Across the Line: The Exodus of Charlie Wright (2010)

Charlie swindled $10 billion from investors. He manages to slip away from FBI in LA but is spotted in Tijuana. FBI's not alone. Mexican and Russian gangsters want him, too.

Director:

R. Ellis Frazier

Writer:

R. Ellis Frazier

Stars:

Aidan Quinn, Andy Garcia, Mario Van Peebles

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Aidan Quinn	...	Charlie Wright
Andy Garcia	...	Jorge Garza
Mario Van Peebles	...	Agent Hobbs
Danny Pino	...	Gabriel Garza
Gina Gershon	...	Mariel Garza
Luke Goss	...	Damon
Bokeem Woodbine	...	Miller
Claudia Ferri	...	Mary
Jordan Belfi	...	Jimmy
Gary Daniels	...	Michaels
Geoffrey Ross	...	Baines
Daniel Faraldo	...	Chief Soto
Raymond J. Barry	...	Borlec
Elya Baskin	...	Letvenko
Corbin Bernsen	...	Director Hill

Storyline

The story centers on Charlie, a Los Angeles billionaire financial whiz who goes into self-imposed exile in Tijuana after his empire is revealed to have been a Ponzi scheme. While looking for the woman he abandoned there 25 years before, Charlie is pursued by a Mexican gangster, a federal agent and thugs sent by a former client looking to retrieve his money.

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Taglines:

He stole 4 Billion. Now they want it back.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Luke Goss and Bokeem Woodbine would later star together in AWOL-72 (2015).

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Quotes

Charlie Wright: My dear Isabel, When a man finds himself at the end of his days He has to take an account of his life He has to be able to live with what he has done If he can find the goodness somewhere If there is a chance to find some kind of redemption Before we leave this earth Then life's moments will have mattered This is the story of failure Of my failure For all of the failures of this life Of my life Fade to nothing Just fleeting moments And as I find my way My exodus from this place I can know that ...

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Connections

Follows Baines (2009)

User Reviews

A trip over the line that's just barely worth the time.

With no other reviews of this film at present, I guess I'm working without a net but I'll give it a try. I'll let the pre-provided summary above handle the plot description and move directly into the film itself, which I could best describe as a somewhat "artsy" crime drama, (and I mean that in a good way.)

Filmed mostly in Tijuana, it takes wonderful advantage of the various atmospheres and the smaller sets were also extremely well chosen for realism and visual interest. There are some action sequences but the film is not particularly violent nor "action" oriented, there are numerous personality conflicts and those are what mainly propels the story through the urban Mexican landscape, providing tensions which are occasionally punctuated by violent confrontations.

The players put forth a fine effort in delivering a multi-layered plot which is interesting enough to hold our attention but only barely, it's that type of movie that if you wander away from it for a few minutes, you may not care if you return to finish it. The story-line is littered with implausibilities which in themselves are not deal-breakers, for instance: the quandary of how to arm a foreign hit-squad traveling over the border is beautifully handled by the artifice of having the weapons cached in a pit in a field for them before they arrive but when recovering them, the squad parks about eighty feet away and unnecessarily carries the weapons back to their van in plain view of the surrounding buildings instead of parking right next to the pit and blocking the view of the transfer with the van.

But if it's not going to be uber-realistic like Traffic or testosterone driven like Die Hard or mentally intense like The Usual Suspects or absolutely drip atmosphere like The Godfather or Once Upon a Time in New York or be over-the-top like Kill Bill, it does need something to hook us into it and really hold us there. For me, ultimately that turned out to be the scenery but I don't think that they were actually trying to make a travelogue.

As a kiosk/netflix rental there is enough to recommend here, some great scenery and vignettes, very solid acting, some very good twists and a great score and while the whole may not quite be the sum of the parts it is still a decent enough crime flick.

Looking over reviews of the writer/director's few earlier works it appears he is quickly maturing and there is a lot of potential here, to be certain. His eye is excellent but the story is just a little too clichéd, I'd really like to see his considerable talents utilized in a better story. I would like to see what he, the cast and crew could do with a story that has more impetus, like Man on Fire. I may seem a little harsh because there are no other reviews and I'm trying to cover everything alone; so do your duty - go out and rent it and write an accompanying review.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 December 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Across the Line: The Exodus of Charlie Wright

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Project One Films, Badhouse Studios Mexico

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1