Five Fingers is the kind of movie that must be seen to be believed, and once it is seen, cannot help but be appreciated. This is a wildly clever title that will do downright amazing things, if you’re willing to spend about two thirds of it completely in the dark.
Basically, it’s about a young Dutch pianist named Martijn who’s going to Morocco to set up a food program. On the way there, he’s shot full of some random drug, his traveling companion is shot, and he’s forced into some kind of interrogation / mind game in which he’s out to not only survive, but also learn his captor’s true objectives and also escape, if he can.
Five Fingers will be an extremely, EXTREMELY deliberate movie, giving away only tiny bits of the plot at any given time. They will take an excruciatingly long time going over it all, and they will only toss out a tiny bit after a good long sequence has passed.
Oh, and there’s a really creepy reason they call it “Five Fingers”. Trust me on that one, it’s creepy.
It’s hard to say much of anything about a movie like this. It will require great focus to get anything out of it because they’ll be advancing the plot in tiny, tiny chunks at a time, surrounding it with alternating sequences of tedium and brutality. It’s not even organized the way a standard narrative would be, with the backstory in one solid mass somewhere near the beginning, and then the remaining events of the narrative proceeding outward from there. But in Five Fingers, we get the backstory in little bits at a time, pieces and pieces here and there, and the story they form is downright amazing. You will be in suspense for literally most of the film.
By the time you get to the end of this monster, you’re going to be absolutely amazed by what has just happened. The concept is just mind-boggling in its complexity. I’m still amazed by the sheer number of twists the last fifteen minutes represented. Even after seeing it through, they sprung a trap on me the likes of which I’d never seen before. I’m repeating the word “amazed” a lot here because I just plain old AM AMAZED by this.
The sheer minimalism of this one is what’s doubly disconcerting–they did this with a cast of about half a dozen speaking roles and most of it was shot in what might have been an abandoned steel mill. They’ve done so much with comparatively little that, looking at some hundred million dollar piece of summer movie excess almost leaves me feeling bloated and revolted by comparison.
Seriously, if you want to see what just a little bit can do, get your hands on a copy of Five Fingers. This will prove the immense value of a good script. There are virtually no special effects in this–a few squibs and blood packs, that’s really about it. There are no huge set pieces, no expensive backdrops, just the kind of thing that could probably be done on the strength of an everyday consumer credit card.
Five Fingers may be one of the biggest surprises of the year, and if you want to see what kind of surprises can hit you when you’re not looking, run out and get one of these amazingly clever pieces.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Incoming search terms for the article:
- five fingers movie review
- movie review five fingers
Image-Acquire.com - BuZzLinks said
July 8 2009 @ 10:28 pm
[...] Truth — Manslator Game Snell LCR7 XL Bookshelf Speakers Sony responds to Activision’s threat Five Fingers Movie Review–A Terrific, Massive Trap Audi celebrates 100 years with unlikely design Keep Yourself Hydrated this Summer Related [...]