Slow Burn Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
The truth is just a trick of light.
Tonight... Believe No One.
District attorney Ford Cole is running for mayor, promising to capture the city's elusive crime boss, Danny Ludin. On the night of a gas link in the inner city, his interview with a national reporter is interrupted by word that his best prosecutor, Nora Timmer, who's also his lover, has killed a man she claims was assaulting her. A few minutes later, a man shows up at Cole's office claiming it was murder, implicating Nora in complicated schemes and crimes. Cole wants a few hours to get to the bottom of a mess that quickly includes land deals, shell corporations, and political corruption. Who's setting up whom?
| Ray Liotta | Ford Cole |
| LL Cool J | Luther Pinks |
| Mekhi Phifer | Isaac Duperde |
| Jolene Blalock | Nora Timmer |
| Guy Torry | Chet Price |
| Taye Diggs | Jeffrey Sykes |
| Chiwetel Ejiofor | Ty Trippin |
| Bruce McGill | Godfrey |
| Frank Schorpion | Maybank |
| Donny Falsetti | Delucca |
| Barbara Alexander | Pratt |
| Joe Grifasi | Desk Sgt. Drown |
| Richard Jutras | Leland Neff |
| Arthur Holden | Felix Lang |
| Fisher Stevens | Alan Turlock |
| Wayne Beach |
5.80 out of 10 (476 votes)
Visitor Reviews
a bit messy but altogether intriguing
posted on 30 Apr 2009Wayne Beach's storytelling tactics are very particular but eventually effective. Characters are chameleon-like and plot is transparent and convoluted at the same time, reminding a bit John Grisham's novels adaptations. The twists capsizing everything over the last twenty minutes turn the conclusion into a big mess but heat is not lacking at all. Plot reversals and action flashes look like a fusion of "The Usual Suspects" and Hollywoood legal thrillers, besides this political/Court story also handles themes of racial confusion and conflicts. Not a stellar cast, but the movie is overall well acted (Ray Liotta has a pulse as usual).
Good but not great will be better on TV where you'll forgive more
posted on 06 Apr 2009Ray Liotta as a DA running for Mayor who has trouble when one of his best and brightest assistants turns herself in for shooting someone in self defense. Complicating matters is a drug lord who shows up to tell Liotta things are not as they seem.Bad make up job on our leading actress aside this is a good but not great little thriller that would have fared better as "made for cable original" where the expectations wouldn't be that high. Give it points for twisting and turning, take one or so back for being only a step or two above most direct to video releases.Worth a look but late on a Saturday night where this would be perfect fare before bed time.
A ripoff of --- the most overrated movie of the '90's
posted on 09 Feb 2009Many reviews have alluded to the fact that is a pretty obvious rip-off of "The Usual Suspects". Most of the film's "action" is moved along by long interrogation scenes, with little snippets of who's who and what's what being provided. How much is real and who's telling the truth is batted around like a tennis ball. But the main point is.... who really cares?? It's the exact problem I had with "Usual Suspects".The supposed hero here is Ray Liotta's character. He does alright with the role, but the character is not especially interesting and doesn't have much on the line. He's running for Mayor, but most conversations give the impression he doesn't much care if he wins. His girlfriend may be a lying turncoat, but they don't display much real affection for each other. As he learns about her "true colors" he doesn't seem crushed, only mildly dismayed.The final 10 minutes of twist, twist and re-twist were all flash and no substance. The final twist has us believe an FBI agent allows 3 innocent people to be killed (2 of them police @ the precinct house), to keep his cover, THEN exposes the "Suspect". Phew!! That was a tiring 90 minutes!
Almost turned off this soft porn movie, but glad a stayed for a twisted ending
posted on 04 Oct 2008At first the movie seemed like an excuse for a soft porn movie. The only reason I stayed with it was because the acting was pretty good. Later it evolves into an interesting, twisted who's it. So in the end, I'm glad I stayed with it.In a movie this complicated, I am sure there are some loose ends, but I thought they did a good job of tying things together in the end.I was OK with the flashbacks and plot twists, but I am probably not your average viewer. It is true you have to pay attention to keep everything straight. If you don't like to stay with a film, it may not be the film for you.They do keep you guessing to the end.
