Shadow Run (1998)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Oh dear. No wonder most reviewers are agreed this really is a bad film. One can only assume Sir Michael was in need of a fast buck. Although can't imagine he was too well paid for his efforts. For one of the finest actors of his generation he's done an awful lot of turkeys. This sure as hell is one of them.The plot is messy. The inclusion of a bunch of seemingly untrained kids adds nothing to the story. Well the fat kid who gets bullied inexplicably gets involved in the story of hardened gangster Haskell (Caine) putting together a team of unconvincing criminals (two of whom seem unable to talk) together for a security van hijack job. Haskell murders for the flimsiest of reasons, two characters are discarded by what must be his favourite method - strangulation. Though it wouldn't be exactly politically correct to murder the fat kid who knows all, it's somewhat surprising Haskell lets him go, chucking in a gift in the bargain.I rented this out because I like a good British thriller and the cast were, on paper at least, appealing. There is some good interplay between Caine and Leslie Grantham (playing Dirty Den yet again but he does it pretty well) but everyone is just going through the motions.There's not really a lot to recommend this, it just ploughs on and is mind numbingly boring. The sub plots completely unnecessary and whilst the acting bearable, the script is a complete let down. As for the hijacking itself, well let's just say it isn't convincing.Some nice shots of middle England but all in all a disappointing mess of epic proportion.

Like a previous poster, I availed of this film in Woolworths in Blackpool while on a trip and pretty flush for cash. I still feel aggrieved. Truly, the worst film I have ever witnessed. The plot is ridiculous, in particular the killing of the prostitute. Why? It really is an embarrassment to film making. Unbelievably dire. What was Caine thinking? Indeed what was Leslie Grantham thinking. This was his worst decision prior to the web cam episode. The kid is only likable because he is fat and ugly, and you cant help but feel that he's the type to be bullied. The choir aspect is pointless, and I struggle to recall a worse film ever! Well maybe American Dreamz.

Dull and frequently inept caper film is never suspenseful and often seems to make little sense. Caine is a veteran criminal who kills numerous people, seemingly for no other reason than to show what a dangerous bastard he is and to make the audience fear for the life of a chubby kid that the movie keeps cutting to. Film stars out with said chubby little boy stumbling across a van with blood dripping out of the back. Caine pops up. warns the boy menacingly that he didn't see a thing, gives him a twenty pound note and sends him on his way. The boy promptly goes to school and tells everyone he comes into contact with what he saw, but since he's prone to exaggeration and tall tales nobody believes him. Of course, since there's no indication that Caine cleaned up the crime scene and since the film takes place not in a big city but in a more remote part of England, you would think something would turn up to corroborate the boy's story. Things just get worse from there. Initially the scenes in Shadow Run seem so disconnected I thought the director was filming out of order ala Pulp Fiction. Nope. Michael Caine's character is at the heart of what's wrong with the movie: he's a vet thief that who seems to kill someone in cold blood every twenty minutes or so. At one point he admonishes a confederate in the next job for trying to figure out a way to pull off the robbery without killing any innocent people. What kind of thief wants to kill if it isn't necessary? If Caine were some twenty year old hothead you might be able to buy it, but a man in his late sixties? It hardly seems likely that Caine's character would live as long as he has or that anyone would want to work with or hire such a psycho. His character isn't believable and neither is this boring and dreadful film.

Well, it's not surprising that this opus has hardly been seen by anyone. Leadenly directed, wretchedly scripted and with a visual appeal comparable to an episode of a tenth rate BBC-TV crime series, the movie is a complete misfire. Caine, however, is as watchable as ever, but genrally, Shadow Run is an embarrassment.