Criminal Activities (2015)

"Criminal Activities" aspires to be a Quentin Tarantino-like riddle of a crime-action-dark comedy. Unfortunately, it fails on all three levels of a crime saga, action picture, and dark humor.John Travolta is good as a mob boss who appears to be the center of convoluted crime story. Or is he? The screenplay for "Criminal Activities" resorts to an epilogue that seeks to put a twist on the story a kidnapping and high stakes blackmail of a group of four men who have made a lapse in judgment in borrowing money to invest in a pharmaceutical company. Their scheme backfires, and they are now confronted by Travolta's mob boss for payback time.There are too many stretches of the film that are poorly paced and thin on action. Also, it is difficult to understand a good portion of the dialogue that is spoken too fast by the actors.In the bonus section of the DVD, the character actor Jackie Earle Hayley recalls how he came to direct the picture. In a conversation with Travolta, Hayley discusses the great potential of the screenplay. Unfortunately, the cliché-ridden script was the biggest problem of the film. There was a fine cast of young actors, especially Edi Gathegi, who steals all of his scenes with clever line readings. But the final effect of the film is flat and non-engaging.

okay. so it looks like tom hardy and Michael pitt look a lot alike. Tj Miller, danny McBride, they can be identified within this film.....but what was I watching? three hours later, six months later...stuff. buddies that hang out with each other and you can see whose numbest. I'm lookin at the black guy like hes memerized a role by Bernie mac or Eddie Griffith. I see a NY accent anger and frustration come out of Michael pitt like he knows hes going to live to be as old as anybody else. Jon Travolta, hes doin something like Michael Douglas in the Game...and the whole time I'm thinking: somebodys out there autistically re doing the script for deadpool...BUT IS HE? so...bring in our most reassuring and intimidating character..the guy from both Bad news Bears and the new updated Robocop... and this move ends up cleaning up after itself for the last ten minutes of the movie EXPLAINING which dick did what so that we could see that nobody gets a good deal....

Review: I can honestly say that I didn't have high hopes for this movie but it didn't turn out to be totally bad. The 4 dumb criminals, Zach (Michael Pitt), Noah (Dan Stevens), Warren (Christopher Abbott) and Bryce (Rob Brown), really didn't have a clue about kidnapping but they were stuck in an impossible situation after borrowing $200,000 from mob boss, Eddie (John Travolta). After a bad investment, they end up owing Eddie $400,000, so to pay there debt, they have to kidnap Marques (Edi Gathegi), who is the brother of a gangster who has kidnapped Eddie's niece. I know it sounds confusing but it's pretty straight forward. Whilst holding Marques in a derelict building, Gerry (Jackie Earle Haley) is on the hunt for Eddie's niece so the 4 best friends are stuck with Marques, waiting for instructions from Eddie. When the storyline unfolds, you soon realise that all is not what it seems, in a Usual Suspects type of way but I do have to watch the movie again to truly understand the major twist. The acting isn't bad from the whole cast, especially Edi Gathegi and Michael Pitt but the professionalism from John Travolta, makes the rest of the cast look quite amateur. The character that I really liked throughout the film was Jackie Earle Haley, who also directed the movie, so he really gave his all to this project. It's not in the same league as Usual Suspects but it's a watchable movie which isn't bad for the directors debut. Watchable!Round-Up: I first saw Jackie Earle Haley, 54, in Little Children, we're he played a paedophile and was extremely creepy, and since then he has starred in some big movies like All The King's Men, Semi-Pro, Fragments, Watchmen, where he played Rorschach extremely well, Shutter Island, Lincoln, A Nightmare On Elm Street, Dark Shadows, Parkland, Robocop and the upcoming London Has Fallen. He really has an impressive portfolio, which is understandable because he's an unique actor who brings intensity to all of his roles. As for this movie, I think the ending was extremely rushed and a lot of the scenes with the 4 kidnappers were average. He was lucky to get such a diverse cast, who all brought something different to the project but I would have liked to have seen more from Travolta and Haley, who were the best thing in the movie.I recommend this movie to people who are into their crime/drama/thrillers starring John Travolta, Michael Pitt, Dan Stevens, Rob Brown, Jackie Earle Haley and Christopher Abbott. 4/10

This movie is considerably better than the low ratings would have you believe. The plot is strong, with a few good twists along away the way. If there is one criticism, and I'm guessing this is where the low ratings come in its that the production quality could have been better.While the acting is good, some of the scenes feel a little too stifled and not tight enough. I think the director missed a trick not upping the pace. This isn't an action movie, although it would have played better with a more fluid rhythm. The relationship between the characters could have been developed more during the plot which would only have added to the brilliant plot twist at the end.My advice to anyone considering watching this, ignore the ratings and watch it. Its OK, but could have been so much better. .