Great Film overall

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Blistering performances.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Slow Burn is.. odd, to say the least. Living up to its title, it pretty much goes nowhere, tagging along with James Spader and Josh Brolin as they stumble around in the desert, both hitting on treasure hunter Minnie Driver, who constantly outwits them. This kind of lower budget, steamy stuff just seems to have a licence to languish, in the sense that story is of little concern, it's more about mood and episodic character interaction than anything else. Spader and Brolin are doing the 'Of Mice & Men' shtick here, playing two hapless escaped convicts, one a sharp tongued weasel (Spader) and the other a dimwitted lug (Brolin). They're kind of lost, in both perpetual arguments and the vast Mojave around them, when they run into Driver, whose presence, and the idea that there's a whole whack of diamonds buried out there somewhere, inevitably stirs things up. The diamonds belonged to her parents, and there's hazy scenes relating back to a tragedy involving her gypsy father (Chris Mulkey, briefly) and a mysterious character played by Stuart Wilson who serves as pseudo-narrator as he wanders around out there too. Got that? It's OK, they barely explain it better than I just did, I've seen the thing twice and I'm still not sure how it all adds up either. Sweat, sand, sensual looks snuck between Brolin and Driver, dreamy atmosphere, threats of violence from Spader's overacted, crazy eyed moron, a treasure hunt and general lack of cohesion is all you'll find out here in this desert. Good for an absent minded watch or for background noise, not much else though.

This little budget film concerns a a couple of American young (Chris Mulkey and Benedetti) with a little girl named Trina are searching for a familiar heritage what were lost in a Mexican steam desert when their grandmother died . But the Trina's parents are mysteriously deceased and she (Minnie Driver) , one time grown , goes on the search a box of missing diamonds against the advice of Frank (Stuart Wilson), an old parents friend . Meanwhile, Trina looks around , the treasure has already been found by two escaped convicts (James Spader, Josh Brolin) and take Trina hostage and steal her car . When the car is crashed , Trina attempts to dupe both cons against one another and so she can catch the valuable stash of diamonds . Then they're forced to struggle for stay alive , with no water, in a desperate quest for survival.This is a predictable adventure involving valuable diamond smuggling , it is an intriguing story that contains lust , ambition and betrayal . Packs suspense , thrills , ending twists and a little bit of action . Recounts the life survival story of a trio along a remote desert . But the director doesn't focuses totally on desperate quest for survival , choosing instead to focus on all aspects about ambition , lust and greed and including a brief psychological studio . The motion picture was middlingly directed by Christian Ford in his first and only one movie . He's usually writer for TV Sci-Fi movies (Star Trek : Deep space nine , Category 7: The end of the world , Final days of Planet Earth) and comedy (Kazaan). Rating : Average though entertaining .

Since I don't recognize anyone in this film, I assume that it is a small time or low budget or some other small enterprise film with a major distributor. For such an unassuming movie, it has a lot of merits. The cinematography is really nice. The acting never falls behind the plot or the script which is a little threadbare. And the story and the characters have a rather original hard boiled reality to them.After renting movie after movie based on heavy promotion only to find myself scrambling for the fast forward, it was a pleasant change to just sit back and see a nicely told story.To see how the heavies do the same thing better see Dafoe and Sam Neil in "Victory"

This ending of this movie is so off that it ruined the whole thing. You go through the whole thing hoping that greed will not win, and that thought is exhausting. Minnie Driver is good, as she is in most of her roles, and her American accent is great. And, she is starring with her fiance, Josh Brolin, which is always interesting to watch. But the story just did not ring true for me, and that makes it much more difficult for me to enjoy. The story line did not make it believable, even with suspension of disbelief. Watch it at your own risk. Feel good movie, it is not.