some stolen drugs which they intend to sell. While counting their profits in an abandoned warehouse, the original owners of the drugs turn up…
It’s quite a simple, straightforward premise and could easily have given rise to a tense little thriller. All the elements are there; a group of opportunists trapped in a warehouse while the professional gangsters proceed to methodically hunt them down. The opportunities for a deadly cat and mouse game as the bikers try to find a way out are almost endless.
Unfortunately, none of that actually happens.
Instead, we have a bunch of thoroughly unlikeable bikers who, on realising their predicament start behaving both inconsistently and stupidly. It’s impossible to tell who is supposed to be the hero or heroine and who is just canon fodder until the bodies have piled up – a case of if he’s dead he wasn’t the hero.
The gangsters are no better. Inconsistent, erratic and completely incompetent - if real criminals were anything like these people there wouldn’t be any unsolved crimes.
This film simply fails to work on every level – the editing is distracting, the dialogue is unbelievable and the tension is non existent.
I have to admit that I wasn’t motivated to yank the DVD out of the player and start jumping up and down on it, but that’s the best thing I can say about this film.
Friday 12 Sep 2003 | Paul Pritchard | Action, Crime
