4GOT10 (2015)

 

4Got10 (2015)

Summary: Brian Barnes (Johnny Messner) wakes up in the desert wounded and with no memory and no idea why he's surrounded by eight bodies, a van with four million in cash and a van full of cocaine. Brian is pursued by not only notorious drug lord Danny Perez (Danny Trejo) who desperately want his money back, and DEA Agent Rooker (Dolph Lundgren), but also a by the corrupt Sheriff Olson (Michael Pare) who will stop at nothing to get his hand on the new found fortune. On the run, Brian discovers the more he remembers the less he wants to know about who he really is.

 

 

There is no feeling out process here. 4Got10 opens up with 8 bodies lying in a desert. It gets a bit confusing at first. Brian wakes up and removes his shirt which reveals he was wearing a bullet proof vest but he did take a shot just below the vest. He walks over and takes the shirt of a dead man and puts it on. A siren is heard in the distance so he walks back over to his spot and lays back down and plays dead. Now I get the playing dead part. But what was the point of taking of his bloody shirt to put on someone else's bloody shirt? Eh, guess I'll never get it. Anyway, once the cops show up, the movie really starts speeding up and doesn't let off the gas until it's over.

 

 

Acting was top notch. Johnny Messner was on point. He was a perfect mixture of bad ass and completely lost. There were times in the movie where the script wasn't really working in his favor. I've seen these similar “amnesia” movies where the actor/actress is basically going through the motions and they can't really make the audience believe that they have no memory. Messner somehow managed to pull it off. I was very impressed with his performance in this one. Danny Trejo was, well, he was Danny Trejo. His character was basically a mirror image of his character Romeo in Sons of Anarchy. Trejo knows how to play a cartel lord, and he knows how to play a bad ass so I don;t really need to give any more of a description on him. The weak link in the acting on this one would unfortunately have to go to Dolph Lundgren. Now that isn't a complete bash on him. His character, Agent Rooker is a very bland, straight to the point, monotone individual. That is the kind of character actor he is, and he excelled at that part of it. If you really think about it, he has been cast in roles strictly because the character doesn't show emotion (Rocky IV, Universal Soldier). The only spot he really fell short was that there were a scarce amount of scenes/lines in this that did require some emotion and those ones weren't very convincing. But as a whole, the movie was cast very well and the actors were solid in portraying their characters.

 

 

The story itself was solid. There was always something going on to keep the viewer engrossed in the movie. Their was a very good mixture of action and drama. To me personally, nothing can ruin a good movie like horrible dialogue. Luckily, that wasn't the case here. This script was very well written. The only thing about it that I wasn't completely sold on was the curveballs they through at you. I wouldn't go so far as to call them plot twists because the whole movie wasn't building up to it just for it to get flipped on it's head. Instead of a one big plot twist, they through multiple curveballs to keep us entertained. While I applaud the effort and really do like what was being attempted, they were very predictable so it didn't get the desired response.

When all is said and done, this was an awesome movie. If you happen to come across it, definitely give it a shot.
   

          

reviewed by Bobby