Albino Alligator (DVD)

==BACKGROUND INFORMATION==


Multi-talented American actor, director and script-writer Kevin Spacey directed his first feature film named “Albino Alligator” , and it was released in 1997(UK). It is a thriller/drama film revolves around three small time criminals and their horrible bad-luck. Christian Forte wrote the script of this movie, and Matt Dillon, William Fichtner and Gary Sinise played the lead roles in this movie.
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.../> • Matt Dillon plays the role of Dova (A confused and big-mouth small time criminal and leader of the team.)
• Gary Sinise plays the role of Milo (Brother of Dova, he is kind and thoughtful and does not like violence)
• William Fichtner plays the role of Law (Very cunning and brutal criminal, most dangerous member of the team)
• Faye Dunaway plays the role of Janet Boudreaux (She works in the Dino’s bar )


==PLOT ... more

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Multi-talented American actor, director and script-writer Kevin Spacey directed his first feature film named “Albino Alligator” , and it was released in 1997(UK). It is a thriller/drama film revolves around three small time criminals and their horrible bad-luck. Christian Forte wrote the script of this movie, and Matt Dillon, William Fichtner and Gary Sinise played the lead roles in this movie.

MAIN CHARACTERS

• Matt Dillon plays the role of Dova (A confused and big-mouth small time criminal and leader of the team.)
• Gary Sinise plays the role of Milo (Brother of Dova, he is kind and thoughtful and does not like violence)
• William Fichtner plays the role of Law (Very cunning and brutal criminal, most dangerous member of the team)
• Faye Dunaway plays the role of Janet Boudreaux (She works in the Dino’s bar )

PLOT OUTLINE

Milo, Dova and Law are small time criminals and just got out of jail. They robbed a warehouse in New Orleans and chased by the police. They went to a local bar and took few customers as hostages. Police surrounded the bar to catch those criminals.

So the story tells us, how these criminals handle the situation and how they manage to get out of the bar. It is an intense and suspenseful thriller movie with some surprising plot twists. I really enjoyed this movie.

MY PERSONAL THOUGHT

Kevin Spacey does not require a formal introduction. He is an extremely genius actor. He is more of a character actor, and widely praised by both audience and movie-critics for his excellent acting. So I was expecting something original and unique from this movie. I am really glad that, I am not disappointed with this movie. Kevin Spacey did a grand job directing this movie. Yes, there is nothing new in the storyline; probably, you have seen the similar story before. However, the way Mr. Spacey handled the execution of each phase of the story is unique and remarkable. This movie has a slow opening and introduces you with the characters of this movie. We get to know about these characters and their weaknesses. All these characters are very common in our everyday life. So the viewers can easily connect with them and feel for them. Once you get to know about them and their situation, the story starts moving rapidly and consistently. Mr. Spacey covers a wide range of subjects in this movie and none of them are exaggerating.Human mind is very complex and often does unpredictable stuff. The story revolves around three central characters and their bad-luck. They were not supposed to be in this situation, but somehow they managed to find themselves trapped in a most terrible circumstance. Now it’s really interesting to see how they react to save themselves. It’s really amazing to see how Mr. Spacey presented each character on the screen in a simple but vivid way.

Gary Sinise plays the role of Milo, a small time crook and brother of Diva. Milo is different from his team members; he has a strong conscience and always tries to avoid hurting others. He is kind, thoughtful and really cares for his brother Diva. He is smarter than Diva and often gives him honest and effective suggestions. He does not like the other team-mate Law and unnecessary nastiness. He tries his best to protect his brother from Law’s stupid and sickening ideas. Gary Sinise played his role superbly with strong passion and dedication. I really enjoyed his performance. Matt Dillon played the role of Diva, one of the most interesting characters in this movie. He is the leader of the team, but does not able to lead properly. He always tries to please both his brother and another team-mate Law and end up making a fool out of himself. He is not bold enough to make others follow his decisions. He is hyper, stupid and rude. Though he really cares for his brother, but does not like to listen to him. Though, I really don’t like Matt Dillon’s acting in this movie. He is a great actor, but he overdid his character in this movie. It often looks odd and unrealistic. It feels like he is in a great rush always and wants to finish the movie as soon as possible, which is truly disappointing. Clearly, Matt Dillon was not connected with the movie. He often looks lost, detached with the scenes, and it feels like he is just doing a routine performance. There was no depth and authenticity in his performance.When I watched this movie, I was thinking Kevin Spacey would be the perfect actor to portray the character of “Diva”.William Fichtner plays the role of Law, the third member of the team, a mentally disturbed and cold-blooded criminal. Audience is instantly going to dislike the character of “Law”. He does not like Milo at all and always tries to insult him or hurt him intentionally. Law is a very complex personality and often causes trouble and misunderstanding between two brothers. He likes to bully others causes problems in other’s life. When they were trapped in the bar and Diva asked Law to keep an eye on hostages, Law gave some bizarre and nasty ideas.

