The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Tonight on broadcast TV were two films from 2009. This was one, Black Dynamite was the other. Mike Starr was a character in both. Black Dynamite had a 3-million budget and made $300k. Yup, it could barley make 1/10 of its budget. That tells you all you need to know, despite the people raving about what a great spoof it is. I guess no one remembers I'm Gonna Get You Sucka. The shame is that the actors are great in Black Dynamite. The bigger-name actors in this film are even a little better. Its instructive to see how much better Mike Starr is used in this film compared to Black Dynamite.The primary difference is the script and the courage of the director. Franck Khalfoun, the director, had the guts to play it straight and he pulled it off. Wrong Turn had a 6-million dollar budget and went straight to DVD for reasons I cannot fathom. It relied on gore a little too much, and the younger directors all make moves that are a live-action variant of a first-person shooter video game. So be it, this was still pretty good, with some great moments. Not sure why Khalfoun is not doing more-- he sure did a great job with this.The quality of the acting was so good, I am amazed they could get this cast for such a low budget. The music was good, and there were times that the cinematography was stunning. Not always, but a few shots were Deakins-like, where if you freeze the frame it looks like a painting. And I was watching in 480SD with sidebars. Seeing this in HD would be great.I really don't know why critics panned this-- maybe it was the straight-to-DVD aspect and they never watched it, they just assumed it would be bad. I think this holds up with Transporter and the Bourne flicks, and best of all, no nauseating shaky-cam like Bourne. Its a nice little Walking Tall meets Scarface flick and I recommend it. I give 7 stars. Its not The Departed, but its way better than Black Dynamite.The biggest mystery to me is why screenwriter Eddie Nickerson only did this one flick, and why people are not beating down his door for more of the same. Six million, and the whole crew gets a lot of bang for those bucks.

Small time gangster takes on Big time gangster the story has been down countless times before, but when its done well as here, makes for a good watch. Small budget and reflected in a fairly low profile cast, CG-Jr and Ferrer along with Keitel all make sound convincing performances. The violence is brutal and the characters harsh but convincing, certainly seen worse big budget examples of the genre getting their shot on the big screen. Don't expect anything ground breaking plot-wise but fans of the gangster flick wont be disappointed with the gritty realism, slick action sequences and unobtrusive soundtrack.

This is a movie that begins by spoiling the movie and then going back in time like so many movies have done before. There are so many movie clichés in this flick you could make a drinking game out if it. The characters' actions do not make any sense and neither does the ending. If I hear the scorpion crossing the river story in another movie, I am going to freak out. It is up there with "We are the same.. you and I!" The dialog is really badly written, and the characters' motivations get jumbled up so often, the characters make no sense. This supposedly HUGE powerful crime boss brings a small timer into his home (why?), gets insulted and then just lets him leave (why?). Then kills the small timer's wife and then remains at that very house. Then has next to no protection on his home, a house he showed him how to get to. Characters bust out knives when it is convenient for the plot. This generic hole filled plot was really bad and the action scenes were pretty generic too. People casually chatting back and forth while gunfighting, senseless character actions, implausible circumstances over and over again. I tend to turn my brain off for action movies, but this one was beyond brain dead. It was like the script was written by a 12 year old with no editing. Many scenes had a "come on, that is ridiculous" moment. If it was cheesy and campy, it may have come off, but this movie took itself seriously.

I saw this before I saw Hardwired, another straight to DVD film Cuba Gooding, Jr. released. Despite Hardwired receiving virtually no good reviews, I thought it was better than Wrong Turn at Tahoe.First, the Story. Second, the Acting. Third, the Action.The Story-Franck Khalfoun gives us a laughably boring and unoriginal film. The uninspired and dull script achieves absolutely nothing.The Acting-Cuba Gooding, Jr. is dull and apathetic toward his character. Luckily, Miguel Ferrer and Harvey Keitel give some inspiration, but it's not enough to effectively save the boring plot. They do what they can with their lines, and that measures out Cuba's terrible performance.The Action-I watched the "Making-Of" extra on the special features, which was interesting, and explained to the viewer how the action sequences were done. However, the documentary was more interesting than the action scenes themselves.I wouldn't watch Wrong Turn At Tahoe again, and I wonder why Mr. Ferrer and Mr. Keitel said yes to the script. One good thing is that the sets were good, and the lighting was very moody. But Wrong Turn At Tahoe isn't going to help any careers.