Touches You

An Exercise In Nonsense

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

I have been on a kick of B and worse movies as of late and they have disappointed. This one was a good movie and well worth the watch. The movie keeps a good pace and is quite interesting with a pay it forward (dark) kind of feel. For those who do not like Cage's movies, I can't figure out why. Sure he isn't a great actor and doesn't really look the part for the lasies he gets, but his movies are entertaining.

The film has an interesting premise: a man in distress agrees to have the man who raped his wife killed and is then blackmailed into killing a man he is told is a sex offender.After trying to warn the man he is supposed to kill, the man dies trying to fight Nicolas Cage's character off. Cage is later arrested and is helped to escape after a police officer after he repeats a phrase that is a code used by the organisation blackmailing him.The performances by the cast are OK, nothing Oscar-worthy. Editing and cinematography are competent but also lack anything special. The filmmaking is fairly standard: it is technically well made but it feels like a re-tread of previous films, it lacks any creativity.In the end of the film it is revealed that the police officer who helped him escape was a member of the same organisation but in a different faction. I understand the filmmakers preferred to stick to the main character's struggles but it would have made it a lot more interesting if the organisation itself was explored. There are clearly factions within the group. The groups origins, how they knew who the rapist was, if they are active in cities other than New Orleans etc would have, in my opinion, made the film a little more interesting.Overall, this is not by any means a great film. It is not a terrible film either. The idea was good but the film has a lot of room for improvement. Edit: I have rescored this film 5/10 rather than 6/10. After some thought I concluded that 6/10 was a little too generous considering the film is weak and that a 6/10 is an overall positive score whereas I'm pretty much indifferent to it. (04/09/16)

The PURGE THE GAME Memento and the photo of guy pierce, that one photo, suggesting that topher grace in the double, dennis quaid in vantage point, and plenty of other cover arts on DVD boxes: BUT the plot, the action, the reality, and the comparisons and versatility of the actors was fine. There have to be ten lines explaining the absurdities of how this could also be a virtual tour of The fight club, without all the hallucinogenic referencing. so, the action pertaining to assisting and recovering the problem and being quicker than law enforcement regarding major crime is what seems to be the PLOT. I am somehow too unfortuneate to not write a synapses any more involving allegories and allusions that would fill the necessary space to review films on this web site, even though, I have typed plenty of lines before, like when I reviewed INLAND EMPIRE and that too was too much and not accepted by MODERATORS or whatever.

There's something satisfying about watching a vigilante thriller . It's not necessarily a good film but one of my favourite films of my teenage years was THE EXTERMINATOR Vietnam vet John Eastland best buddy from the war is crippled by some scumbags and Eastland embarks on a crusade against human vermin who he tortures , mutilates and kills . , Very enjoyable stuff that appeals to the frustrated nature of humanity . One problem is there's only a limited number of ways to skin a cat and it's the same when it comes to gangsters , paedos and muggers . You can kneecap them , stick them in to a mincing machine and burn them alive , but there's only a self limiting structure to vigilante movies . There's an inciting incident that turns Joe Average in to public avenger and he bumps off some creeps . The end . To be fair JUSTICE does try to bring a new twist to a formula that has been done many times before but isn't as successful as it tries to be Nicolas Cage plays Will Gerard a man whose wife is raped and right away there might be a few warning bells ringing . Cage isn't really an outstandingly awful actor but he is an extremely prolific one starring in one mediocre film after another that you'll have forgotten about by the time you've left the multiplex and JUSTICE follows Cage's career arc . While Gerard's wife lies in an intensive care unit a stranger called Simon introduces himself to Gerard telling him he represents a vigilante group and if he wants he'll liquidate the rapist in question . That's very nice of him but being a film everyone outside this scenario knows fine well that no good turn goes unpunished and it turns out Simon's vigilante group want Gerard to repay the favour by bumping off someone they claim is a child pornographer . Of course it'd be too simple if he was a depraved sexual deviant so there's more to it than that but regardless of the group's agenda why do they need to involve Gerard ? Why didn't one of the group members carry out the killing ? No matter how you approach it you can't ignore the totally illogical nature of the plotting . Of course there's an element of if someone did something sensible same as they would in the real world then we wouldn't have a movie but always aware with JUSTICE that you're watching a movie rather than being involved in a story that could be happening out in the real world . There is perhaps an element that this is a vaguely liberal antidote to the vigilante films that are vaguely right wing but doesn't do anything in a convincing manner and despite being moderately entertaining you'll remember very little about it apart from the plot holes