[7 MINUTES opens
in Cleveland on Friday June 26th exclusively at the Capitol Theatre.]
Review by Bob Ignizio
Redbox, Netflix, and the shelves of what video stores still remain
in this world boast no shortage of low budget thrillers and crime films. And as
long as one goes in with low expectations, such works can be reasonably
entertaining time killers, good for a weekend get together with a few friends
and the intoxicant of your choice. Occasionally you’ll even stumble across a sleeper
that deserved better than straight to video obscurity. But instead of one of
those rare gems getting a theatrical release, for some reason that honor has
been bestowed upon 7 MINUTES.
7 MINUTES
concerns a group of amateur drug dealers who dump their stock out of paranoia when
it looks as if the cops are on to them. This of course does not sit well with
their supplier, who gives them two days to come up with the money. The obvious
answer, of course, is to pull a robbery.
It should be an easy in-and-out job that, as the title suggests, should
take a mere 7 minutes. Of course everything that can go wrong does, and the
simple heist turns into a bloodbath.
Like RESERVOIR DOGS
(or Kubrick’s THE KILLING, if you
prefer), 7 MINUTES jumps around in
time. You usually know when that’s about to happen because the film
freeze-frames and flashes a character’s name onscreen before rewinding to focus
on their backstory. Other than reminding viewers of other, better films, the
device adds very little.
On a strictly technical level, 7 MINUTES is fine. I’m sure the budget was relatively low, but
nothing about the end product feels cheap or shoddy. The cast, consisting
mostly of young up and comers like Luke Mitchell (“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”) and
Jason Ritter (“Parenthood”), are all decent performers. Unfortunately, although
writer/director Jay Martin proves he knows his way around a camera, he’s far
too enamored of Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie for his film to be anything
more than an uninspired attempt to emulate his heroes. He manages a reasonable facsimile
of the two filmmakers themes and styles, but fails to conjure up anything
resembling the energy and fun of a DOGS
or SNATCH. All that leaves is a
dreary “been there, done that” feeling and a by-the-numbers plot that constantly
draws attention to its own clunkiness and implausibility. 2 out of 4 stars.
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