Complex Ending
posted on 01 Aug 2008I thought this was a great movie. It reminded me of the Kevin Spacey's movie "The Usual Suspects". Yet I haven't seen a web site that recommends it if you watched this movie. I have recently watched "The Prestige". And I felt this movie had a Prestige ending. I was still putting the pieces together hours after the movie had ended. I was nearly going to skip this movie, because it was a 2005 film. And thought it must be crap. Otherwise I would have heard of it before. I only became aware, as it was coming up as a new release in the UK. So I surfed the web looking for a trailer. The first 45 minutes of the movie lays the foundation. With only one twist about the 20-min mark. But after that the movie picks up and the twists keep on coming. Then there's a fast ending that leaves you wondering what just happened. Even though I have said that this movie is like "The Usual Suspects" it is different and takes it to a higher level.
well done, low budget "usual suspects" rip-off.
posted on 21 Apr 2008if it would not be for sign of "low budget" in some scenes, and a certain "too close" resemblance of "the usual suspects", this feature would be an excellent thriller in itself. the cast are remarkably well chosen for their respective on-screen characters. one of the best roles for Ray Liotta, LL Cool J, Mekhi Phifer and Jolene Blalock, played accordingly as well.there are 2 main problems that create a certain let-down for this production. first one is regarding the first 10 minutes or so where the plot is a bit as "all over the place" and might loose the viewer's interest (certenly almost did mine). second one is the one scene that contains an explosion and where the cgi effects are VERY bad( while that is not important to the plot at all, somehow will affect your impression and visual perceptions since the suspense about around there is great- kind of a "let down" for a few moments). also i might add that at times the plot seems rushed-off, but maybe because is trying to pull the exact same dialogs-camera work-twists as in "the usual suspects"( one of the best suspense movie EVER!).all the action happens in one night. starts with the "crime" and works its way back by means of "flashbacks". a minor difference is the fact that the director inserts those flashbacks of Jolene Blalock breasts as well ( is obviously only a commercial attempt at targeting larger audiences. however those scenes are "ok" and she looks great indeed). Ray Liotta plays in Chazz Palminteri with the exception that here, this particular character is more extensively developed ; he is the central one after all. i will not say who the other "guys " are but there are enough twists that will keep you guessing until the end 5 minutes or less. just like "usual suspects" makes perfect logical sense( i really respect that first and fore-most in any respectable thriller). while the resemblance to the best thriller is too MUCH to be "respected" as an original feature in itself, i give credits to the whole cast for being able to pull it off with enough style as not to "disappoint". a good positive point as well would be that the movie never slows down as the "b" features generally do, by having "fill-up" scenes in its middle parts.enough said, i am going in circles on this title since it is a rip-off( there, i said the word again, hehe) and the original score keeps pupping up in my head, the resemblance is just way to great; overwhelming actually even if completely different in details( only Nora Timmer character, the woman, is more developed here in comparison). it is a good watch nevertheless, and will not disappoint you if you can "pass" the explosion scene without loosing any interest... so the plot gets 10 stars( while i will ignore the similarities, they are different in context itself and do make perfect sense overall ), the acting gets 10 as well( i can not think of anyone that was playing "badly"), the soundtrack gets an 8 ( great musical choices but not consistent, again a sign of low budget),the camera work gets a 10( great achievement for a low budget), the script gets a 5( 1 for originality in essence and 10 for consistency), and finally the cgi effects get a more then deserved 1 star. did i miss something?
Not A Matter of Concentration, A Matter of Tedium
posted on 03 Apr 2008This is not about concentration. Nor is it about having enough film savvy or cleverness to figure out obscure themes and subplots in films, after all, some of us are David LYNCH fans and enjoy decoding and detangling films as though they are mazes. Those films are at least vibrant and colorful enough to maintain the interest of a BINGO audience. They have characterization, plot, action, theme, etc. We have become accustomed to the complexity of flashbacks and out-of-sequence story lines. We loved "Pulp Fiction", "Memento", "Traffic", and "21 Grams", but a film should not be so chaotic, disorderly, and cluttered with digressive subplots that you can't determine the main theme of the film. When films do this, they are simply exercises in mental masturbation for a self aggrandizing filmmaker and are not interesting to the rest of us. We are not all falling asleep because we have Attention Deficit Disorder. Some of us are really laid-back and low key, with excellent concentration skills, and are detail oriented to a fault. We are falling asleep because the film simply doesn't have any action to move it forward. Its boring, frustrating, and tedious. I mean after all, both Theoretical Mathmaticians and Avant-Garde Poets find what they do equally interesting, neither is more valid than the other. A film needs to be interesting enough to appeal to some audience within the range between them, this film is not, does not.
