White Sands

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this movie and it is an excellent rental option when you are undecided on what to get in your favorite movie rental service/place. Very good plot, the dialogs are great and the ending is definitely not predictable. Rourke was in his downhill after a flash rise to fame due to 9 1/2 weeks (if you are an 80s guy like me, you know what I mean), but he still gives a good performance and one of his lines was just the best of the whole movie. Samuel Jackson was solid and Dafoe balanced as always. As a bonus the sexiest performance of Mastrantonio in her career. The movie has ups and downs and does not keep you nailed to your chair, but that is the story telling style of the director and I am cool with it.

Deputy Sheriff Ray Dolezal (Willem Dafoe) investigates a dead body with a suitcase full of money found in the middle of the desert. Medical examiner Bert Gibson (M. Emmet Walsh) finds a phone number on a piece of paper swallowed by the dead man. He goes to a meeting where the money is taken and a meeting with Gorman Lennox (Mickey Rourke) is set up. FBI agent Greg Meeker (Samuel L. Jackson) tells him that it was an undercover FBI operation. They want their half million dollars back. FBI Agent Flynn (James Rebhorn) is also chasing after the money claiming a rogue element stole it from a court case. Dolezal meets the underworld partner Lennox and then Lane Bodine (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) who knew the dead man, Bob Spencer. At White Sands, Dolezal and Lennox are shown state-of-the-art weapons.

It's an overly complicated hard-boiled police undercover investigation. There are a lot of annoying little problems. Dolezal is careless with a half million dollars evidence. There is no way a non-idiot police detective would walk out with that much money and no back-up. Once it's taken, there's no reason for the bad guys to return it in one of the silliest request. I also really need somebody to call FBI headquarters to check on some of these agents popping up demanding their money back. It's simply bad writing and doesn't survive in-depth examination. The first class actors try to make the material work as best they can.

Here is another modern-day film-noir, featuring interesting characters played by a diverse cast. That cast is led by Willem Dafoe, who reminds me a lot of another noir actor, Dan Duryea.

There is the usual corrupt government/military officials angle but the plot does have a few neat twists and is generally a non-nonsense kind of story. However, I did find the storyline a bit confusing, especially in the last half hour. On a second viewing, five years later, a few things cleared up but not a lot. I guess it will take looks to figure out everything, especially the very end.

I'm not usually a fan of Elizabeth Mastrantonio, but I thought she was exceptional in here: by far, the best and most interesting character. The movie has a nice soundtrack. Overall, the good outweighs the bad and the somewhat confusing story helps draw me back for future viewings.

Aside notes: this must have been one of Samuel L. Jackson's first films because he was listed as "Sam Jackson" in the closing credits. Unbilled were three always-interesting actors: Fred Thompson, Mimi Rogers and Jack P. Ryan.

This interesting cop thriller has a convoluted plot that gets a bit out of hand in the second half, with improbable, needless twists added only to provoke a surprised response on the audience's part (consider, for example, Mickey Rourke's true identity), but it has been stylishly directed by Roger Donaldson (who has already shown his competence with the first-rate "No Way Out") and acted with restraint by the three leads; Rourke is particularly magnetic. Samuel Jackson also has an amusing supporting role. (**1/2)

Which was an incredible distraction and took quite a bit away from the film. Whenever a swear word was supposed to be uttered the dialogue went mute. Unbelievable for Amazon.