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4 stars****

Everyone else and I really mean everyone else, has absolutely panned this movie, but I’m going against the majority: I enjoyed it. It wasn’t Shakespeare, but then I didn’t anticipate it might be.

Sure the plot was stretching the imagination and most of the cast (except the lead, Al Pacino) appeared to be in their first acting lessons; nevertheless it was an enjoyable ride.

It’s unfair to link 88 minutes to the marvelous 24 hours. 24 was in real time (helped along with advert breaks and recaps so we only actually saw 37 minutes of each 60; we didn’t have to see the actors going to the bathroom, for example. The 88 minutes started 20 minutes into this 108 minute film, so we were going to see real time and AL didn’t make a bathroom break. If it’s your last 88 minutes on the planet you might need that room a few times and in real life you wouldn’t stay working in unsafe locations, especially as it was obvious from early on that one of his students was the killer and you’d keep away long enough to stay protected.

However, this is a Hollywood movie and still we need to be bombarded with screenplays that are written with accurate storyboard points so we know what will happen, when and why. The ending has to be cheesy, everyone smiles and the cast must get their specific character arc and plot success at exact moments. The screenplay writer Garry Scott Thompson managed that operation, but that forced him into areas and actions you wouldn’t want to go to if you had 130 minutes, alas he has just 108 minutes.

I was embarrassed by some of the acting in this movie; that’s down to the direction and actually declaring ‘that’s a wrap’ when he should have said ‘cut, another take’. Some characters were underdeveloped due to time constraints. We were following AL around, not his students, so they didn’t get the chance to glow. Alicia Witt wasn’t given the best lines of her career to interpret but unlike other film reviewers I found her opening up to her boss and declaring long lost love/lust for him matched the predicament she was in; he might be murdered very soon.

There wasn’t time to develop the characters enough so I was slightly confused at who was who, but the eventual killer did leave enough clues on the way that Agatha Christie would have been proud of. The red herrings and the sleuthing provided the enthusiasm required by the audience. If Agatha is allowed to have as many red herrings as she wants and can allow almost all the cast to act as potential suspects, then so can 88 minutes; but of course no-one is as good as Agatha at the thriller/murder set up and development.

I found the opening scene highlighted exactly the type of killer on the loose we were to be chasing. I’m sorry other reviewers wanted a PG movie, but the killer’s methods highlighted how guilty the guy waiting for death row, was.

We had a little flesh as a good looking lady moved into the shower. We were treated to a standard issue lesbian moment and we were convinced that all twenty year old students always fall for their 60 year old lecturer.

The male student that was visiting the killer in jail was obviously far too weak to be the new copycat killer, so I don’t see why he was even in the frame as an alternative possible killer. The clues were all there folks.

I found the film entertaining, with enough to make you keep your brain turned on for clues, yet not so that you’d need a top university degree to understand what happened.

The last five minutes of the movie mirrored exactly what Hollywood expects from its screenwriters these days. There was no twist to suddenly find out Al’s character did the killing himself, just as they were trying to frame him. The protagonist always solves the problem at the end; he/she always smells of roses while others die in any outrageous manner. It met the Hollywood screen writer’s detail of specification screenplay writing.

I know a film works when I discuss it in detail at the end, with my movie examination partner. If we’re enthusiastic about the discussion, I know it deserves a good result. Sometimes we have nothing to say. This time we enjoyed talking through the clues.

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