More like a simmering potboiler; shameful cheat of THE USUAL SUSPECTS
posted on 20 Mar 2008SLOW BURN (2007) * Ray Liotta, LL Cool J, Mekhi Phifer, Jolene Blalock, Guy Torry, Taye Diggs, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Bruce McGill.More like a simmering potboiler:1995's crackling neo-noir sleeper "The Usual Suspects" was in a class by itself but lately there have been some numerous copycats in attempting to glean some magic from its infamous twisted ending revealing who its arch-criminal Keyser Soze really was. The latest pretender to the throne is a horse of another color (and yes the pun is meant to be offensive).Set in the twilight hours in a no-names urbane city an ambitious DA named Ford Cole (Liotta, who is also a producer on this dreadful film) who is summoned to the police station when one of his younger protégées (and current lover), Nora Timmer (mannequin Blalock) has been involved in a lethal shooting after her claims of being raped by her assailant, Isaac Duperde.Adding fuel to the fire is many turns in this serpentine crime drama that offers about as much suspense as a re-run of any form of "Law & Order": Timmer may or may not have been having an affair with the deceased assailant, may or may not know the true identity of the mysterious local kingpin and may or may not be involved in a convoluted scheme involving high-level real estate conspiracies with the aforementioned gangsta.Enter Luther Pinks (Cool J), who has some info on Timmer confirming she is not on the level and his identity is also in question (as is his purple prose involving his olfactory senses with laughable line readings).The whole lousy mess is indecipherable until it's cribbing of the final act of "Suspects" for its own conclusion that not only cheats a smart, knowing audience but feels like a cheat from the minute one character is onto another with a fateful 'wait=a-second' glance and pause in his tracks.Although Blalock is a real hottie, the shameful way her character is depicted as either a 'sista pretending to be white' or vice versea as some sort of living-in-the-shadows- chameleon is only further drummed over the head by the ham-fisted direction by Wayne Beach in his debut as a helmsman and also the film's scribe. The fact he actually shows a real-life chameleon during several sequences involving Nora is truly eye rolling.It doesn't help that the film has been on the shelf for several year. That's never a good sign and another is shamefully stealing from a real classic.
Surprisingly good!
posted on 04 Mar 2008I rented this on New Year's Eve to counter the boredom of Bowl games, and found the movie to be surprisingly good. There was a compelling and believable storyline (think of "Body Heat" set in a contemporary northeastern city instead of lazy Miami), it was well acted and a real thriller. I especially liked LL Cool J's performance, and Liotta was believable as the White urban politico. I also liked that the movie didn't shy away from comments (however simplistic) about race. Mekhi Pfifer was useful in his role and Taye Diggs was hilarious with his usual witty and sarcastic commentary. The female lead, Blalock also gives a believable performance as damsel in distress. The Desk Sgt. Drown character was quite funny. Comparable (but better) films would include "Double Indemnity" or The "Postman Always Rings Twice". This was a good yarn, well worth the 3 bucks I spent to rent it.
Did She Or Didn't She? Who Cares!
posted on 15 Dec 2007This wore out its welcome about 40 minutes into the movie and after the halfway point, about 10 minutes later, I totally didn't care if our girl here was innocent or guilty. The story just became plodding.I am so glad it wasn't just me, that the first review I see here - Mermaidbronze - felt the same way I did. I'll put it in simple terms: this film was not as "smart" and "clever" as it thought it was. In fact, it was stupid because it committed the ultimate sin for making a movie - it bored the hell out of its audience, and an audience that includes some "smart people" who can figure things out. A convoluted movie is just that, and not fun to watch no matter what any viewer's IQ might be.Movies that revolve around the big question "Did he/she kill the person or not" are either extremely interesting and involving or the opposite. I found it un-involving, and when you don't care about the characters, then you don't care who's innocent or guilty and the film loses all effectiveness.This movie was filmed in 2003 but not released until this year - four years later! Maybe they knew it was a turkey.
Usual Supsects Ripoff
posted on 17 Nov 2007I must say I just finished watching this movie, and what a waste. I agree this movie had some great actors (Ray Liotta), and a decent plot. However, I lost interest in this movie after a while and was just waiting for it to end, and did not really care how it ended. The usual suspects ripoff was evident in that there was a crime lord, in this case a Danny Ludden, as compared to the Kaiser Sosa of Usual Suspects who nobody had ever really seen. Yeah right. This movie tried to tell us that the Danny Ludden character owned property all over "the city", which they slipped and called Detriot once, and controlled a gang that ran Detroit, and no one had ever seen him. Wow, this is an amazing concept. Meanwhile the Assistant DA who Ray Liotta is banging is intertwined within the movie as a rape suspect/murder suspect who is thought to be black, but is really white. Is the viewer to believe that in this day in age in the US there can be an Assistant DA in a city like Detroit who is using a false identity and no one catches this? Oh well, don't waste your time, watch the Usual Suspects for a decent movie with a good plot.
