where: CENTURY 14 VALLEJO in Vallejo, CA
when: Wednesday, November 24th, 2010
show: 5:10 p.m.
costs: $7.50 Ticket + $4.50 medium Diet/Zero ( w/ Barq's & Cherry flavors ) Coke + $1.00 7.0 oz Naturally Select Tropical Trail Mix ( bought at the Dollar Tree Store before the show & smuggled-in ) = $13.00
auditorium: 3
seat: 4th row, 4th seat
synopsis/overview: An ex-con, Driver ( Dwayne Johnson ), wastes no time in hunting/gunning down those responsible for killing his brother when they were double-crossed after a bank robbery ten years ago.
noteworthy scenes: 1.) "Where's the exit"; 2.) Chevy Camaro SS; 3.) Office worker victim; 4.) Shooting-up cocaine; 5.) "Can't mess with no ghost"; 6.) New client; 7.) Bank robbery; 8.) Snuff film; 9.) "Smile for the camera"; 10.) Ball game; 11.) "Is that what I think it is"; 12.) Abortion; 13.) "I hope you kill them all"; 14.) Wedding; 15.) Gentlemen's club; 16.) Men's room; 17.) 'Phone call; 18.) "I'm your wife now"; 19.) Drug relapse; 20.) "Both of our victims were informants"; 21.) Unfinished job; 22.) Emergency room; 23.) Chase; 24.) The talk with his mom; 25.) Leads; 26.) "You heard, did you listen"; 27.) "Sermon's over"; 28.) "Just going with the flow, baby"; 29.) "You've got issues"; 30.) "You finish this one, you're dead"; 31.) The brother's killer; 32.) One dollar; 33.) "Go with the flow, my ass"; 34.) "I think I got you figured out"; and 35.) Forgiveness.
audience reaction: The audience was mildly entertained by this movie.
recommendation: I didn't like it that much. You may or may not like this, depending on what kind of Action movies you're into.
spoiler alert! After shots were fired, that dumb-ass girl still walked into the line of fire. In the men's room fight, the other guy got stabbed more that once in the chest with the ice pick; he should then have had a hard time talking because his lungs got punctured. Driver found a convenient parking space in front of the emergency entrance at the hospital. What are the chances of that being the case in real life? When Driver left the hospital, the other assassin was on a rooftop observing him. How did the other assassin manage to pack his things, walk down the building, get into his car in all that commotion, and still manage to catch-up with Driver's speeding-off car? If I were his mom, I would have said, "Boy! ain't you got no manners? Don't you be pointin' that f--kin' gun at me!" Then, I'd grab his gun, lay him across my lap and spank his butt for being such a bad boy. After he left his mom's house, he pulled over by the side of the road where a cross could be plainly seen a few yards away. But when he pulled back into the road, the cross was nowhere to be seen ( Maybe, he ran over it? ). The bad guy knew from an earlier scene that Driver had a metal plate in the back of his head, but he still shot him in the same spot anyway--Duh! How can the other killer possibly retire when he charges such a rock-bottom fee for his service? A line would form from his front door and all around the block of people eager and/or desperate enough to hire him for a hit on someone! When the bad guy was shot, his cellphone was still on, yet the voice on the other side could no longer be heard. When he killed the bad guys, he did the cops a favor ( who would then deal with his case more "favorably" ); but when he killed the last target, he just "threw the book" at his own self! Of course, there are those who would argue that the last bad guy deserved to die; but, then again, Cicero ( Carla Gugino ) was getting close to solving the mystery ( So, I, Cine-Man, would have had the last bad guy killed-off in a different way ).
fyi: The setting for this movie is Bakersfield, CA, where I'd been to a few weeks ago. But I didn't recognize any location. The setting must have been in the old, bad part of town, wherever that might be.
An early scene shows a close-up shot of Dwayne's left chest to show that--Yup--he took care of his gynecomastia ( bitch's tits ) problem.
The first time that I heard the term, "Gentlemen's Club," was over seven years ago from a fellow co-worker. I didn't know that it meant a "Strip Club" or "Strip Joint" or "Nudie Bar."
word of advice: Let your hobby be your work.
tidbits: After the movie, I went to the Admiral Callahan Lane Safeway to get a refill on my prescription. Then, I went to Empire Chinese Buffet for dinner.
An Instance of a Clueless Foreigner ( ya gotta love 'em! );-D
As the Hispanic family ( father, mother and adult son ) seated at the dining table next to mine got up to leave the buffet restaurant, I noticed the son's T-shirt. There, on his chest, in big, bold print are the words, "Hung like a horse"---Hah! I didn't even see an obvious bulge--heck, no one did. So, either he was falsely advertising or the cold weather brought on the dreaded emasculating condition called "Turtleneck Penis". But, since he was a foreigner, I'm willing to bet that he was clueless about what it meant. And as one bumper sticker would say, "Smarter than a horse and hung like Einstein." Ha, ha, ha.
