The Big Bang (2011)

Let's start with the voice-over. This can be an effective atmosphere- or plot- enhancing technique when done well. It is not done well. Antonio Banderas mumbles and whispers his way through the entire movie and this can really get on one's nerves, especially as he does it even more when he's on screen. I wonder if he thought to himself, Oh, this movie is so bad it doesn't matter what I do so I'll just assume this whispery persona and everyone will think I'm a great actor. Guess what. It doesn't work. It comes across as bad acting and did I mention how annoying it was? Now let's get to the plot. Must we? Can't we just forget about it? I wish we could but movies do have plots, especially action thrillers (yes, there is action, people do move around and drive cars and stuff, but whether to thrilling effect or not is debatable), so let's just say that the plot is almost as absurd as the acting. I can't for the life of me figure out why Banderas is put through so much grilling when the bad guys only need to know one thing. I guess they make him tell his life story as a way to move the plot along. And why, when he's driving his beautiful car near the end of the picture, why oh why doesn't he immediately swerve away from the danger? Sigh...OK, enough negativity. Let me say that Sam Elliott's appearance toward the end of the film almost makes sloughing through the dreck worthwhile. Where Antonio mumbles, Sam booms. You know his voice. It's inimitable and it's a mighty refreshing thing that it comes in when all seemed doomed. You know, I always check out reviews before I watch a movie to see if I'm going to like it. Skimming through, I noticed a lot of people did, and one professional reviewer, who shall remain nameless, thought Banderas was brilliant. This is because, as the old maxim goes, there is no accounting for taste. And this is a very hopeful thing. Maybe someday someone somewhere will find a use for my poor, lonely, neglected songs and put them in a movie. I wouldn't even say no to one as bad as this.

The Big Bang, although imperfect, is a well made, valiant effort from relative newcomer Tony Krantz. It welds together several recognizable genres for a dazzling technicolor coat of a flick, with one of the most interesting troupe of actors, all non type casted, in the last decade or so. You have the noirish detective yarn, the hard bitten postmodern crime thriller, and something unique as well: a constant running theme of physics, evident in both the snappy scientific jargon the actors get to chew on, and the dazzling, neo noirish color palette ranging from eye popping purples to smoky deep blues. Antonio Banderas ditches the strong silent shtick to play private investigator Ned Cruz, a fast talking wiseass who gets in way over his head when a giant Russian ex boxer (Robert Maillet, priceless) hires him to find his luscious pen pal Lexie Parsimmon (Sienna Guillory). This leads him into a dangerous web of eccentric characters including pseudo astro physicist billionaire Simon Kestral (Sam Elliott in a hairdo that would make David Bowie blush), a shady porn director (Snoop Dogg), a sexy small town waitress (Autumn Reeser, making everyone sweat in one of the hottest sex scenes I've ever seen put to celluloid), a kinky ex Hollywood star (James Van Der Beek), and more. The film jumps around in time, as any good noir should, as Ned tells his story to three relentless detectives, burnt out Skeres (Delroy Lindo), sharp, sleazy Frizer (Thomas Kretschmann, excellent), and volatile Poley (William Fichtner steals the show as the bratty, hotshot prick of the trio). There's work from Jimmi Simpson, Bill Duke, and Rebecca Mader. It's a bit muddled at times, and the inevitable style over substance claim will undoubtedly be heard, but it's got style, energy and ambition in droves, providing a neon lit verbal and visual maze of head scratching intrigue and priceless dialogue for the cast to play in. Well worth a visit.

