Rancid (2004)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Jack Ersgard

Writers:

Jesper Ersgård (story)
Jesper Ersgård (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

25 December 2004 (Sweden)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Do some people deserve to die?

Plot:

Once a promising writer, John Hayson now gets by on the odd writing job. A personal tragedy has left...

Plot Keywords:

Kicked In The Crotch | Racial Slur | Interrogation | Homeless Man | Answering Machine

Cast

Matthew Settle	...	James Hayson
Fay Masterson	...	Monica Klein
Currie Graham	...	Crispin Klein
Patrik Ersgård	...	Andy Fell (as Patrick Ersgard)
Jay Acovone	...	Capt. Peters
Michael Wiseman	...	Det. Kent
Jennifer Jostyn	...	Det. Olsen
Siena Goines	...	Angela Morris
Paul Satterfield	...	Richard Desmond
Pernilla August	...	Bergquist
Yun Choi	...	Officer Wang
Alex Zonn	...	The Bum
Jarmo Mäkinen	...	Ash
Ola Rapace	...	Bob
Daniela Svensson	...	Lazy Telemarketer

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, language and some sexuality/nudity.

Runtime:

108 min | Germany:98 min (DVD version) | USA:102 min (DVD)

Country:

Sweden

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Sonet Film AB

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The hobo had pearly white teeth.

Quotes:

Monica Klein: How's life?
James Hayson: Rancid.

Stripped down and brutal, this is good

This movie reminds me of one of those plastic hamster wheels. It goes pretty fast, and gets pretty intense, but in the end, you're left in exactly the same place that you started. It starts out pretty slowly, and at first I wasn't inclined to like it too much. There is no noticeable soundtrack to this one, so it's devoid of a good atmosphere (which a good suspense/thriller needs), and this gives the whole package a very 'hollow' feel, like it's a low budget movie. The directing is lackluster in the respect that those damn camera zoom-ins get really irritating by the end of the film. I've never seen a movie that overused aerial shots like this, and that's probably because it's a bad idea. But despite all that, I enjoyed this movie.

The plot is rich and leaves a lot for you to ponder over while the cameras are rolling, and the characters all give off very memorable and believable performances. This is a very dark and gritty film, reminding me of what A Killer Within should've been, but wasn't exactly. The plot twists at the end are unexpected, and maybe they weren't executed as well as they could've been, but it's all fine and dandy with me. While most of the movie is a bit slower and building things up, with the romantic tension and such, the last half hour or so is very intense and bloody, and I'm left very satisfied with this film overall. While the rather open-ended ending left me feeling empty (that whole hamster wheel analogy), this film manages to build up a crescendo of surprising energy that left this movie as quite a good offering of crime/thriller action. Recommended to fans of the genre.