Sadly Over-hyped

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

STANDOFF is an astonishingly bad Canadian B-movie thriller which only seems to have gathered positive reviews on this site, which is a surprise; it's one of the most turgid I've seen in a while. The problems are entirely down to the writing, which is far below standard and quite laughable. The singularly non-menacing Laurence Fishburne plays a random assassin who kills a bunch of people at a funeral in the laughable opening sequence. An annoying girl witnesses his crimes and flees to a local farmhouse, where a slumming-it Thomas Jane protects her. The rest of the film consists of Jane sitting on his landing conversing with Fishburne who is at the foot of the stairs. The dialogue takes a philosophical bent but there's no suspense here, no tension, just a slow pace and nothing happening for ten, twenty, then thirty and forty minutes, aside from an extra getting tortured. It's mind-crushingly boring.

Nine out of ten. Well it must be Academy Award material. Perhaps not, but so many movies rely on CGI or terribly ham performances that there doesn't seem to be any space for thoughtful movies any more.I hate lengthy chase sequences, long gunfights, or scenes where one man walks into a heavily-guarded base, takes out all the baddies, lectures and kills the head guy and emerges unscathed.This is different. Thomas Jane has the high ground. Laurence Fishburne is hunting quarry. Only the viewer knows Jane's precarious position. It isn't "perfect" but it is interesting. At what point do you give up? At what point do you consider only your own needs? This is an economical film that will not appeal to people who need popcorn to make a movie experience viable. At first, the red dress annoyed me, but as the movie developed, it became clear that it was carefully thought out.There are flaws. This is undeniable. But it has assured performances, coupled with interesting ideals. Do you relate to the driven contractor, the alcoholic who has fallen from grace, or the lost individual who relies on compassion?

Whilst paying respect to her parents at a cemetery a young girl known as Bird (Ella Ballentine) witnesses an assassin called Sade (Laurence Fishburne) executing a few people in 'cold blood' based upon orders he has been given. Not only does she 'witness' the crime, but she also takes incriminating photos of the assassin committing said crime. Sade soon learns that Bird has incriminating evidence of his crime and chasing her to a nearby house which is owned by Carter Green (Thomas Jane) a disaffected veteran who will stop at nothing to protect this young girl. What effectively follows is a stand-off between good and evil.Oh dear if there is a way to make a film about as ludicrous, ridiculous, improbable, implausible and as stupid as possible then the filmmakers in Stand-Off have really gone to town here;This film really makes no sense from start to finish; Fishburne's character is assassinating people at someone's funeral and for starters the point of this is never established; what exactly is the reason for this and who has organised the hit? OK; it's a film and in a film that has a tightly knitted plot this perhaps wouldn't matter, but sadly the sense of stupidity and the clichés continue to mount up here....We have an assassin who removes and takes his mask off willy-nilly (and seemingly keeps his face covered up even in front of people who know what he looks like). The film then relies on ridiculous contrivances in order to create tension (a homeowner in an isolated setting who happens to have had his phone cut off) and seemingly the only person who has a mobile phone that he doesn't carry in his pocket or in close proximity even though he knows that his landline isn't working???? - yes it's believable at a stretch, but seems more contrived than anything. The film then ups the contrivances by having a lone police officer go and investigate a mysterious shooting and one that (despite his hunch that something is 'wrong', decides to ignore his 'gut instinct' and go it alone which in predictable fashion only ends up finishing one way for the 'have-a-go copper'). Then we have the assassin ring up the homeowner's ex-wife/partner and trick her into coming home - hmmmm.... most phones have a pin lock on them, but in typical contrived style this must have not had a pin lock on it.... again possibly believable at a stretch, but by this point I was starting to believe that the law of averages were ridiculously in favour of the assassin. Oh yeah and we have also have the rather novel cliché of a generator powering the electricity about to run out just before the assassin is about to commit his next horrendous crime (this gets some acknowledgment for being a somewhat novel cliché, but it still failed to impress me). The performances do save the film somewhat and I actually thought that Laurence Fishburne easily carried the film; despite the fact that I had this uneasy feeling that he was trying to be Samuel L Jackson for the most part. Thomas Jane is also fairly good and at least makes for a fairly likable anti-hero.Despite the rather clichéd plot-mechanics and formulaic storytelling this film actually isn't half-bad in some areas; the psychological battle of wits between Jane and Fishburne is interesting to watch and there are occasional moments of tension here and there. However, the scenario here is far too familiar and director Adam Alleca fails to deliver much in the way of tension or claustrophobia and his script also becomes tiresome and repetitive in the second half. So yes it has its moments, but not enough it to make it worth watching.

As a fan of Thomas Jane and Lawrence Fishburne, I wanted to like this movie. However, what seemed to be pitched as a battle of wits turned into an hour and half screaming match between the two actors. The movie is basically Jane attempting to keep a little girl from being killed by Fishburne with his last shotgun shell. The two of them spend the whole movie yelling insults and cursing at each other, with very little happening in between. The script tries to add some story by telling giving Jane's character a tragic backstory, but it really doesn't do much to keep the plot moving. The best part of the movie is the little girl. Ella Ballentine has some definite talent, and finding out what happens to her is the only reason to finish watching the movie. This young actor adds a weariness and "old soul" quality to her character that makes her seem wiser beyond her years. While pitched as a battle of wits, this is more of a pissing contest between two stubborn men. If that's your thing, then go for it.