Kill Me Three Times (2015)

I picked this one up because I saw it had Simon Pegg in it and I have been following his work since Spaced. Before we get too far into this, I will add that I found the film entertaining, there were some moments that I genuinely laughed at. However, there were also a couple of places where the film sadly misses quite hard.The convoluted plot makes several twists and turns before we meet a truly evil Bryan Brown, who sadly is wasted before he can shine in this story. He plays his role with real brooding menace, I will admit that I really wanted to see him develop into a scary bad guy. It was literally a shot in the throat when he is taken out of the story in a really silly way and does not even let off a shot. Such a waste of a truly talented man, playing a really dark character. I felt that the atmosphere that Brown gave off could have led him to the sort of cold darkness of Anton Chigurh, one of my favourite bad guys.Simon Pegg was wonderfully vile throughout, subtly slimy and adding layer upon layer to his character, the almost, but not quite professional hit-man. However, the numerous failed close up shootings seem incongruous with a man who is apparently able to shoot a target from a long distance through the wrist. As a dark comic character though, he is despicable and very enjoyable.The rest of the cast were simply OK, leaving Pegg and Brown as clearly the better players here. A usually good Alice Braga, seemed like she was coasting through a fair bit of this film, which was a shame. She is usually a natural and empathic actress, but I felt very little for her character in this movie.One aspect of the film that I found hilarious, although I doubt it was intentional was the boot of the hit man as he stepped from the car. How many times have we seen this shot in a serious film? Maybe it was a deliberate cliché, but the film did not seem clever enough for such an in joke. Just before the end of the movie I realised that this one reminded me of one of Pegg's other films. Who Saw Big Nothing? Another story of some criminals who fail to get away with the crime, resulting in a plot twisting caper. Yeah, there are some similarities, but so what? They both have their funny moments and both movies are guilty of wasting an otherwise excellent actor who could have added more to the story.If you see this one on the cheap section of the supermarket DVD shelves, then pick it up. You can put it on your own shelf next to Big Nothing, just like I did.

Review: I wasn't a big fan of this movie because the storyline was all over the place and none of the characters were that interesting. There also wasn't much depth to the bunch of misfits, so you don't really care if they get brutally murdered by hit-man, Charlie Wolfe (Simon Pegg), who seemed a bit out of place in this film. It seemed like a small budget Australian movie, which must have looked good on paper but the directed failed to execute that well. The film is based in a small town called Eagles Nest in Western Australia, we're a wealthy motel proprietor, Jack Taylor (Callan Mulvey) believes his wife Alice Taylor (Alice Braga), is having an affair, so his sister Lucy Webb (Teresa Palmer) gives him the number for a hired hit-man, Charlie, to spy on her. While Charlie is following her, he records footage of her sleeping with her bit on the side, Dylan Smith (Luke Hemsworth), so Charlie gets the order from her husband, Jack, to kill her. From there the movie spirals out of control and it's full of outrages scenes involving large amounts of money, murder and corruption. The acting was pretty poor and I must admit, the plot was badly written. When you finally think that the movie is getting somewhere, people start to randomly get murdered and by the end of the film, it just seemed like a right mess. I personally wasn't expecting much from the film, so I wasn't that disappointed but I was surprised that Pegg took on the project after having such a busy schedule. Disappointing!Round-Up: This movie was directed by Kriv Stenders, who brought you the Illustrated Family Doctor, Blacktown, Dark Frontier and Red Dog. I personally haven't heard of any of his previous movies and I find his sense of humour quite warped and dark, judging by this movie. After a string of disappointing movies like Man Up, Absolutely Anything and A Fantastic Fear Of Everything, Simon Pegg, 46, is back as Scotty in Star Trek Beyond, which is due to be released later on this year, and he's supplying his voice as Buck in Ice Age: Collision Course. He has definitely had a roller-coaster of a career with big blockbusters like the Mission Impossible franchise and playing Unkar Plutt in Star Wars: The Force Awakens to small budget films like Run Fatboy Run and Big Nothing but he doesn't take himself that seriously and he is a true lover for film. I personally miss the old Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz type movies, which he wrote with Nick Frost but I think that Pegg has bigger fish to fry, as he is actually adding his writing skills to the new Star Trek project. Anyway, I didn't really like this movie that much but you do stick with it because you don't know what wacky direction the film is going to go in next.I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/comedy/thrillers starring Simon Pegg, Luke Hemsworth, Bryan Brown, Steve Le Marquand, and Teresa Palmer. 3/10

Mildly Amusing and Violent Aussie Film with Simon Pegg as a Hit-Man done in the Tarantino Style that is without much Style of its Own. A rather Sharply Photographed Story, the Sleight of Hand Kind, but basically just Sleight.Characters Stand Around a lot and recite Repetitive, Unfunny Dialog trying for Ironic, Cutting Edge, or something. But it is rather Boring and there is virtually No Investment in any of the Characters. All are attractive Cardboard Cutouts at Best.Fans of this Type of Thing may give it a Pass as one more Movie of its Type that is a pretty Popular Style among Better Directors like Tarantino, Rodriguez, Ritchie, but even They have to work hard Not to Repeat Themselves. So Mimicking is a Risky Business.This One Lacks an Edge and Wit. It Delivers a Sun-Baked, Surfs-Up Look Backdropping a supposedly Dark Story that is Bland along With some Pretty Bad Acting.

With it's upbeat music and sunny weather KMTT is much darker than it seems at first sight. More Fargo than anything else, it is a 'comedy of errors' - if murder can be funny. The cast delivers well, though Simon Pegg as the bad guy is better than most with his laconic and slightly creepy character. The plot and pacing are competent, as are the photography and editing. Still, somehow, KMTT can't quite seem to make up its mind whether to be humorous or serious; there are actually a couple of rather nasty bits that are delivered in an off-hand way. Fairly predictable, but all the same the way it is done is tidy enough. It's worth watching for some light entertainment, just don't expect to remember it the next week.