When I clicked on this movie, I was expecting yet another low rent, low production with Bruce Willis occasionally wandering in and out of shots. But I was immediately surprised by the strangest thing… this is a real movie. It has real production values shot on real urban locations, it has real actors, real (if sometimes wonky) editing, and a general understanding that sometimes its ok for a movie to shut up and just provide striking imagery.

Unfortunately, that means the movie needs to stand on its own and doesn’t get any credit for being so-bad-its-good B movie trash. No, this flick – whish has a real plot and an actual sense of place and mood – needs to actually tell a competent story with real acting, real writing, and real pacing. It fails.

The film stars Devon Sawa as the last man to see one of four dead prostitutes. Cops Bruce Willis and Luke Wilson (?!!) are on the case. Sawa has to hunt down the real killers and figure out why this seedy noire-adjacent world is out to get him.

First off, Bruce Willis does a little bit of acting here and even *gasp* clearly appears to be in the same scene as his co-stars. Probably because Luke Wilson is a few steps above his usual screen parnters. Not sure what this means to Luke Wilson’s career though. His brother is smooching J. Lo and he’s playing cynical detective to the 90’s called and wants its Devon Sawa back. Sawa does a fine, jaded growly guy and is the star of this pic (Wilson and Willis wander in an out).

And while the movie looks good for its no-doubt low budget and has moments of reflection and introspection, it’s still a rather poorly paced and sometimes weirdly edited film. It was pretty close to being something competent, but just falls short. It’s sometimes interesting and sometimes kind of generates a neat neo-noire feel, but it just isn’t consistent enough.

So it’s a fail. I just think the movie is too turgid and dull to really appeal or offer anything new or interesting. I’m hoping Wilson gets on the phone to his old friends or maybe Marvel so he can ride Owen’s coattails on Loki season 2.

Score: 64