A wonderful movie if ever there was one
posted on 14 Jun 2007Alright. This was quite honestly one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. I bought it at Blockbuster expecting very little from it. I mean, the reviews on it weren't great, it wasn't a big money maker and it wasn't syced up either. So I figured it would be middle of the day, watch it just to pass time type movie... yeah, no. I was supposed to be doing homework while I was watching it. I turned my laptop off 2 minutes into the movie. There was plot turns from beginning to end, good acting, pretty lady constantly naked. I mean, it was an all around movie.True, it had a bit much nudity for my taste, but still, it never took away from the movie. Nobody was ever naked for the sake of being naked. Watch it!! It's not like the garbage thats over hyped now a days.
Throwback to the Mid 90's Intrigue Films
posted on 26 Feb 2007I remember growing up on films such as The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Fugitive, films with enough plot twists and turns to keep things fresh and interesting. I was more than pleasantly surprised to see excellent performances from an otherwise pieced-together cast of Ray Liotta, Taye Diggs, LL Cool J, Mekhi Phifer, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and of course Jolene Blalock. I enjoyed every minute of this film whose score and choice of background, and especially credit, music made it all that much more memorable.Personally, I love films in, around, or about the city. Without giving anything away, Slow Burn deals with corruption and a little gang-related mystery; all the while providing that sense of empathy for Liotta's character that seems all too absent in modern films today.No, this film is not for everyone, but if you can remember what it was like to be genuinely stringed along and interested in what happens at every twist and turn of those 90's film plots, then you should find yourself feeling that you got you're 9.50's worth on a Friday night.
Brillliant execution
posted on 23 Mar 2006If you didn't like it or if you thought it was anything at all like Usual Supsects, you probably didn't get it.Everything up to the last twenty minutes is set-up. The key is to concentrate, but not to think too much. You'll either get it or you won't The mastermind was not Danny, it was the assistant DA, "Jackie". She was playing Danny. It's my belief that she was also an FBI agent. She was, as LL's character hinted when he said that even the FBI had been penetrated, the dirty FBI agent.She was pretending to be black, as she new this would get Danny's attention and make him believe she could be manipulated. She made Danny feel comfortable enough to give her information about rival gangs which she used to propel herself into the DA's office putting her in a perfect spot to manipulate Ray Liotta's character.LL Cool J was an FBI agent, although he was not dirty. The chief of police was in on the whole deal with Jackie as he was the one who let her out in the end.Jackie decided not to press charges against Taye diggs' character as to draw suspicion towards him in the end. She also new he would point out anybody as Danny. That was imperative as it set-up LL's character.She set-up the hit men who wanted Ray's character dead. She pointed Mekhi's character out as Rupert. Rupert was the one who rigged the gas explosion.After Danny got arrested, everything went on to her.The key is to remember that the main plot had little to do with Jolene's character being raped, and it had little to do with LL's character.
The Title Describes the Content
posted on 13 Mar 2006SLOW BURN is a film that has much to like, much promise, and a cast of trusty actors to bring it off. The problem with the result is in director/writer Wayne Beach's hands and especially in the editing job on the completed film. It is like watching a 'follow-the-bouncing-ball' film: there are many surprises and subplots and altered identities that keeping a score card of where the story is going is a bit difficult.Reduced to the bare bones the plot takes place in a 24 hour period during which District Attorney Ford Cole (Ray Liotta) and his Assistant DA Nora (Jolene Blalock) are in a showdown with a significant crime boss Luther Pinks (LL Cool J). Nothing is as it seems, as irritating flashbacks attempt to prove, and in the end the good guys and the bad guys are difficult to appreciate. There are some excellent performances by reliable actors such as Taye Diggs, Mekhi Phifer, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Bruce McGill, but the plot depends on a significant point of the confused racial identity of Jolene Blalock's character, and though she acts well, the part would have been better served by an actress like Nicole Ari Parker, to name just one.The problem with this supposedly enigmatic thriller is that the astute viewer will see through the plot far too early. But given the quibbles, it is good to see these actors at work, especially the underused Ray Liotta. Grady Harp
What a mess...
