Z/Web

Author: David Mamet

Director: David Mamet

Good crime thriller, though it gets a little too convoluted at the end. The main guy’s a con artist/master thief. After he pulls his last job, ready to retire in South America with his girl, his fence partner won’t give him his share of the loot unless he completes one more job. Reluctantly, he agrees, and he and his team pull off a gold heist. But there’s lots of back-stabbing, betrayals, and sleight of hand until the final frame. It’s a bit much. Still, it’s interesting, well-acted, and the gold robbery is cool.

This is an educational film: I had no idea there were so many ways one could die! This film reveals the dangers of spaghetti, gasoline, barbed wire, and vehicle airbags, to name a few ways people die in this movie. It’s very fun, but rather graphic. If you’re not familiar with the first movie, this one does a good job continuing the concept. Basically, via a premonition people escape death, so Death comes after them later, killing them in freak accidents one by one. Death occurs in many surprising ways. I loved the way the film sets up red herrings — like the guy who puts his hand in the garbage disposal to get out the ring he dropped in there. His watch catches on the lip of the drain and he can’t get it out. We’re watching with hands over our face, dreading and yet expecting the worst. Sometimes the red herrings get to be a bit much, but they are effective in making the actual method of death a surprise. Very cool and well done… for this type of film.