The Big Bounce (DVD)

...film is an adaptation of the novel by Elmore Leonard (who also wrote Get Shorty, among others) and it features a good cast, from Owen Wilson to Morgan Freeman, Charlie Sheen and Gary Sinise (oh and a bit of a cameo role from Brit 'hard man' Vinnie Jones, which is kind of funny!).

I have to admit, I hadn't heard of this movie at all until I started looking into Owens movies to find out which ones I hadn't seen yet, so had I not become ...
...2004.

The movie is set in the North Shore area of Oahu, an island in Hawaii, so it has a pretty nice backdrop. Infact as far as im concerned one of the main good things about this movie is its visuals, from the landscapes and the mainy shots of the massive rolling waves on the local beach, to the actors and actresses, I'd say visuals have alot going for it, there's something you'll like if your a guy or a gal, I reckon.

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** Film **

** Credits (not including cast, listed further below) **

Director - George Armitage
Producers - Steve Bing, Jorge Saralegui
Executive Producers - Zane Weiner, Brent Armitage
Screenplay - Sebastian Guitierrez

** Introduction/Background**

This film is an adaptation of the novel by Elmore Leonard (who also wrote Get Shorty, among others) and it features a good cast, from Owen Wilson to Morgan Freeman, Charlie Sheen and Gary Sinise (oh and a bit of a cameo role from Brit 'hard man' Vinnie Jones, which is kind of funny!).

I have to admit, I hadn't heard of this movie at all until I started looking into Owens movies to find out which ones I hadn't seen yet, so had I not become a fan of his I probably would not have had any idea about this film. it was made in 2004.

The movie is set in the North Shore area of Oahu, an island in Hawaii, so it has a pretty nice backdrop. Infact as far as im concerned one of the main good things about this movie is its visuals, from the landscapes and the mainy shots of the massive rolling waves on the local beach, to the actors and actresses, I'd say visuals have alot going for it, there's something you'll like if your a guy or a gal, I reckon.

** The Story **

Jack Ryan (played by Owen Wilson) is a petty thief who gets in trouble at work at a construction site one day when he argues with his boss, who won't let him play baseball with a colleague outside. There just so happens to be a demonstration going on by natives who claim that their building on hallowed land and his boss wants him to take things more seriously but Jack doesn't agree and basically decides to take his bat and give him a good beating, which, of course, lands him in trouble.

The islands district judge Walter (played by Morgan Freeman), decides to be on Jacks side and helps clear his name and takes him under his wing, giving him a new job helping out as a handy man at his holiday development.

Its not long before Jack spots Nancy (played by newcomer Sara Foster, this is her first acting role), the mistress of the wealthy property developer who he had originally pretty much worked for. As soon as he spots her, he knows he wants to chase her and he discovers that she is remarkably similar to him, in terms of being keen on crime as well. Now she explains to him that she just happens to know where he may be able to get his hands on some $200 k but if they were to get caught, what then? with Jack having just got away from criminal charges for assualt, he wouldn't be tempted by whats such a high risk venture, surely, or would he? and why is this Nancy being so honest and letting him in on all of this?.

This movie is all about scams and trying to determine who is who they say they are. Practically everyone has a secret to hide and its up to you, the viewer, to try and figure out what the truth is and who is scamming who, if your to figure out what happens at the end. Surely Morgan Freemans character Walter wouldn't be anything other than what he says he is, or would he? and what about the others? well, you'll just have to watch it and find out.

** My Thoughts**

This is a movie where you'll want to have your wits about you and pay a fair bit of attention to try and untangle the web, so to speak! however, although you could say there is quite alot to it, I guess, I did feel that it was a bit long and it did tend to pass pretty slowly... I think that some parts of the story weren't too hard to predict, though there were a couple of surprises too. The cast is certainly very good, infact for Wilson fans its maybe worth knowing that the lesser seen Andrew Wilson can be spotted in this movie, he plays Ned Coleman, though I can't say that I really noticed him much, he doesn't have much screen time but its not often that he appears on screen so its still worth mentioning I thought.

I have a feeling that a story like this probably works better on paper, as a novel, than it does on screen. I've done a bit of research and have read that there was a film made prior to this one, that came out in the 1960s and Elmore Leonard, who wrote the original novel, wasn't too keen on it. I'm not sure if this will be seen in any better a light really.

In some ways you could say that this is pretty light fodder, in terms of it offering eye candy for women (Owen Wilson, Charlie Sheen, Gary Sinise) and men (Sara Foster), though if your really bothered about paying attention to the story behind it all then you may need to have your wits about you a bit. The problem is, I think if you know the premise behind it, it still doesn't take much work to guess the ending... yes you may want to have your wits about you and the longer the movie goes on, the more clues your given and the more you feel you know what will happen, I guess it depends on how clever you are, perhaps they thought that we'd really enjoy the lead up to the ending and the somewhat of a twist that we're given at the end... ok I won't say that I hated this film, as I didn't really. Equally, I'm not going to say that I think this is the best movie that any of the big name actors that star in it, have appeared in.

