Toxic
(2007/Genius DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D Film: C-
How many
bad, obvious Gangster and revenge films must we sit through before someone gets
the point that the party is over and barely began. Alan Pao’s Toxic (2007) is another one of those over-edited,
thinks-its-slicker-than-it-is film with another odd mix of actors (Dominique
Swain, Master P, Tom Sizemore, Danny Trejo, C. Thomas Howell. Steven Bauer,
Costas Mandylor) that gives the makers an excuse to badly emulate Hong Kong action
films, often a few generations down from an original idea to begin with.
At least
the Britney Spears song is not here, but many missed opportunities are as Pao
and the inane screenplay (by Pao and Kyle Kramer) is just all over the place,
never is able to focus and involves a goofy plot where a head hoodlum
(Sizemore) decides to have his mentally ill daughter killed, even if he might
be the cause of her misery. She decides
to go on her own killing spree!
If
handled with intelligence and as a character study of some kind, this could
have been something, but it is just another shootout flick with no point. What a shame.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is a bit soft, but part of it is the
style and I give Director of Photography Roger Chingirian credit for his
advanced use of color, which is far better than most Gangster and MTV films of
the time. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix has
a weak soundfield, which is odd for a film like this, but dialogue is sometimes
lost in the mix. Scott Glasgow’s score
is not bad. There are no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
