Genres

Visitors Review

moviemanchild 2012-05-24 17:04:49

Sneaks Up On You

I saw this film at South by Southwest. It gets off to a slow start, butthen I got swept up in this complicated story about a security guardand his old high school girlfriend, played by Sherry Stringfield. It'sa serious drama, but there's a lot of humor. Wayne Knight, of Seinfeldfame, is great as the second-in-command of a corrupt Los Angelesarmored car company. Billy Burke plays the leading role and is intenseand riveting. This is an enjoyable low-budget indie with a gritty, L.A.feel. But you need to pay attention. The plot is complex, as it shouldbe in a heist movie. All in all one of my favorite films at this year'sSouth By Southwest.

dbborroughs 2012-05-24 06:06:59

Despite a game cast this seems some how passionless. Worth trying in any case

Depending on your mood this will either be a good little film or acomplete time waster. The plot has a security guard planning a robberyand revenge against old friends and having everything complicated byhis religious beliefs and his obsession with a televangelist. Okaysmall scale film probably wouldn't have shown up anywhere except WayneKnight is in the cast in a small role as a boss at the armored carcompany. The twists, when they come, are good. The performances arefine. The trouble is that there seems not to be a translation of thepassion the filmmakers felt that made them want to make the film. Itskind of dull and uninvolving, which is odd because the cast clearlycares. Try it depending on your mood.

MBunge 2012-05-19 21:38:28

Proves why a good director is usually more important than a good script

Forfeit has more than enough plot and Billy Burke and Gregory Itzinhave got all the makings of a great dramatic duo. However, the storystarts off on a colossally wrong foot, stays horribly out of balancethe rest of the way and how it's all filmed robs the movie of any moodor sense of style. This is a complex, psychological thriller that'sshot and staged like an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger or Renegade.You know, that syndicated 90s show with Lorenzo Lamas. It's as if thiswas written by someone who's almost as smart as he thinks and directedby someone who's much dumber than he suspects. It also doesn't helpthat Burke and Itzin are the only ones taking this thing seriously,while everyone else in the cast apparently thought Forfeit was acomedy. This isn't a terrible motion picture but it's far enough offthe mark to be closer to a miss than a hit.Frank (Billy Burke) is a low-paid guard at an armored car company. He'sreturned to his hometown 18 years after killing his father and tries torekindle his romance with his old girlfriend Karen (SherryStringfield). But it gradually becomes clear that Frank has an agendawith Karen that goes far beyond happy reunion and designs on hisemployer's vault full of cash. Along the way, Frank is both guided andtormented by a televangelist (Gregory Itzin) who can see through thescreen and into Frank's tortured soul.Screenwriters may not like to think about this, but the truth of cinemais a great director can salvage something watchable out of an awfulscript and a great script cannot survive in the hands of a baddirector. Forfeit is a striking demonstration of the latter, though I'mnot sure John Rafter Lee's writing was necessarily great to begin with.There's enough in the plot, characters and dialog to make me thing itas pretty good, though, until it has to pass through the positivelyremedial director of Andrew Shea. His work would have lookeduninteresting and uninspiring in the 1970s. Compared to thekaleidoscopic imagery and breakneck narratives of the 21st century,Shea's direction is musty, mildewed and moronic. I mean, you wouldn'tlet this guy direct TV commercials for your local community college.Shea may not be completely to blame. There are some problems with thestory that could be all Lee's responsibility. For starters, this is oneof those movies that starts at the dramatic conclusion and then jumpsback in time to show you how things got to that point. But what Forfeitshows you during its ending/beginning undermines the dramatic structureof all that comes after it. Imagine if you'd seen the face of KeyserSoze right away in The Usual Suspects. It wouldn't explain everythingimmediately, but you'd know enough that nothing coming after that couldpossibly be a surprise.There's also a secret connection between Frank and the televangelistthat should have been revealed at the finish of the film after keepingthe audience guessing about it all the way through. Instead, the secretis offhandedly given away before Forfeit is halfway over…and I'm notsure if anyone involved in the production realized it.As for Sherry Stringfield? She's cute and has a screen presence that alot of actresses would kill for, but she probably should have neverleft ER. If nothing else, the extra years of network salary andresiduals might have prevented her from ever having to do stuff likeForfeit to pay the bills.There are a lot of movies out there much worse than this one. That'sall I can say for it, so can it really be worth your time?

