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Your inclination may depend on whether you recall his dad Ridley's own directing debut, The Duellists (1977), and savor the correspondences. Dad took a Joseph Conrad tale of the Napoleonic Wars, cast it with the ultra-contemporary Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel, and filmed it with a swoopingly mobile camera. Son Jake has made a feisty period piece about a pair of thieves (Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller) in 1748 London and filled it with blatant anachronisms. A decadent aristo (Alan Cumming), asked whether he "still swings both ways," replies, "I swing every way!" A ballroom full of revelers dances the minuet (or is it the gavotte?) while our ears--if not theirs--are filled with a rock ballad. And so forth.
Is this sophomoric? Maybe. But it's also often fresh and inventive. Why shouldn't a filmmaker be allowed to speak directly to a contemporary consciousness, even flaunt it, as long as he also delivers startling imagery and convincing period detail? The solid cast includes Michael Gambon as a corrupt magistrate, Ken Stott as a very nasty enforcer named Mr. Chance (who favors a thumb through the eye socket and into the brain as a mode of execution), and Terence Rigby as a philosophical jailer; even Liv Tyler looks more interesting than usual. Plunkett & Macleane is in the end pretty frivolous, but it's a lively debut nonetheless. --Richard T. Jameson
| ACTORS: | Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle |
| CATEGORY: | DVD |
| DIRECTOR: | Jake Scott (II) |
| THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE: | 01 January, 1999 |
| MANUFACTURER: | Usa Films |
| MPAA RATING: | R (Restricted) |
| FEATURES: | Color |
| TYPE: | Feature Film-action/Adventure |
| MEDIA: | DVD |
| # OF MEDIA: | 1 |
| UPC: | 044005868524 |
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Customer Reviews of Plunkett & Macleane
Stand and deliver tale comes to life For those of us looking for a different kind of adventure, Plunkett & Macleane fits the bill. I wasn't sure what to expect beyond the known premise of this being the story of notorious 18th century English highwaymen. What I discovered in my first viewing was not only the talents of the cast, but a visual feast as well. Updated with modern "slang", an uptempo soundtrack (that cleverly mixes the relevant classical fare with modern electronics), and authentic looking costumes and scenery, this one swept me away to another time and place. Robert Carlyle and Jonny Lee Miller make a great team (again, as in "Trainspotting") as the title characters, and display versatility in each of their roles....from the funny moments weaved throughout, to the dire consequences of their characters' actions, and finally to the loyalty of friendship. Liv Tyler, who's role as Lady Rebecca is not as dimensional as the leads, pulls it off well enough. All in all, I was pleased with this film, even with any minor flaws it contains (all being more in form with the sometimes uneven pace of the story, rather than the acting itself). Stereotypes do abound (esp. the artistocrats)in this movie, as do some gruesome violence, which could have both perhaps been a little less exaggerated. But, who's perfect? Finally, though Plunkett & Macleane is not the type of film everyone will enjoy, those of us with a taste for scoundrels' adventures long ago will find it generally satisfying.
Predictable, Brainless Fun
Robert Carlyle and Johnny Lee Miller are great actors, and they do an admirable job with this piece of period pulp. They've both been in better movies, but seem to have had a particlarly good time making this one. I guess that robbing the rich is more fun for them than being heroine junkies in "Trainspotting." Liv Tyler is pretty as always, and she's a good actress as well, but her role in this film is shallow and lackluster - something that should be attributed to the screenplay, not her.
This is a modern day swashbuckler where the good guys are outlaws and the bad guy (Ken Stott) is just a truly manipulative, nasty person. There's nothing really original about this film, but it is fun to watch and shows promise for Jake Scott as a director. It doesn't aspire to greatness, so it's easy to grant a little leeway.
You probably won't find anybody saying that it's the best movie they've seen but they certainly won't say that it's awful.
The DVD is a bit weak on added features - the featurette does not include anything that you couldn't really get out of the movie on your own. It is, however, kind of interesting to see the difference between the UK and the US trailers for the film. Overall, a decent rental.
Pretentious and Predictable
There is real plot in this film, it just follows two bumbling theives. Actually the two actors are the only aspect that make this movie watchable, just barely however.
The self-concious humour ends up being incredibly pretentious, it even seems to revel in the fact that it is pretentious, and somehow that makes the movie selfaware and hip.
Some people might leap to this films defense and claim that the forgetable plot was part of the grand scheme to keep it fun and exciting. The problem is asides from the an uninvolving plot, this movie is extremely predictable, which further deminishes the already trite affair.