Power Blue

Jessica Biel plays Scarlet but her actual name is Rose Johnny is this Babel and Traffic like movie. I guess every direct wants to choose a variety of characters, choose the worst moments of their lives and surround a movie around their individual crisises. And then link them in the end to form the entire tale. I am sure these types of stories have been written for centuries. Tom Clancy novels usually start this way, in various locations around the world and then weave themselves together. Even the imperial show 24 begins this way.

Eddie Redmayne is Qwerty Doolittle who is as dorky as his name. He is the mortician who falls for the super hot but deranged Scarlet.

Biel performs well, but this role has been written before so many times. A typical outrageous looking stripper, who is not that bright and whose life is running out of control. She had a child too early in her life and this is what has been occupying a lot of her time and energy. Ofcourse this is her duty. Incredibly, she does not even know he is dying. She snorts cocaine, her life is in total disarray. Why she has a dog is beyond me and chooses to keep a pet in an apartment complex that does not allow pets? This only leads to continued chaos in her life and causes her to storm around the neighborhood stapling up lost dog signs. This is what takes her into Eddie's life who happens to collide with the dog while driving. Fortunately, the dog only has a broken leg because of it. Eddie contacts Scarlett about the dog he has taken in. Scarlett is placated.

Marisa Tomei decided to allow a producer to persuade her to show her breasts on the big screen. I am not sure if this is the going treand, but someone had the same discussion with Biel as well and it apparently worked. I know Halle Barry received $1 million extra to briefly show her chest in the short but outstanding action movie Swordfish. In this movie and in The Wrestler, it does make the movie more realistic. The knock on Sin City, is Jessica Alba never showed her chest and if she was unwilling to do so then perhaps she should not have not been offered the character.

Forest Whitaker plays Charlie who is absolutely despondent and in agony because his wife was recently killed. He is driving around the city trying to get someone to kill him. Even offering them $50,000 to take his life. He does not want to kill himself for religious purposes I am sure. Regardless, it does not make it right and this not the avenue anyone should be on.

Shoeless Joe Jackson is in the movie but he is not in uniform. Ray Liotta plays Jack Doheny who spent 25 years in prison. He is relieved to be out of prison and it seems he did not dime anyone out so he is paid for it. I am not sure how much, but he is given a suit case with tens of thousands in cash to help him start a new life. He falls in love with Scarlett and is a frequent customer of hers at the strip club. Jack is someone in LA who does not a full time schedule.

I would rather see Courtney Cox but atleast we have Jessica. Lisa Kudrow actually plays a role that means something. Sally is her given name and she falls for Charlie who falls asleep in the restaurant booth. Sally is a waitress who is recently divorced. She really likes Charlie and even kisses him and gives him a slice of apple pie. I am not sure which one of them is worse off. Probably Charlie, since his car is stolen by the confused hooker who wants to obtain a sex change.

This is the shocking part of the movie. Wow, Patrick Swayze is back in a real role. He is not making some second rate action movie either. Velvet Larry is Scarlett's manager and knows that Scarlett is a money maker for him. They both need each other for cash reasons.

Kris Kristofferson makes an appearance and it is not in a Blade movie. He is Randall and the one who meets Jack in a public bus to make the handoff. It appears he represents the organized crime syndicate that Jack did not rat out. Jack accepts the payment with relief and satisfaction. Randall respects Jack for the sacrifice and commitment he showed.

Charlie has a dream in a church that makes it clear to him that it is not his time to go. His wife appeared in the dream. This allows him to possibly begin a relationship with Sally. Jack dies alone, it seems he passed away in an ally but rather than use the money he was given to pay for his health condition, atleast a bed, he pays for Scarlett's son's medical bills. The name is never said but we all know who took care of that bill. I have no idea how she was supposed to pay it. Scarlett also took the tickets to Paris paid for by Jack and the movie ends suddenly with Qwerty accepting the invitation. He would be a fool if he did not.

He came out of no where with this one-Eddie I mean. I never heard of this actor.

Velvet may miss Scarlett but I doubt it is vice versa.

The music in this movie was decent. The story line was better in the first half. The movie ended quickly and many of these characters have been done previously. Scarlett being ashamed of her profession when someone she cared about was observing, so she covered up. This has been done before.

What was the point of this movie? It seems to be about second chances. The ending was pleasant for all of the characters. The confused hooker committed suicide which is not really sad because what were they doing for society? Was this person helping or hurting? This movie was filled with some solid drama. Was this movie on par with Traffic or even Babel? Not quite. This was the second Ray Liotta film of the same genre. The other was Crossing Over which was clearly heads above this movie. I guess this type of story is in vogue. I am waiting for Transformers II. I hope is not a head scratcher like Terminator Salvation.

I allocate this movie two stars.*