Susie Abromeit | Through the Shattered Lens

On the mean streets of Detroit …. really, Detroit again?

Well, anyway, Sonny (5o Cent) is a career criminal who also happens to be a really nice guy. When his partner-in-crime, Vincent (Ryan Phillippe), worries about the survival of his imprisoned father (James Remar), Sonny is sympathetic. When his other partner-in-crime, Dave (Brent Granstaff), won’t shut up about how much he loves his wife and his life in the suburbs, Sonny is genuinely happy for him. Sonny may be a criminal but he’s not violent. He’s not a killer.

Understandably, Sonny is upset when Vincent kills a guard during their latest diamond heist. However, that’s nothing compared to how angry Sonny becomes when Vincent betrays both him and Dave, shooting them and leaving them for dead. Dave dies but Sonny survives. Seeking revenge, Sonny teams up with a gangster named Biggs (Bruce Willis). Biggs demands that Sonny retrieve some money for him. It really shouldn’t be that difficult except for the fact that every criminal in Detroit is soon revealed to be an absolute idiot.

At this point, I’ll admit that 2011’s Setup has more than a little in common with Gun. Like that film, it takes place in Detroit and it centers on the drama that takes place in the shadows of the underworld. 50 Cent plays a criminal in both films. James Remar has a small role in both films. Both films feature multiple betrayals and both of them contrast the criminals on the street with the bosses behind-the-scenes. Both films were also produced by Randall Emmett. Indeed, this was one of the first films that Bruce Willis did with Emmett. Emmett would go on to produce several of Willis’s final films and there’s definitely some controversy as to whether or not those films exploited Willis at a time when he was particularly vulnerable.

That said, I actually kind of liked Setup. It’s definitely a low-budget B-flick but it still has its ambitions and it actually achieves some of them. 50 Cent is far more convincing as the well-intentioned but somewhat dumb Sonny in Setup than he was in Gun and he actually does pretty well as the film progresses and Sonny becomes more conflicted about whether or not he actually wants his legacy to be one of vengeance. Ryan Phillippe is well-cast as Vincent and I liked the performances of Jay Karnes and Jenna Dewan, both playing low-level criminals who find themselves in over their heads. The film did a good job of examining all of the different levels of crime in Detroit, from the wealthy Biggs all the way down to the idiots who continually screw up the simplest of plans. Randy Courtere does an especially good job as Petey, the moron who thinks playing with a loaded gun is a good idea.

As for Bruce Willis, his role here is small and it’s a role that probably could have been played by any tough guy actor of a certain age. But, Willis still brings his cocky charm to the role. (Seeing Willis here really drives home just how different he was in the final films that he did for Emmett.) Willis plays Biggs with a sense of humor and it’s just what the movie needed.

To say a movie is better than expected can sound like a backhanded compliment but it’s a compliment nonetheless. Setup was definitely better than I expected.

(Hi! I’m currently in the process of cleaning out my DVR! Hopefully, I’ll be done before the next Congressional special election but it’s going to be a close one! Anyway, I recorded Sometimes The Good Kill off of Lifetime on May 13th!)

I have to admit that when I saw the title of this one, my first thought was, “Since when is Lifetime doing Spaghetti westerns?” I mean seriously, Sometimes The Good Kill is one of those titles that would be perfect for a Franco Nero or a Tomas Milian (or maybe even a Terrence Hill) film.

But no, it turns out I was wrong.

Sometimes The Good Kill takes a look at the sordid things that happen behind the scenes at a convent, a question that has apparently obsessed audiences since the first time they heard Hamlet order Ophelia to “get thee to a nunnery!” Someone is killing nuns, but why? Things get off to a start when the old Mother Superior is found underneath a ladder. Then another is found drowned in a bathtub. The new Mother Superior (Allison Hossack) wants the murders to remain a secret because the convent is struggling financially. So, instead of calling the police, she just puts the bodies in a freezer. Fortunately, the newest arrival at the convent — Sister Talia (Susie Abrometi) — has a mysterious past. She knows the streets. She knows the darkest aspects of human nature. Mother Superior wants Talia to solve these murders and she even hands her a gun to make the job easier.

Wow, that sounds like a lot of fun, doesn’t it? It does but, once you get over the novelty of nuns hiding guns and solving murders, Sometimes The Good Kill settles down to be a fairly typical Lifetime movie. The film moves at a rather stately pace and its full of scenes of nuns gossiping in low voices and sometimes, I found myself straining to understand what everyone was saying. Speaking as someone who comes from an Irish/Italian/Spanish Catholic background, this is a film that I wanted to enjoy more than I actually did.

That said, here are a few words of praise. While the film’s pacing may have been off, it was relatively well-performed. My favorite suspect was Sister Jean (Deborah Grover), because she didn’t trust anyone and had no fear of letting people know that. Even when told that “we’re all Gods creatures,” Sister Jean responded by rolling her eyes. We’ve all known a Sister Jean. And then there was skittish Sister Mai (Lisa Troung), who was freaked out by the poor people who regularly showed up to ask for food. Both Grover and Troung did very well in their roles.

Finally, I liked the look of the film. Sometimes The Good Kill was full of visual atmosphere and took full advantage of its gothic setting. The film had a visual moodiness, one that kept me watching even when the story itself was lacking.

That said, my favorite gun-carrying nun remains Ms. 45.