Quicksand (2004)

It might be surprising to some that a film starring Michael Keaton and Michael Caine went straight to DVD in most countries; it is less surprising to anyone who watches the film. This is B-movie material all the way. You've seen the story a zillion times before: innocent man framed for murder, on the run, stranger in a strange land, trying to prove his innocence, picks up female ally / romantic interest along the way, corrupt police, thick-accented Russian mobsters, blah blah blah. Keaton is on autopilot here, but the supporting cast (not so much Caine, who for the first HOUR makes only a few fleeting cameo appearances, as Kathleen Wilhoite back in New York) try to inject some life into this clichéd, boring time-killer. *1/2 out of 4.

So says The Daily Mail as they not only want to give this film away as a 'freebie' with their newspaper, they are trying to make us want it too, because, this is a Michael Keaton, not Caine, film.Caine gets to shout 'bloody' again (as in his most famous ever line, in The Italian Job), this time about money he's owed, or he owes - not always sure who is pointing guns at whom, or why, the next, they're in a heap on the floor. Keaton is seemably always on the run, after setting off for south of France to dig up some info on some deal that's been flagged up as dodgy. Next thing, he's shot the Chief of Police, on Armistice Day, in a French town and everybody has seen him do it - and yes! there's a very convenient film crew who almost knew he was about to do it...The investigating police are dodgy as there's all sorts of cover-ups going on, to do with porno film rackets and illegal immigrants and such, I think..(nothing too explicit, cert 15).Anyway, this credibility straining movie, in old style 4:3 ratio has its moments, cannot recall too many of them, now, that it's finished, except Caine, who is really quite obnoxious, but in a Michael Caine sort of way - i.e - we know he's such a great guy in real life so we forgive him (& for his not-too-rare dodgy choices of film roles) as he gets to try strangling folk, with his bare hands as well as string, or rope, or whatever...Some of the French actresses are pleasing, both to the eye and their attempt at adding a different perspective to an otherwise quite unpleasant film.Never mind, this is still better than some Michael Caine movies out there and the transfer quality and sound is OK.

keaton did a very unconvincing and heartless performance in this absolutely rubbish movie. his wrinkled face didn't show any emotion during the whole set. he's acting was so unbelievably bad and almost looked like out of place in every scene of this movie. the screenplay was extremely bad too. every twist of the plot was awkward and contrite. an accounting inspector from new york to investigate the discrepancies of the investment of an European movie company? guy behind the french/monaco movie industries involved in human trafficking? local cops involved in all the dirty business? Russian mafia, police corruption, hit-man, hired assassin....blah, blah and blah. then the guy would suddenly become so interested in getting the poster signed by a male star whom he thought already dead? in order to make the stupidly awkward scenario go along, the guy refused a full case of $$$cash bribery and let it slide, the next day checked out earlier without any reason, but then he still could receive the poster that the female chief financial officer of the movie company in front the hotel check-in/check-out counter by someone so timely, yet the female chief financial officer didn't know that he already checked out of the hotel?? you tell me if this kinda scenario arrangement was logically enough. if you do, then what can i say?

It's not that good, but not too bad either. It's nice if you love France but are not there. If you're looking for a thriller, look elsewhere. The characters are rather flat, like cardboard cut outs. The plot is predictable and surreal, if not totally unreal. And, the chemistry between the characters are dry. Like between Keaton's character and the lead actress - you almost hope there's nothing going on between them because it'd be too predictable, but at the same time, you don't have the chance to hope so because it seems like there's no spark at all between them. It's rather hard too to tell who's who for each other unless you listen to their dialogue. Just too bad I missed the blinking corpse part - I didn't watch from the beginning! To be fair, it kept me watching until the end, and it's rather amusing to watch the predictable flow.