.45

When Milla Jovovich comes on screen speaking directly to the audience about how she met her boy friend and his large... genetic gift... you begin to ask yourself what the hell kind of movie did I just press play on? Fortunately ‘.45’ picks up after that, as we follow Kat (Jovovich) and Big Al (Angus Macfadyen) in their daily routine selling guns on the street. Despite seeming like simple illegal gun slinging peddlers, the pair are quite sharp. They easily side step a confrontations with the police and appear to have a well establish business selling stolen goods. And despite being an obvious prick, Big Al is fun to watch.

Soon we are introduced to two more characters, Vic and Reilly, and we learn exactly what this movie is about. At first I was under the impression that we would follow Kat and Al on their crazy adventures selling guns and drinking beer, but this movie is much darken then that. This is a tale of obsession, lust, revenge, manipulation, abuse, and addiction. Kat is obsessed with leaving the neighborhood and living on a beach. Al, Vic, and Reilly are all obsessed with Kat.

When we discover Al is dealing with an alcohol addiction and often gets drunk and beats Kat. We learn that a lot of people want to see Al dead, including Vic and Reilly. We learn that Al is a master at manipulating Kat. We learn this is a film about whether or not Vic, Reilly and a social worker named Liz can convince Kat to leave. We also get insight as to what their considering doing to Al if she doesn't, and their less then good intentions for wanting to help.

‘.45’ is an insightful look into the lives of people who are anything but saintly. It is a piercing view of a woman in an abusive relationship and it subtly yet clearly shows us how her mind is processing her situation. One thing that wasn’t so clever about this film were a series of documentary style cut-ins. During these cut-ins it seams as though someone is interviewing the characters, as they break the fourth wal speaking directly to the audience. Although they do help develop the characters, I wish they were left out. I feel the audience would have come to their conclusion with out these cut-ins, which would lead to another layer of depth for the story.

All of the performances were good, but not great. Oddly every actor had two or three scenes where they really shined, but then had scenes that make you wonder if they had forgotten what they had done the day before. Towards the end of the film, I got the impression that the writer was suffering the same problem. I felt as though scrip had a beginning and a middle, then the author forgot what he had written. But I was immersed into the film, and didn’t concern myself with any of the issues until I started writing this review. And that for me is the mark of a good movie. I can easily recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good suspenseful drama.