15 Minutes (2001)

Plot Outline: A famous homicide detective and a fire marshal team up to solve a rather bizarre case starting when two Eastern Europeans have travelled to New York to pick up their share of a heist. When their former partner doesn't have the money, they kill him and his wife and film the ordeal using a video camera. It seems that they can sell their story to a local TV programme run by unscrupulous newsreader Robert Hawkins who will do anything for ratings. The criminals realise that the American media can make them look rich and innocent at the same time and plot more media killings.

The Review: The director was obviously looking to educate everyone on the dangers of the media and the poor state of the judicial system (the US isn't alone in this problem: the UK legal system sucks) and a fair job is made of trying to do that. But it seems as though this is at the expense of a solid plot and script. The film itself is pretty unremarkable - still enjoyable to watch but you'll instantly forget it. As the film progresses, it goes down the tried and tested method of the typical action film and abandons the messages it was trying to deliver, throwing around explosions and gun fights to keep the interest. De Niro and Burns play off each other well, although both of their characters are seemingly wasted. We are hinted at character sub-plots and development but it doesn't happen. Burns is supposed to be a fire marshal yet by the end of the film he's turned into some sort of gun-toting renegade hunting for revenge. The true stars of the film are the villains. Oleg Taktarov and Karel Roden are excellent. One minute they can be joking around with a camera, the next they are killing people quite brutally. It's quite a contrast to make and both actors do a great job of it. The horror here is that they are killing people to get famous and rich, not the usual crap about revenge we so often see. There's also strong support from Avery Brooks and Kelsey Grammar, as well as an early role for an almost unrecognisable Charlize Theron. The film also contains a very good twist half-way through, which came as a big shock to me. Just goes to show that reputations count for nothing if the director has the balls to pull a stunt like it. Maybe if director John Herzfeld had stuck to making a solid thriller without the need for commentary, then we'd have been given a bit more meat to go with the flick. Most of the thriller material is well done, if somewhat unoriginal, but it's overshadowed by the "bigger picture" and that sucks.

Final Verdict: 15 Minutes isn't a really exceptional film but it does what it has to do and does it pretty well. It made a real change from the usual horror tripe I subject myself too.

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