.45 (2007)

This movie although not without it's merits struggles with identity-issues, at times it appears to be a dark comedy, others a serious drama and occasionally a thriller and it goes back and forth like that in tone without much rhyme or reason.There is also a bundle of (fake) interviews intertwined between the scenes with some of the characters (and some family members to them) talking about each other in various aspects (the movie starts off by Milla Jovovich's character talking about how big Angus McFayden's character is in his pants in great detail).It does have some very good scenes separately (as well as some very bad ones) but together they don't always flow that well together, and one struggles to 'like' any of the characters and when you start to 'like' someone it's just because there's another character who's seemingly worse than them not that they are particularly likable or anything.But yeah overall, if you're a massive Milla Jovovich or Angus McFayden fan I suppose you might like it, Stephen Dorff who was the in-ital drawing point of mine to the movie has about 25 minutes of screen-time (possibly less) and it's not one of his better performances albeit just like the movie not completely terrible.

The movie is great. I love it. Thanks to the deep script-writing, the world in the film is gritty and surreal. First off, .45 starts off extremely strong. Viewers should first know that the movie's clear theme is sex. Can't go ten minutes without a scene involving some form of love. While this doesn't bother me, it may bother others.Milla Jovovich excellently plays the woman Kat, a beautiful if-abused woman who is the girlfriend of arms dealer "Al." As Kat and Al's relationship gets worse over her selling weapons, the movie also decides to take a dive. Not only is it never explained how she was able to manipulate all of her friends, but she has a quick attitude change halfway through the movie. She goes from being a soft woman scared of the real word to a hard-ass b&%#$ who isn't scared of anybody. The change isn't subtle; one scene she's scared, the next she's facing down Al in a courtroom.The movie becomes quite confusing here. Not only does the movie ditch some of the strongest characters (Kat's friend and Reilly) but it also leaves a giant cliffhanger. The movie is supposedly about getting revenge on Al, but there's never really any of that.I would blame all of this on the script. It goes from great to "meh" in about 5 minutes flat, actually. Like I said, starts off strong...falters and dies at the end like an old car engine.I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys Milla Jovovich's acting like I certainly do. Otherwise, stray away from this movie,

.45 was a strange film to say the least. It was somewhat messy and filled with a lot of gritty drama, violence, betrayal and cursing. The film has three parts, the first being a character study of an urban white trash couple, both of whom I thought were fairly convincing, Jovovich looking the part, while 'Big Al' looking something like a fat, bloated uglier version of Russell Crowe plays a slovenly fat pig, small time crime and bully to perfection and seemed to have plenty of fun doing it.After some earlier hijinks, the tone of the film changes, moving into a domestic violence expose with a psycho partner and this is where the film excels. The scenes of domestic violence are powerful and comparable to 'Once Were Warriors' in terms of the sensory assault and shock of the violence, intimidation, degradation and dehumanizing treatment meted out and the acting of both leads and the dynamics of their relationship is highly believable. The prolonged and sustained assault that features alone makes this worth seeing for the impact on the viewer, but you couldn't call that bit entertaining.Unfortunately, having taken a turn for the better and setting itself up as something more memorable, it then degenerates nearer the end in trying to be clever, perhaps overdoing the scheming, manipulation and surprises in Jovovich trying to escape the abusive relationship, little of which you couldn't see coming and much of what the film could have done without. It was certainly a worthwhile part for Jovovich contrary to what some people have suggested and she did herself no dis-service accepting this role.The ending was not that shocking. It was very clear about half way (when he beats her) that somehow she was going to get away from him (if it were murder or a frame-work like what happened) One somewhat bad thing is that they made Aisha Tyler's character look bad in the end. Everyone else was left feeling happy (aside from Big Al of course) but her character was obviously upset. The final few minutes takes it back to the beginning when Kat is talking into the camera while on the beach. It then shows her walking away then the film ends.

Kat and Big Al run guns. Small-time, really, just the streets of New York. She would like it to get bigger, he's reluctant. Then one day, he beats her, in jealous rage. Not for the first time, but the worst yet. Her smarts, coolness and independence(she could easily run their "business" without him) fly right out the window, in spite of the advice of Vic(a lesbian who also comes onto her), Reilly(a dumb criminal who wants to get out that life… and wants to be with her) and Liz(the social worker assigned to her case). However, she's not done yet. And she can be crafty. Right as this opens, it's vulgar; the strong language(at times explicit) is constant, the plentiful sexuality is unrestrained(complete with a little nudity of both genders), and there is a bit of disturbing, brutal violence(aforementioned fight is shocking and effective, yet because of what follows, it is not gratuitous in its detail). This goes for an uncensored look at the environment and the people, and the grittiness, the uncompromising nature of this makes it all the better for those of us who aren't turned off to it. About halfway through(because this keeps to such a smooth pace, wasting no time), I suddenly realized that not a single one of these types were likable. And it didn't take me long to remember that the same goes for classics in the crime-drama genre; Goodfellas, Casino, and in general Scorsese's films. What makes these work is that the characters are credible, thoroughly established(swiftly, if need be) and in a story you're interested in... and all of those are the case here, as well. The acting is great for all involved. This is one of Milla's best performances(watch this if you like her; granted, she is perhaps a little over-the-top at times), and she is at her most seductive and cute here(no wonder everyone in this falls for her!). Macfadyen(granted, the explanation that he "went to Scotland as a kid and never lost the accent" is stupid), Dorff, Tyler, Strange... everyone is spot-on. The editing is tight, with a lot of hand-held, and several "talk to the camera" interviews by those in this(not only the leads). Dialog tends to be very natural. The humor can be forced once or twice; this may make still you laugh. Love and abuse are important themes in this. There is tension in this. The twists are unexpected, I didn't see the ending coming(what I will say is that I am ecstatic about it). The DVD comes with trailers. I recommend this to anyone who wants to delve into life on the streets. 7/10