The other day I decided to start watching another film that the good folks at Mill Creek Entertainment supplied me and out of the movies they sent me, I settled on “Body Count”. I wanted to see it mainly because it had a large recognizable cast yet I had never heard of it before and I wondered how a movie with such an impressive cast could just slip under my radar this long. Thankfully Mill Creek Entertainment always seems to unearth these forgotten films for our viewing pleasure.
The film focuses on a group of criminals after they pull off an art heist at a museum that doesn’t go to plan. As the group tries to make it to Miami to sell the art pieces, the in fighting among the criminals slowly increases, as does the body count (see what I did there). The friction among the group is further increased when they pick up a woman who seems more than willing to play each criminal off of each other.
By now you are probably well aware I love to do my research on films after I see them. I like to read about the history and share some of the highlights with you if I find any. Well, I had a very hard time finding out much information about this movie besides the basics. I did find out that this film wasn’t released in theaters (hence why it went under a lot of people’s radar). It premiered on Showtime in 1998 and it skipped a theatrical release due to negative test screenings.
I am going to start by saying this movie has flaws which I will get into but it wasn’t terrible. In fact, I think the movie could have easily scored a theatrical debut (and very possibly have made money and garnished positive reviews) if one aspect of the film was changed. What could have changed? I honestly think that if the ending had been a bit better, it would have done a lot better with test audiences. The ending was a bit silly and left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. The end could have easily been saved with an amazing twist. I half expected something more to happen but the film just sort of ended.
It was easy to see the influence of early Quentin Tarantino films on this movie. From the all star cast (including Ving Rhames from “Pulp Fiction”) to the non linear story telling and strong language, you could tell there was hope that audiences would see it on the same level as a Tarantino film. “Body Count” lacks the style and flair of a Quentin Tarantino film however.
The film was filled with mostly unlikable characters. David Caruso, Linda Fiorentino and John Leguizamo all play incredibly horrible characters you root against. The only likable character in the film was Pike played by Ving Rhames...and he was still playing a criminal. The film did have a moment that tickled me from former ‘New Kids on the Block’ member Donnie Wahlberg as he starts talking about the future being about protein. For some reason, knowing that Donnie is a co-owner of Wahlburgers made this bit an odd bit of foreshadowing and also a bit funny.
One part I thought was done fairly well was the actual robbery. In a lot of respects, it reminded me of the opening robbery scene from “The Dark Knight”. One by one, the criminals in the movie end up picking each other off and increasing their own shares (just like what happened in “The Dark Knight”). I should mention that while most of the music is rather generic in the film, the music used for the bank robbery was very well done and I wonder if Hans Zimmer used any musical cues from this movie in “The Dark Knight” because it sure sounds like it, but it could be a coincidence as well.
“Body Count” won’t be any golden standard for crime thrillers but I have also seen far worse films. Had the film been tweaked a bit, it could have been a classic. As of right now, we should just be grateful the film has seen the light of day thanks to Mill Creek Entertainment.
