Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

CONTAINS SPOILERS! Okay, all you people who know the director or work for the distributor, stop giving reviews. Because that's the only reason I can see for calling this film visionary.Someone here lauds the mystery. Mystery? What mystery? This is the first time I have ever seen a serial killer film in which you don't find out who did it, and it doesn't really matter anyway (and really, guys, the first thing I thought of when the body had something cut out of its skin wasn't "covering up bite marks," it was a tattoo)...The film is really about Emmett and his situation. Fair enough. But that means a good portion of the film is superfluous. Which means we wasted our time.Huh. I'm even bored giving a review of this film. Suffice it to say if I start reading car magazines and my husband starts playing games on his iPhone, the film has missed its mark.

Scott Wolf plays a young detective called Emmett Young, who's said to have one week to live.He hires someone to kill him.When he wants to cancel the order, it's not so easily done.Emmett's Mark (2002) is a fine thriller drama that manages to keep the suspense on from the beginning till the end.Scott Wolf, who played Bailey Salinger in Party of Five, is very good in the lead.Gabriel Byrne, who plays the guy after him, is very good also.Other actors I could mention are Khandi Alexander and Tim Roth.Everybody's great in the movie.The plot is, I think, something unique.You don't see movies like this every day.Sure it's not a masterpiece and soon to have a classic status, but who cares.It's great entertainment.I think this movie is way underrated and you should give it a chance.All of you.

Scott Wolf has the unique problem of looking like he's twenty when he's nearing forty. In Emmett's Mark (the better name of this movie because it can refer to more things, such as his signature, his legacy and his end), Wolf is a believable living character despite his unchanging looks. He plays Emmett Young well. The terminally ill Philly Homicide Detective is a real person with understandable doubts and fears. A character that is lived in, not just faked.The seamless acting, direction and editing is a highlight of this poorly received film. As is Tim Roth (Cunningham in Rob Roy), as the soft-spoken first-timer hit man. A character trying to dig himself out of the hole of a failed life. His casting convinced me to hold off flipping the channel. If you can see it for free (or a nominal fee) it is not likely to inspire your wrath against the production.Gabriel Byrne, comfortably becoming a terrific character actor, plays a Mafioso type, who arranges the 'mercy killing' and adds to the quiet, morose atmosphere of a dark story about the lives we fight for and those that we abandon when times get too tough. There are many interesting themes and strange developing emotions laden in the film.Not a masterpiece, due to the musical score, though it had allusions to other films that have made more wake in the cinematic world that in retrospect were borderline copyright infringement. The final scene is taken, as far as I know, directly from the airport scene from HEAT, which is taken from Bullitt. This is the movie business, not church. No one wants a new idea when they can have a good idea.Emmett's Mark is an Interesting, unique, non-threatening film, although the main character pays someone to kill him before the cancer does. Things sort of just work out for Emmett and against Tim Roth, but it is still a bit of a downer.

There's little to praise and much to fault about "Killing Emmett Young" as it was entitled on cable. An old story about a cop with a terminal illness who hires a 3rd party hitman to kill him so he won't suffer and then learns the lab screwed up his blood test results and he's really not going to die...at least not from the disease. He tries desperately to call off the hit but the middleman is terminally unavailable. Etc. This uninspired indie seems to be little more than a paycheck for some good actors who dutifully go through the requisite motions. However, there is some interconnectedness between characters and subplots capable of whetting interest which may be sufficient to make this flick couch potato fodder. Worth Tivo'ing where the investment is minimal and the delete button is only a thumb away. (C+)