ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies.

HOLLYWOOD’s insatiable appetite for remakes shows no sign of abating. An American remake of Japanese hit Shall We Dance? and a new version of 1960s adventure yarn Flight Of The Phoenix are currently waiting in the wings for British distribution.
  
Criminal takes its inspiration from the nifty Argentinean con game caper Nine Queens but has pared the narrative to the bone and lost some of the texture and taste in the process. There is a strong flavour of House of Games and even an echo of The Sting in a tale where nobody is to be trusted and nothing is quite as it first seems.
  
A smalltime con artist in Los Angeles, Rodrigo (Diego Luna) is caught working his scams in a casino by a man who is not the cop that he claims to be. Richard Gaddis (John C Reilly) is actually a master of the con game who is looking for a new partner. They join forces for the day and are eventually caught up in an elaborate plan to sell a rare treasury certificate to one William Hannigan (Peter Mullan); a wealthy collector of antique currency.
  
The plot unfolds with all the precision of a Swiss watch but there is something a little mechanical about it. We learn so little of what motivates the main characters that we don’t build an  emotional investment in their fate. On the plus side director Gregory Jacobs uses the sprawl of Los Angeles to atmospheric advantage and makes the piece a great showcase for some talented character actors.
  
Scotland’s Peter Mullan has such a potent screen presence that he turns a small role into a big deal, but the film itself leaves you wanting more.

CRIMINAL
General release, selected cinemas
Director: Gregory Jacobs
Writers: Gregory Jacobs, Sam Lowry, based on the film Nueve Reinas (Nine Queens)
Stars: John C. Reilly, Diego Luna, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Peter Mullan
Certificate: 15
Running time: 87 mins
Country: US
Year: 2004
 

© Allan Hunter, 2005