Freelancers (2012)

Simply A Masterpiece

Sadly Over-hyped

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

How good should this film have been(?) Starring Robert De Niro and Forest Whitaker, two great American actors, and 50'Cent Curtis Jackson who I've noticed acting well in other films, this should have been, at the least, a satisfyingly good film. So when I saw The Sony Movie Channel was airing it I thought I'd give it a view.DAMN! This was bad! If I were any of the actors I wouldn't even consider putting this on my resume. Robert De Niro played the leader of a group of bad cops, Joe Sarcone, who recruits Malo, Curtis Jackson, and his friends. These had previously been thugs who had supposedly seen the light but were very quick to jump on board Sarcone's ship (so much for the good guys) Milo is paired with LaRue, Forest Whitaker, who is a drug addict and will let anybody off if he can score from them. Even though he's not openly racist he does have a hatred for whites. This is balanced off by a minor player in the film, Billy Morrison, played brilliantly by Matt Gerald (who is the only acting light in this dire movie), as he has a hatred for anyone not white and is very vocal and aggressive about it.The only good cop in the whole film is Terrence Burke, played by Robert Wisdom. He tries to keep his distance from the others and even gets his rookie partner A D, Malcolm Goodwin, to help him train the kids in his area at football. The only community-minded cop in the city, it would appear. Even when the cop who's pursuing Sarcone's mob, Robert Jude (played by Michael McGrady) tries to recruit Malo by telling him what really happened to his father, you get the sense that he isn't as clean as he should be.This is a pretty depressing tale that paints the majority of police in a bad light stating that most of them are corrupt and on the take. If I were in this city I'd not ask a policeman directions because they would direct you down an alley, shoot you in the back and steal all your valuables.The writer, L Phillipe Casseus, gives the audience a bleak tale of greed and depravity in the police force. This isn't a bad thing, it's been done before; though, it's been done better. The fault, I believe, lies with the director Jessy Terrero, who probably only got the job because he'd worked with Jackson before.Most of the scenes are slapdash and so brilliantly set out. Jackson, most of the time, stumbles around the sets without an idea of what his character is about. There is one hell of a lot to Malo and giving the role to a newbie, without proper direction, was a bad decision. De Niro is at his shouty best here; stomping around, hitting and shooting things. Even though it's nice to see him go berserk he just does it too much - poor guy must have needed some lockets afterwards to soothe his throat.Forest Whitaker is brilliant as the drug-addled cop... so good that he actually does appear to have been on something. It was probably needed to get through this rubbish with most of his sanity intact. But it really didn't help the movie any, it just made his lines seem slurred and indistinguishable.If you like any of the actors or cop drama's then I would recommend you to stay away from this pile of diatribe.

CROSSFIRE wasn't quite the dog of the film I was expecting but it's certainly no classic and it only barely gets there as an average and acceptable watch. There are two major problems with this production which drag it down and the first of those is lead actor Curtis Jackson, better known to the world as rapper 50 Cent. Jackson is no actor and is as wooden as they come, so watching him attempting to convey any emotion apart from the most basic happy/sad expression is a real chore and quite embarrassing in places.The second problem is the familiarity of the material. CROSSFIRE feels like a Frankenstein's Monster of a movie, made up of bits and pieces from TRAINING DAY, RAMPART, STREET KINGS, and at least half a dozen others. Heck, Forest Whitaker is here and playing nearly EXACTLY the same role as he essayed in STREET KINGS. Despite these problems, CROSSFIRE is occasionally thrilling in places and there's a lot of involved material to fill up the running time. Robert De Niro is barely in it but at least he doesn't embarrass himself and there's a nice minor part for Dana Delany. While I enjoyed CROSSFIRE in places I do feel that with a better lead actor and story it could have been something truly great rather than just average.

I went in with extremely high hopes, I've been a Robert De Niro fan for as long as I can remember, and I've also enjoyed a lot of Forest Whitakers work as well, but when all was said and done Freelancers just falls into the same old cop thrillers that has already been done hundreds of times.A newly graduated cop Malo meets his fathers old partner Joe Sarcone and gets taken under his wing. Soon enough things start getting out of hand as Sarcone sends Malo and his two best friends into dangerous territory and Malo decides to take matters into his own hands, going against Sarcone's orders.I'll start off with the storyline. From beginning to end the story is nothing but the same old generic corrupt cop story with the rookie turning on his leader. Filled with major plot holes such as a couple of days after Sarcone meets Malo he all of a sudden loves him like a son and Malo believes that he's been therefore him his whole life, it's either I'm missing something or this movie has a big gap missing in it. The dialogue is terrible and doesn't add any emotion to the movie at all. One of the worst things I found in Freelancers was the very predictable racist cop, but to make matters worse there just so happens to be an African American cop who is border line racist towards white people at the same time. I feel if they had to focus on the African American racist towards white people rather than the very regular racist white cop it would have made this aspect of the movie more interesting because its not very often we get to see this in a police thriller. Overall the storyline is extremely predictable and far from original.Acting was also sub par, 50 cent as Malo wasn't bad I find 50 cent to be a pretty good actor I feel there could have been a bit more character development but overall he didn't do a bad job. Forrest Whitaker as LaRue was probably the worst performance which really surprised me because usually we see Whitaker give an all out performance with everything he does, but I guess for a direct to video movie he just didn't see the need to give it his best. Robert De Niro as Sarcone wasn't what I was expecting although it wasn't bad it was far from great, he's just playing the general corrupt cop who runs the show and that's about all you can say about it. I found that De Niro and Whitaker had absolutely no chemistry on screen what so ever. SPOILERS: I found the best part of the movie was the last scene with De Niro and 50 Cent when Sarcone tells why he betrayed Malo's father and killed him and when we see if Malo is actually going to give him up to the police, I must say it was a very well done scene.Overall I was very disappointed and thought there was lots of room for improvement. But this is just my opinion.Overall score: ** out of ********** * out of *****

In a clash of the Stella thespian talents that are Vinnie Jones and 50 Cent, Vinnie comes out with top acting honours. At the Oscars after party Vinnie, still clutching his golden statue said, " Its been a long time coming, but at last my 'ard work and talents has been recognised by The Academy" he went on to have high praise for his co-star " Yeah, 50 Cent is a diamond geezer, I knew I 'ad to be on top form to even be on set with a guy like him" He was less generous with two of his other co-stars however " I was well disappointed with that De Niro bloke and whatsisname, that Forest geezer. Complete Muppets the pair of 'em" So what is next for the Vinster? Was there any truth in the rumour he and 50 cent were going to cut an album together? "I fink I got sumit to tell to the yoofs of today" he commented. Meanwhile I asked a disappointed 50 Cent if he had any movies in the pipeline " 'might 'av a part in dis seminal short. Its set in a fast food joint and my agent says it "condenses contemporary urban angst into an ostensibly glossy 30 seconds of intense action" He continued " And I've got a speaking part, I say "I'm loving it!"" In a rare moment of self doubt 50 Cent added "But it might be a bit of a stretch for me"