Diva : ..And we don’t mind playing hardball.
Law: That ain’t hardball. .Hardball would be killing one of the things here.
Diva : (shocked and whispered)Hang on a second. We ain’t gonna kill nobody.

Here we can see that, Law tries to persuade Diva to kill one of the hostages. He always tries to convince Diva to take the wrong path. He is an extremely dislikeable character. He is bold and persuasive. He can easily sway Diva to do all the dirty works and turn against Milo. William Fichtner played his character superbly. He looks very comfortable and believable in his character. His villainous facial expression and flawless delivery of dialogues make his character more enjoyable and interesting.

Faye Dunaway plays the role of Janet, middle aged woman works in the bar. She is smart, funny and thoughtful. Faye Dunaway is a famous American actress and won numerous prestigious awards for her excellent acting. She rose to fame and widely recognized for her legendary role “Bonnie Parker” in Bonnie and Clyde (a crime thriller movie released in 1967). But, she delivered a terrible performance in this movie. There is nothing impressive about her acting. Though she had a smaller role in this movie, and she did not get any punchy dialogues. Still she looks exhausted and bored in her role. She looked much older compare to her role. Her dress-up and facial expressions are simply ordinary. In fact, her performance was hugely criticized by film-critics, and she was nominated for the Razzie Awards in “Worst Supporting Actress” category. This movie mostly revolves around eight people who trapped inside the Dino’s Bar. Those three criminals came in this bar to hide but unfortunately police gets to know about them. So they are all desperate to save themselves and took the bar-people as hostages. There were total five people inside the bar including Dino (the owner of the bar) and each of them has a different background. It is really appreciable how quickly but successfully Mr. Spacey introduces each character to the audience. The theme of this movie is really unique and innovative. It is a fast-paced movie with excellent dialogues and superb camera works.

DIRECTION AND CINEMATOGRAPHY

This movie is widely praised for its excellent direction by Kevin Spacey. This movie has a very continuous and moving story-line packed with superb performance by lead characters. Kevin Spacey did a splendid job here. The cinema-sets are realistic and believable with the excellent camera-works. The story focuses on fewer characters, so the viewers can concentrate on the main story-line and does not get distracted. Though there are lots of camera movements during the bar scenes (in the basement), still they are steady and well executed. All in all, this movie is a great directorial debut for a great actor. Kevin Spacey really covered all the aspects of this movie nicely, considering that there are almost only two movie sets (Inside the small basement bar and outside the bar). But he handled it well and managed to keep the interest and attention of the viewers throughout this movie.

THINGS THAT PLEASED ME

• Superb direction by Mr. Kevin Spacey.
• Interesting story-line with some surprising twists.
• Excellent acting by Gary Sinise and William Fichtner.
• Great cinematography.

SOME INCONVENIENCES

• Weaker characterization of Janet Boudreaux.
• Bad acting by both Matt Dillon and Faye Dunaway.

VIEWERS RECEPTION AND AWARDS

This movie received mainly mixed to positive responses both from viewers and cinema critics. Currently, this movie holds a rating of 5.9/10 in IMDB, voted by almost four thousand and two hundred viewers. It was also received mixed responses in Rottentomatoes as well.

Movie website : http://miramax.com/albinoalligator/
IMDB rating : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115495/
Rottentomatoes rating : http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/albino_alligator/

FINAL THOUGHT AND RECOMMENDATION

This is a superb crime/thriller movie directed by talented Kevin Spacey. Though this movie was not well-received by movie-critics. But Kevin Spacey was hugely praised for his excellent direction. The story-line is a basic hostage vs law-enforcer situation and their continuous negotiation. Still, this movie is very interesting, and I really enjoyed watching it. If you are a big “Kevin Spacey “fan like me, you have to watch this movie (if you haven’t before) . If you are not his fan, still this movie is well worth of your one and half hour time. You can rent the DVD version of this movie, or you can buy the DVD from Amazon.co.uk and it will cost you only £4(including delivery charge).

Highly recommended.

Thank you very much for reading my review.

©Gladiator007

***This is a movie only review and also posted on Helium and Dooyoo under same user name***

 

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