The Line

Right, this film is nicely shot, good characters has big names etc etc as everyone else has said, but..... It has no plot... The plot is that the boss gets ill (but he isn't), so he hands his business to his 2nd in command and not his son. Queue power struggle between son and 2nd in command ending with son dead. Boss now reveals he isn't dying and kills second in command and the film ends. In between this Ray Liotta kills people, gets mugged and other people die, plus a couple of Afghani's pop up.... So, if he wanted them dead why not kill them in the first place using Ray Liotta (contract killer who he hired any way) for anonymity. Why go to the trouble of acting ill to go into all this farce, and I'm even guessing this as this isn't explained in the film, you're left guessing..... Those who say this is a character arty film blah blah are right but it's still a really bad and unfulfilling film. Those who compare it to "man on fire" are just wrong, that film rocks and Denzel rocks it, plus it has a plot... So basically don't watch this, watch "man on fire" if you've already seen "man on fire" watch it again, it will be a better use of 95 minutes, in fact I may watch it again now :-) Plus it's called "The Line", which is apparently the drug route from Mexico to the USA, but this film mentions it twice and the name has no bearing on it. It should have been called "Nasty confusing people in Tijuana"

Set in Tijuana Mexico, we open to the stereotypical ethnic minorities conducting some dodgy business. We know it's dodgy business because they are there of course, along with black cars and men in suits and shades. The usual dodgy mob cartel malarkey. Meanwhile at the US Embassy in Mexico plans are afoot to try and stop any number of items including drugs, guns and people from passing into the States from Mexico and the Middle East. Throw in a sub-plots involving the new boss of a cartel being targeted for assassination, a retired boss who wants to come back, US agents dealing with vets and a haunted washed up vet getting close to a prostitute and you can see that it all gets rather messy and muddled along the way. The direction and pace is a little confusing even to begin with as it's difficult at first to tell who is dealing with who and why. Mark Shields (Liotta) is a bit of a mystery character and Garcia appears to be some sort of mob boss Godfather type figure. Unfortunately both are looking rather old and past their prime. Goodfella's this is not. The general cast is pretty impressive though (even if none of them are Mexican, though I guess Danny Trejo looks the part). Trejo is stereo-typically cast and Bruce Davison (X-Men) makes an appearance, but given he appears in anything these days, that's not helping much. In fact the best character and acting is from Jason Connory, it is a really shame we really don't see more of him in bigger production features. As for the rest of the films quality, pacing is bad, the camera is all over the place and quite annoying and there are far too many over used reused aerial shots of Tijuana itself. The music/score is also all wrong though if you like your crime thrillers in the hood and think Little Big Toes is the next big rap sensation, then it might be to your liking. For a film with the cast that it has (which also includes Armand Assante in a rather strange role) I'm really not sure how it could all go so horribly wrong. The film is slow, with little atmosphere and by the end you couldn't care less who kills who and why and just wish you'd been one of the casualties to save yourself from the running time. The Sage's Rating: 4/10

This big steaming pile is the most stilted, ham-fisted, clichéd dreck I've tortured myself with in months. Where's Leonard Pince Garnell when you need him--he'd relish this one. Oh, to have one tenth of the cash they wasted on this, not to mention dragging Liotta and Garcia down into the gutter along with the crew. Una grande pegacito de excreto if ever I endured one. Somebody tell the director that plausible dialogue and believability still have a place in storytelling. The big question is why? Why spend a year and untold money and energy on the beaten to death horse that another damn dope kingpin saga is? Bastante Already. When you drag the audience's noses through the sewers of TJ, there's got to be some kind of payoff. "Barfly"'s subject matter was seedy and seamy, but it had a certain redeeming lyrical quality. This thing is so bad it might stand up better as a comedy as you watch poor old aging Ray as an improbable hit man, eye shadow and lash extenders non-withstanding.

The Line, La Linea, is rubbish. The pretentious dual language title is an indicator that everyone speaks American apart from the occasional Gracias. In the end titles the film is dedicated to the city of Tijuana. Well I ain't going there on my holidays. Every cliché in the book is deployed. Nearly every male has a manicured 3 day beard. I couldn't tell one from the other. There is a prostitute, who ,of course, has a heart of gold and she is, of course, as gorgeous Hollywood actress. Maybe I will visit Tijuana! An amazing cast, check it out. Don't be deceived!