I watched this 2011 flop last week and believe me I see why the revenue was a paltry 250K for a 12 million dollar budget. If you’re really bored and don’t have a copy of the Troll 2 laying around, then by all means watch this movie. Oh, by the way, Troll 2 is by far the worst movie ever made. In an upcoming post I will cover the movie called “Best Worst Movie Ever” which of course is Troll 2. If only Keanu could’ve been in that masterpiece. Well here goes nothing……
The movie opens with Henry (KEANU REEVES) working the night shift as a toll collector on a lonely stretch of highway in Buffalo, New York. Henry is a man seemingly without ambition, acting skills, dreams or purpose; a man sleepwalking his way through life. Keanu seems mildly sedated during most of movie and kind of reminds you of the last matrix when he went all crazy. One morning when he gets in from work he is visited by a high school friend Eddie (Fisher Stevens). You’re probably asking yourself where do I know Fisher Stevens from, think back to those Short Circuit Johnny 5 is alive movies. So Eddie convinces Henry to play in a softball game, and is asked to drive to the field. The car is filled with other players and Henry soon discovers that what they’re actually planning is a bank robbery. Henry is the only one caught and rather than give up the names of the real culprits, Henry takes the fall and goes to jail. There, he meets Max (JAMES CAAN), a con man who’s grown far too comfortable with his life behind bars, but one who also helps plant an idea in Henry’s mind that for a man to find his purpose, he must first have a dream. Henry is released one year later and believes he has found his purpose. That being having done the time, he decides he may as well do the crime. Discovering a long forgotten bootlegger’s tunnel which runs from the very same bank to a theater across the alleyway, he convinces Max to file for his long overdue parole — and then recruits his former cellmate to help stage a robbery. Their plan is simple: go undercover in the theater and its current production of Chekhov’s, The Cherry Orchard, and the unlikely duo will buy just enough time to dig their way to the adjacent bank vault and drive off with their loot. Unfortunately that plan also includes Henry taking the lead role in the play, where he finds himself slowly falling for the production’s leading lady, Julie (VERA FARMIGA).
This is perhaps beginning to sound to you like a good bank heist movie. Well it would be a great bank heist movie if you have gone 48 hours without sleep. All the elements are present: Henry needs to be cast in the play to gain access to the tunnel, Max and Eddie get involved, Julie is remarkably accepting, any romance between Julie and Henry hangs in the balance, split-second exits and entrances are called for, and so on. Now imagine everyone sprinting through quicksand. Neo (Keanu Reeves) has many talents as an actor, but being in a good bank heist movie isn’t one of them. He really kills this movie. If you like watching a boring movie then this one is for you.
As for me, I give it a 1.5 out of a 5. Trust me, stay away from this movie!
Watch the Trailer….
