"Killers on the Run"
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What You Need To Know:
The only redeeming aspects of this movie are a few picturesque shots of the Australian outdoors, and a few clever lines of dialogue. The heroes cheat, steal, lie, and possibly murder. Furthermore, justice does not prevail. Al and Nikki get away with a slap on the wrist and end up living the good life. There is no apparent reason for the jump cutting. With New York film festival coordinators continually looking for fresh and inventive stories, the jump-cut editing in this movie was mistaken for originality and creativity.
Content:
(Pa, LLL, VVV, SS, NN, A, D, M) Pagan worldview of thieving killers on the run; 73 obscenities & 5 profanities; excessive violence including shooting, car crash, man strikes girl, fist fighting, girl attempts to light man on fire, attempted rape, threats with knife & poisoning; moderate sex including two images of fornication on video tape, implied pedophilia on videotape, implied fornication between criminal couple, & some sexual situations; rear female nudity, upper male nudity & women in lingerie; alcohol use; smoking; and, lying, stealing & cheating
More Detail:
From Australia comes an inferior crime story about two thieving lovers on the run for suspected murder. An entry in the New York Film Festival, this movie is as difficult to watch with its murder and mayhem as it is with a very odd and jarring editing style, continually breaking one of the fundamental, basic rules of filmmaking − avoid jump cuts!
Matt Day of MURIEL’S WEDDING and Frances O’Connor of LOVE AND OTHER CATASTROPHES star as scam artists Al and Nikki. Nikki will find a married man in a hotel bar, go back to his room, slip a sedative into his drink, and Al will enter, and together they will steal all his valuables. On one such night, a rather frisky victim nearly rapes Nikki before he is knocked out. As Al and Nikki take his money and watch, Al discovers that the man is dead. Nikki insists that she only put in the usual two pills. Yet, Al becomes suspicious of Nikki − a suspicion which will grow throughout the movie.
When the couple go to another hotel to lodge, they discover, the next morning, that the manager is dead. Al thinks Nikki did it, but she insists that she did not. They leave, but the police are on to them. Another man, a famous football player named Zipper Doyle (Barry Langshire), is also on to them, because Nikki holds a video tape of Zipper in some rather compromising situations. As more and more people end up dead, Al becomes frantic, allowing the police to catch up with him and Nikki. Through an attorney’s help, the two are never convicted of murder and get legitimate jobs on the western coast of Australia.
The only redeeming aspects of this movie are a few picturesque shots of the Australian outdoors and a few clever lines of dialogue between the detectives. Matt Day and Frances O’Conner perform only adequately. The whole backstory of Nikki’s past and her possible violent streak are never explained. It is difficult to be sympathetic to these characters, because not only are they criminals, but are not even given good dialogue. They cheat, steal, lie, and possibly murder. Furthermore, justice does not prevail. Al and Nikki get away with merely a slap on the wrist and end up living the good life in the end.
Some critics are praising the editing style as reinventing the noire style. The fact is that the filmmaker is continually reminding the viewer that this is a movie. There is no fluidity or stylization which convincingly suggests time, mood or metaphor. The whole movie is difficult to watch. In some scenes, it looks like the editor merely took out a few frames of action during a fluid scene. There is no apparent reason for head-ache inducing jump cutting. With film festival coordinators continually looking for fresh and inventive movies, the bad editing of this movie was mistaken for originality and creativity.
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