Luke Goss

  • Paydirt (2020)

    Paydirt (2020)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, April 2021) The best-case scenario in writing a bad film according to formula is that the formula will carry much of the film on its shoulders, compensating for other flaws by sheer force of familiarity. I don’t have any issue with admitting that I like Paydirt’s formula a lot — the idea of putting together a crew of hoodlums (especially ones known for their nicknames) for one last score, the sunny California setting, the booming use of music during montages, nestled flashbacks, the gorgeous women, the final twists and turns that transform a defeat into a complete victory— this is all good stuff as far as I’m concerned, and Guy Richie alone has probably forgotten some of his own movies following this formula. Paydirt clearly follows it blindly, all the way to the predictable twists at the end. It really does not have the wit or the finesse to make it look natural — everything looks laboured, deliberate and almost exhausting even when it’s mechanically assembling the pieces it needs. Writer-director Christian Sesma dictates it as if he knew what works, but only being half-right about that. Many people attack formula films by saying it’s all gloss, but Paydirt doesn’t even have that: it operates at half-throttle all the time, going through the motions of something compelling without actually being compelling itself. Luke Goss is, in keeping with the rest of the film, fairly bland throughout. Val Kilmer impresses for all the wrong reasons in a supporting role: He looks really old and overweight here, no doubt a result of his recent health problems. But the problems are everywhere in this film, and the worst are in the script. The sloppy plotting can’t be bothered to convincingly nail down the details, and by the time the coda laboriously explains with a self-satisfied wink what we’d guessed anyway due to (again) the formula, it all feels even more contrived than usual. Despite all of these flaws, I still half-enjoyed Paydirt: it should be much, much worse, but thanks to the formula, it manages to paddle hard enough to keep its head above water. That’s not exactly a ringing recommendation, but at least it got halfway there.

  • Death Race 2 (2010)

    Death Race 2 (2010)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On DVD, December 2011) I won’t try to hide my disdain for the 2008 film that led to this follow-up, especially given how it establishes my low standards for approaching this film.  Can you expect anything good from a Direct-to-Video prequel to a wholly useless remake/prequel?  No way.  And yet, especially by the rising standards of Direct-to-Video action movie, Death Race 2 actually isn’t too bad.  Director Roel Reiné knows how to work with a small $7-million budget, and the film feels just as big as the big-budget 2008 film.  Luke Goss makes for a fine stand-in to Jason Statham as an action hero, Lauren Cohan seems to be auditioning for a chunk of Milla Jovovich’s career (similitudes may not be accidental given Paul W.S. Anderson’s presence as a writer/producer), and there are surprisingly big and enjoyable roles for both Danny Trejo and Ving Rhames.  The concept of the film has been stolen from the 2008 Death Race, but the dialogue has occasional moments, the story leads straight into the 2008 film, and the direction is quite a bit better than what we could expect with moving cameras, ambitious pyrotechnic stunts and audacious shots –some of them in super-slow-motion.  The car chase following the bank robbery looks as if its cost quite a bit, and the film seems to have been able to re-use a bunch of material from the 2008 film.  It’s certainly more colourful than its predecessor, taking away one of the main criticism I had of the earlier film.  No, there certainly isn’t any more social consciousness here compared to the 1975 film.  But it is exactly what it claims to be: a competently-made action film released straight to video.  I even enjoyed chunks of it.  The DVD extras are far more successful in focusing on the making of the film than trying to glorify it as an entry in an ongoing “franchise”; director Reiné is more interesting in discussing aspects of his approach in low-budget film-making.