jotix100 2012-05-19 04:15:50

The preacher

Frank, an ex-con, comes back trying to get back with his formergirlfriend, Karen, who as it turns out, doesn't want any part of him.He has been following a television evangelist who seems as though isonly preaching to him. From the start one figures there is somethingdefinitely wrong with this man as we witness him visiting Karen who isa prisoner herself now. The film then goes back to a few weeks before.Frank O'Neal has been hired by a an armored truck company that employsonly former inmates. There is something shady with this firm, onerealizes. Frank plots to rob them, and being canny enough, he figures away to put the blame on everyone else including his boss. He wants toframe Karen as being the person that is really involved in the heist.Little does Frank know that Karen has a strong surprise in store forhim as the film ends up.Director Andrew Shea, working on the screenplay by John Rafter Lee,delivers a film that gets the viewer involved. The film relies on BillyBurke, who plays Frank, as its main asset, and he does a good job withhis character. There is also a chilling performance by Greg Itzin asthe television charlatan that has captured Frank's imagination. WayneKnight has a small part.

MOSSBIE 2012-05-13 17:30:11

Best surprise of indie film all year

When one reads reviews about this film, it could just as well be abouta non kung fu action movie for all that is missing in the creativesurplus that is bedazzling. First the best group of actors and castingI have ever seen who are all "unknowns" to me, except for a heavy setguard conspirator who plays it straight and does it well, too. Thestory line is unexpected and the "lead" has so many faces and is socalm and cool at once, and then a complete wacko. It works because weare not force fed a story line typically American, but the revelationsdo come back in flashbacks, in revelations which are accidental orcleverly edited. However they make it there, they work. Even theevangelist works whereas most of them are all so dumb and overdone.Thefilm is going to be a sleeper and is going to be HUGE in France. It isvery much like a combination of French directors and does not messaround with any of the modern icons who are running out of parts forDeNiro and Pacino playing devils.This is low budget and mesmerizingfilm making with not one bad actor. Too many young filmmakers who haveno idea of the roots of films who try and be witty and forget what ittakes to assemble this kind of involving production.

Pierre_Kirby 2012-05-12 21:30:20

Hell doesn't exist, because it is something that a just God would not conceive. Also, Evangelists are loonies.

Forfeit is one of thoseinteresting/uninteresting/Psychological/Religious/Heist themed CrimeThriller's that usually come every year in some distant, intergalacticplanet of Starfleet Delta 3132. In other words, this is a unique movie,and for that, I give it mad props. Too bad the first and second half ofthe movie is horribly paced and uninteresting; almost too horrible.While the movie attacks Christian's (mainly the Evangelists), it isdone in a tasteful way that doesn't come off as preachy or redundant.Well, maybe a little bit of the latter. The movie begins with one of those 'the end starts at the beginning'gimmicks that unravels as the movie progresses. Billy Burke stars inthis one as Frank, a quiet religious nut who plans a clever Heist,using his job as a security guard, and his ex-girlfriend (played bySherry Stringfield). Frank, being the religious nut he is, constantlyfights with a TV Evangelist (effectively rendered by Gregory Itzin) dueto the lack of saneness in his mind. The script is interesting enough,whilst the acting good for the most part. Nice clean cinematography,and effective (albeit minimalist) musical score.In order to truly enjoy this one, you must be patient, because thethird half of the movie is really, really interesting and enjoyable.Nevertheless, Wayne Knight is in this, so there are some other thingsgoing for it besides a "complicated" plot. I can see what the makersbehind this wanted to do, and well, they nearly pulled it off. Maybenext time fellas.4.9/10

Ryan Hunter 2012-05-09 20:25:37

A complicated yet good psychological drama

This is one of those rare "B" movies which has a complicated yet solidstoryline accompanied by excellent acting. The filming looks likesomething you would see on daytime TV yet the storyline and acting issomething you would expect from a well-known director and a much betterfunded production.Forfeit is not an action film nor a thriller it is a complicatedpsychological thriller about a white, devout Christian hell-bent(seriously hell-bent as he acknowledges the evil of his actions) oncarrying out his vengeance for an decade old crime against him.The only complaint I have is that the storyline is based around thestereotype that devout Christian men are violent, irrational anddelusional. While atheist/agnostics and non-practicing, pseudoChristians are the victims of their misguided passion. However thatbeing said the film does not portray all Christian men as violent anddelusional just the only one in the film.

truth 2012-05-09 12:02:04

Good reminder about weird friends

We all need to be reminded that things aren't always what they seem; so watch out. The TV preacher in this movie was great; very penetrating delivery. He should get his own bible show now that Gene Scott is gone.