The Kane Files: Life of Trial

"You got a choice to make. You can finish this job and go to jail and your kid will get the best care any kid could have, or you cannot finish this job, you still go to jail and your kid will die. What are you gonna do?" Scott Kane (Fuller) is a reformed criminal who is trying to live his life straight for once. After his seven year old son has a heart attack and Kane has no way to pay for the transplant on his own he decides to do one last job. After being double crossed he risks everything to save his son. Based on the preview I honestly expected this to be OK but a type of made for TV movie. While it did have the feel of a glorified made for TV movie this was very, very good. I loved "John Q" and I would call this one a more intense action version of that movie. Unlike most low-budget action movies this one really sucks you in and makes you root for the "bad guy". Being a father I can see where Kane is coming from and found myself really pulling for him throughout. Overall, not quite as good as "John Q." but this came as close as you can. I give it an A-.

The good:

1. Very good opening scene, followed by a good second scene that doesn't follow from the first, but fills in some missing earlier information. Then the third scene actual begins telling the story. This revealing through layers works well for the film and sets things going at a good pace with action and intrigue.

2. There is some good acting in this movie. Ethan Embry's performance as a cop is excellent. William Devane playing an older, smart and crafty FBI agent, other than a couple bad lines, was also very good. My favorite was the small role by the young son played by Ethan Mouser.

The bad:

1. There is some not so good acting in this movie. In general the film lacks emotional development by the key actors, and has some really flat lines.

The main character, played by Drew Fuller, seems always and unrealistically somber (even when he is making love in the shower with his very attractive wife, played by Whitney Able.) Note that not everyone will agree of my assessment: Fuller was awarded 'Best Actor' at the San Diego Film Festival for this role.

I also didn't like the role of the villain played by William Devane, I thought it was an underdeveloped character that lacked credibility. The initial setup for the character had potential that seems to have been given up on. Even the setting where we encounter the villain changed from potentially interesting to a place totally uninteresting and incongruent.

2. The plot was predictable despite it's creative telling. Certain key connections in the movie are left hanging. And the end was not fulfilling.

The title of the movie 'The Kane Files: Life of Trial' - doesn't really make sense. It could make sense, if at the end we were lead to believe that the story continues, and like the overlapping beginning- that the story we have just watched is only a past part of an existing story that is still going on now, and one that might be revealed in a future 'episode'.

3. This movie shares the basic plot premise to the 2002 film 'John Q', starring Denzel Washington, in which parents are are similarly confronted with an inability to pay for their child who needs a heart transplant. In 'John Q', the desperate situation leads the father to also commit a crime. In that movie the father of the sick boy holds the doctor and others at the hospitable hostage. Side by side, 'Johny Q' verses 'The Kane Files'- 'Johny Q' comes out as a better all around film.

Bottom line: Decent watchable action movie.

I think a better, and or more experienced director would have gotten a lot more from the script.

Film titles that imply intricate, complex plots easily catch my attention. With a title like The Kane Files: Life of Trial (2010), I expected some The Bourne Identity (2002) vibes.

Because of his sick son, our protagonist Scott Kane needs to go back to a life he tried to bury. He accepts to complete one task for criminal kingpin Daniel in exchange for cash to pay for his son's treatments.

I have to admit I have nothing great to talk about in this film. It starts interesting, trying to build the main characters, but I think it just falls flat once the actual plot begins.

The Kane Files: Life of Trial tries a non-linear approach to the plot, which doesn't look appealing. Other than maybe one or two close to interesting plot twists, everything you experience a new segment to learn something new, you actually learn nothing, because you can predict the film's plot quite accurately.

No character is explored in a good way. They are all shallow and lifeless. I didn't care about any of them.

For someone who apparently is the best at what he used to do, he seems rusted. Either he was really desperate and not thinking straight, or he was not the best, just dismissable. I don't mind the main character is running from the bad guys, but when he can't even defuse a situation with three women while he's armed, well, I don't know...

Forget about files. You get none here.

In the end, I appreciate the short 86 minutes of screen time. The ending scene got me what I expected, no surprises. The film tries to add more to it, but nah, dismissable. Skip this one.

I try hard to download this movie but I dont find it, how i can find it.

Action is OK but unless you don't mind the FBI 'hero' brutally assaulting a victim of the underworld, for some daft effort to put some crook away, and a good deal of plot nonsense, then I'd give it a miss. We have a policeman trying kill his sister because of what her hijacker told her and much other nonsense.