The Prodigy (2004)

[Jim H]

The Prodigy finally got a DVD release.  I'd never heard of it til I saw it on shelves and gave it a rent, but you can see the gap in production to release.  Rights issues apparently.

I like Variety's basic description of the film, "A crime film that plays out like a horror film".  Sums it up.  Basic plot concerns a mafia enforcer who takes part in a drug deal gone bad.  Turns out he has some assassin guy after him who has a getup like the Invisible Man's after him, who wants him to carry out his work.  That's what the back of the box says, though the later element doesn't really appear until the 70 minute mark.

Anyways, I don't want to spoil the film more, so I'll just get to what works and what doesn't.

Good Stuff

Well-shot.  The film obviously has a very low budget, but was filmed well.  Some nice looking visuals.  It's also a rarity in that it seems it was shot on film, which is a nice change from the usual dreadful looking digital video.

Acting.  Not everyone is great, but the lead guy is actually pretty solid.  Some of the supporters are pretty good too. 

Good atmosphere.  Great location shooting and good design (the interiors, mostly, not exteriors).  Some solid use of lighting. 

Interesting concept, even though in some ways it does feel derivative of The Hitcher, Saw and Seven. 

The action scenes are quite good.  There are a couple of fairly long shootouts, and both are good (though the opening is definitely the better of the two).  There isn't a lot of choreography going on, but they're shot nicely, actually are using blanks in many of the shots, and the editing and camera movement are quite good. 

I have to say though, the opening and closing hand to hand fights are quite good.  Very well done.  They're also generally quite practical in the fights, with few "gee whiz" moves, and both participants (especially the lead actor) are very believable in their moves.  Apparently the main actor trained in boxing for a full year before the film, and it shows in the speed of his punches. 

The bad

The dream sequences didn't really add anything.

Some of the acting is kind of bad.

A lot of the dialogue is fairly trite and/or poorly written.  Especially the almost-as-an-afterthought pop culture references.  They should have been deleted entirely, as this film doesn't need to have its mood lightened.

The prodigy concept took to long to really show up, leading to....

Not enough action.  This film needed one more action set piece in the center of the film.  My suggestion would be to have another fight scene between the antagonist and protagonist, and in this scene introduce the prodigy stuff.  Or just have a gun battle where the assassin guy mops up some people in the middle, as it could have been worked into the plot.

At two full hours, the film is too long.  The middle section is the main offender, and could have easily been trimmed 20 minutes, maybe more. 

Overall

Still, despite quite a few flaws and a lagging pace in the middle section, the film is still a quite worthwhile rental.  Anyone else see it?

[Torgo]

I'm thinking that I've seen this one as the synopsis seems really familiar, but I'm not sure though.

[RapscallionJones]

Twitch wouldn't shut up about this movie.  It has effectively sparked major interest in me.  I really want to check it out.