This is, for all intents and purposes, a pretty light movie that is alright to watch to pass some time but doesn't really offer much more than some eye candy and a bit of (not too heavy) guesswork in terms of the plot. There are no real exciting action scenes (though the tussle between Jack and Bob Jnr., Ray Ritchies relative (Ray Ritchie being the big property developer played by Gary Sinise) played by Charlie Sheen, is, not exciting but quite amusing in a way!) or blockbuster special effects here really, this is no James Bond and the whole 'who's scamming who?' angle is, while somewhat intriguing, a bit bland and possibly ultimately less than impossible to figure out, I felt. Perhaps it depends on the person watching this and others may be surprised by how things turn out, I can't speak for everyone and I did fairly enjoy it as a pretty light hearted, fairly entertaining movie. Owen fans will like this as he does show a bit of skin in the movie too! otherwise, I wouldn't particularly recommend it, though if its shown on TV then I'd say its worth recording to bring out if your bored with nothing better to watch one evening.

** Classification **

This movie/DVD has been given a 12 rating in the UK. This is for the use of strong language (there's a rather offensive racist phrase used quite soon at the start of the movie, that might be worth warning you about) and moderate sex references, which there are quite a few of too. This is a movie that would probably appeal most to teenagers and young adults, at a guess.

** DVD **

The DVD can be bought pretty cheap, I got an official Region 2 DVD from Ebay that cost under £5 including p&p, which is just about as cheap as they come really... its a single disc that includes the following subtitles - English, Arabic and Hebrew.

Other special features included on the DVD are:-

* The Big Bounce - A Con in the Making - A fairly brief (around 10 minutes) documentary about the movie where the main stars talk about their characters and the movie in general

* Wicked Waves: Stunt Surfer Outtakes - About 12 minutes of footage of surfers surfing in Hawaii. They use some similar footage during the movie, between scenes, to remind you of the setting I suppose. There are some pretty cool stunts done here, if your a surfing fan then this is definately worth a watch. Personally, thats something I like to watch but wouldn't want to try to emulate!

* Surfing the Pipeline - This is a brief documentary that shows some of the pro surfers talking about and doing some surfing again in Hawaii. A surfing instructor talks about how the professionals make it seem easy to do but in reality it really isn't (I'll take his word for it!)

* Trailer

** Anything else worth mentioning? **

If your curious about the title of the movie, its explained in the 'A Con in the Making' documentary on the DVD that basically the title means 'the big venture', the daring deed or something along those lines... the Big Bounce being the attempt to scan others and get away with the loot, I presume! I suppose that makes sense...(? lol)

I found that, although this movie dates back a few years now (it was released in 2004), the official site for the movie is still active and indeed it could be useful for anyone interested in the movie. It offers some downloads (wallpapers and stuff) and you can view the movies trailer and a couple of 'TV Spots' through it, so if your interested, you can check all that out on the ofifcial site here:- http://thebigbounce.warnerbros.com/

** Conclusion **

While this really isn't the best movie ever made *ahem* I guess its not the worst either. I wouldn't go out of your way to buy it really but if your a fan of Owen, Charlie of Morgan, it may be of interest to you. You can buy the DVD pretty cheaply, I wasn't too disappointed when I saw it given that I already knew it wasn't a particularly brilliantly rated movie and I got it at a good price, so I guess it depends on what you expect. I did feel it was a bit slow and a bit bland and it could have been better, though I was still fairly surprised by the twist given at the end of the movie.

Think of it as a fairly lightweight, entertaining and quite likely visually appealing movie and you shouldn't be too disappointed. Thus its hard to know whether to recommend it or not, if this is what your looking for then I'd recommend it but if you want something with more substance then I wouldn't really. I'm giving it 3 stars as its about average for this kind of movie I'd say, I wouldn't really think of it as a drama either, more of a light general entertainment or if anything a comedy really. In the special features like the 'A con in the Making' documentary, they quickly show lots of scenes in an attempt to make it seem pretty dramatic but I didn't walk away from it thinking of it as being that dramatic a movie really, I felt it was a bit slow for that really, again maybe others feel differently but thats how I felt.

All in all, I'd say that this movie isn't totally unlikeable. But on the other hand, I certainly won't be rushing to watch it again anytime soon, so make of that what you will. It has its charms I suppose but it isn't anymore than a bit of light entertaining fun to pass some time really, hence investing in the DVD, unless your particularly keen on the surfing footage, I don't see as being necessarily worth the money.

I hope this review helps you decide if this is something you'd enjoy, thanks for reading! 

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