posted on 01 Feb 2006I rented this movie because of the actors involved - Ray Liotta, LL Cool J, Taye Diggs, Mekhi Phifer and the great Bruce McGill. However, the movie basically bored and confused me simultaneously. To put it simply, it's just too messy. The movie touches on some interesting subjects and has some potential - but the end result is, well, quite a mess. Slow Burn seems to be quite inspired by "The Usual Suspects" - which is by no means a bad thing. But it all just gets too convoluted. I lost track of the tricks the movie tried to pull to surprise the audience toward the end. It seemed pretty forced as did all the flashbacks throughout the film. I will, however, give the movie credit for "hiding" the bad guy really well - I didn't guess who it was, despite being a big movie buff. The actors all do their jobs just fine, though I think LL Cool J was somewhat miscast. All in all I would not recommend this movie. I guess there is a reason it was held back for 2 years ;-)
don't blink
posted on 14 Jan 2006I had not heard of this movie when me and my friend picked it up at Blockbuster. It was between this and Be Kind Rewind and fortunately we chose this movie. Ray Liotta plays a district attourney running for mayor when his DA is raped by a supposed psychotic music store clerk and then murders him. Liotta is taken on a roller coaster of a mystery where you don't know who is telling the truth and if everyone is who they say they are. There are so many twists and turns that it becomes confusing at points but it all adds up to the ending which relieves your confusion. I haven't heard of Jolene Blalock but she is excellent in her role as the supposedly raped(was she or wasn't she?) DA who may have some tricks up her sleeve. The only thing i had a problem with was some of the dialouge. LL Cool J's ramblings about everything smelling like food was a bit strange. Other than that it was awesome
inscrutable film noir cop drama
posted on 04 Jan 2006In the opening scene of "Slow Burn," an assistant district attorney (Jolene Blalock) is found wandering the streets of the city, disheveled and confused, informing those who find her that she has just killed a rapist in self defense. The alleged attacker (Mekhi Phifer) was a man she supposedly met one night in a record store and who then proceeded to stalk her for weeks thereafter. Suddenly, into the head D.A.'s office strides LL Cool J, as a friend of the deceased who has a considerably different story to tell about the events leading up to the murder as well as an entirely disparate take on the couple's relationship. Things get even more dicey when we discover that the D.A. (Ray Liotta) and the assistant D.A. have been conducting a torrid affair of their own for a number of years now."Slow Burn" fails on so many levels of rudimentary storytelling and film-making that it's hard to know where exactly to begin in compiling a list of its shortcomings. To start with, there's something inherently self-defeating and pointless in constructing a narrative from two widely conflicting viewpoints - a la "Rashomon" - when one of the supposed eyewitnesses is already dead and, thus, unable to personally relate his side of the story. How does it enhance the verisimilitude of the tale if most of our information has to come filtered down to us through a secondhand source, a person who wasn't even present at the events he's describing - unless, of course, he was hiding in a nearby closet during all those "intimate" moments he is able to recount in such juicy and exhaustive detail? Either that or the murder victim was one of the chattiest, kiss-and-tell gossips in the history of the movies. And why does it take till the closing reels for the supposedly intelligent professional investigators to smell a rat in that setup? Eventually, the twist-and-turn plotting leads to so much incoherence and confusion that you might well wonder if the filmmakers themselves understood what it was they were doing.Beyond the clumsy, inscrutable storytelling, "Slow Burn" also suffers from some of the most overripe dialogue this side of "The Black Dahlia." With such knee-slapping howlers as "She stood there like a tangerine, ripe and ready to be peeled" and "She walked in smelling like mashed potatoes and every guy within thirty feet wanted to be the gravy," the script could easily win First Prize in a Bad Film Noir Writing contest. It's hard to believe at such times that the film isn't actually intended to be a parody (the acting sure suggests it on occasion). On second thought, perhaps it would be best to stick with that notion; it just might go down easier that way.
Slow Burn takes concentration
posted on 27 Jul 2009There are some movies that if you do not just hand feed the audience, they assume that it is boring. Slow Burn has a lot of twist and turns the movie is to be taken just as the title "Slow Burn". I enjoyed it and have watched it 3 times. The first time, I was involved with doing something else and when I would glance up, I was like oh, okay. But, you actually need to sit down and really get into this movie. Action good, plot is good. There are a couple of underlying plots that you have to watch for. You have all the things needed that people request, drug lord, corruption, love, and sex. As the plots thickens, the viewer should attempt to pull the plots away from each other. Just relax, let the movie take its course. Girls you have some of the top good looking men in the movie that's a plus. There are some up and comings in the movie, that with a few more times, they will survive on their on.