Direct to Video or B movies used to mean a bad story, b or c list stars, and mediocre action/horror/effects. The 1970's, 1980's, and the early 1990's were the hay day for these kinds of films. Films such as Piranha and Piranha II, Space Rage, Moon 44, Rising Storm, and the endless serial killer/horror movies to name a few. Things began to change in the mid 1990's and the invention of the DVD, but I really believe it was the endless the many B movie companies, and the Big ones seeing the chance to make money decided to get involved also, which put more money and better stars into the movies. Stars like Eric Roberts, Keith David, Val Kilmer, Michael Maidson, Roy Schieder, Samuel L. Jackson, James Woods, and above average to good films like End Game, Unthinkable, The Peacekeeper, Chaos, Executive Target, Edison, and Streets of Blood to name a few. Direct to DVD isn't a bad thing anymore and a quiet a few of them are as good if not better than films being release in theaters now, which leads me to The Big Bang.The Big Bang is a suspense/drama/comedy starring Antonio Banderas, William Fichtner, Sienna Guillory, Thomas Kretschmann, and Delroy Lindo. The plot follows Ned Cruz (Antonio Banderas) waking up in a police interrogation room with three police officers Detective Poley (William Fichtner), Detective Skeres (Deloroy Lindo), and Dectective Frizer (Thomas Kretschmann). The three detectives begin to question Ned, and Ned begins his story which he tells in the first person and narrates it. The story starts up when private detective Ned Cruz is finishing up a case for a high profile and eccentric actor Johnny Nova played well by James Van Der Beek. What ensues is funny as Johnny Nova's house blows up after Ned leaves with his payment nearly killing him. Ned is questioned by Det Frizer but let go. Ned returns to his office and about to head out when Anton Protopov (Robert Maillet) asks Ned to find a woman names Lexie Persimmon (Sienna Guillory) who had been writing him in prison. The thrilling suspense/drama ensues mixed beautifully with comedy.The acting was superb, although Kretschmann, Lindo, and Fichtner don't have to do much in the film. That being said their still brought out their A games, and made their characters interesting. Banderas was excellent in this film mixing a straight face with comedy wonderfully. In my opinion the minor actors steal the show. Sam Elliott (Simon Kestral) playing a recluse billionaire, Robert Maillet who is a huge and scary man plays a very likable character. Jimmi Simpson (Niels Geck) who plays the lead scientist for Simon's experiment. Then there is Sienna Guillory the beautiful actress who by the end the movie has stole the show with her beauty and acting. There is even Snoop Dog who plays a porn director who did a good job and as always enjoyed his scenes.The action was few and far between, but it works for this film. I find that most Hollywood films coming out now try to stuff action down our throats. I can understand why most Americans now don't have long attention spans so studios have to have explosion, car chase, or someone being killed every five minutes. I think that hurts films it takes away from the story, the actors, and characters, which makes a good film into an average one, or a bad film into an average one. The Big Bang doesn't try to stuff violence and action down your throats. It doesn't have to, it has a great story, with good acting, and decent action.Overall this is a great film, and better than many movies that have come out into the theaters recently. I gave this film 5/5 stars and recommend everyone see this. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Antonio Banderas stars as Ned, a detective who has just acquired a new client. A giant man with anger issues who is looking for the love of his life, a sexy woman whom he's never met. He was stuck in prison and she kept his hope alive by writing to him. Now he's out and is looking for her. Along the way Ned finds himself being followed and dead bodies turn up everywhere. Is there more to this case than meets the eye?The short answer is no. The Big Bang is a film that promises much and delivers little. I'm a lover of detective flicks. Film Noir is one of my favourite genres and this flick looked promising and at the very least visually pleasing. It succeeded on the latter portion, since the film is drenched is vibrant colours that wouldn't exist in a normal realistic setting. Each room has it's own colour scheme, we go from green to yellow to red to purple. All the colours of the spectrum are portrayed here and it's enough to grab your sense. The story on the other hand is enough to bore you out of the experience. We meet Ned in an interrogation room where three cops are questioning him about the events that lead up to his current situation. So a good portion of the film is told in flashbacks from Ned's perspective. His character is the classic film noir detective, minus the outfit. The character himself has zero relate-ability and is not interesting enough for a lead. The case itself isn't interesting enough. We are on the quest to find a woman and at some points during the film, we wonder is she even exists. A subplot to the story is Chris Elliott's character, a billionaire reclusive who is looking for the God Particle. It's very science fiction in parts and his quest for such a thing leads the the inevitable climax, which is right out of the film 2012. The sad part is that the film is not interesting enough to keep your attention. It might be pretty to look at, but for a film that relies so heavily on the mystery of the film noir genre, it fails to attract attention. There are parts of the film that I don't get because I think I started to day dream while it was on. I got the gist of it and the answers behind the questions regarding the missing girl are so uneventful that you wish you never began. The film comes off a w wacky out of this world depiction of the genre, but it really isn't. The colours and one or two scenes are unique, but the film as a whole is just a messy script with mediocre direction. As stated before, the cinematography is the highlight.I can't recommend this flick, it's not out there enough to please Lynch fans and it's not Film noir enough to please Chinatown fans. Instead it feels like a missed opportunity. A cool credit sequence might get you excited, but the lack of direction in the story will leave you deflated.