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Visitors Review

info-3268 2012-05-22 00:53:55

Stiletto

Just watched Stiletto - great movie. Lots of action. Well known cast-Amanda Brooks is showing all her range - a must see. Think theensemble cast work really well together. Original revenge story - andyou have to wait till the very end to connect the dots. Nice to seeMichael Biehn again after an absence for a while. This is the secondVillalonga movie i have seen and i like his work. For action lovers itsa real treat. Berringer plays a great crime boss - but not in theItalian style. Chemistry between Biehn and Brooks is electric. AmandaBrooks is really hitting her stride. You can feel the anger flowingout. Very convincing in this role.

choda1977 2012-05-21 17:19:18

Anyone could have made this movie...and made it better!

What perplexes me more than anything is that out of the 25 or soreviews for this movie, almost 70% of them are in the 8 out of 10 starsarea! Honestly people, are you really that bored that this ridiculouspiece of garbage is that entertaining? The dialog is some of the worstI've ever heard and it sounds like something a 14 year old boy wouldcome up with after playing with his friends. Clichés at every turn,washed up actors that make you want to rent one of their earlier moviesjust so you have a better image of them in your mind. Tom Berrengerdoesn't even sound like himself and Michael Biehns face looks like hespent some time in a decompression chamber.Stiletto has a 100 year old man kind of weak plot, one that doesn'treally come to fruition until the movie is at an end. While some moviesmay be able to pull off a plot that isn't apparent in the beginning,this movie accomplishes that feat about as well as the search for JimmyHoffa went.It's just sad that this movie even exists. The fact people put time andeffort into something this horrible is a testament to how many idioticpeople are out there in this world. I mean, why else would these moviesbe made if people with horrible taste weren't there to snatch up thelatest ridiculous direct to DVD release? I could have made a bettermovie if I was completely drunk and blind. Seriously people, we havegot to stop allowing good money to be wasted on this kind of junk.Personally, I have no problem with action movies that are more aboutshooting up the place than the plot but Stiletto isn't even like that.It makes the typical action movie look like Oscar worthy material.

2012-05-21 21:34:42

the lady's weapon of choice . . .

A gritty tale of revenge and greed, Stiletto (2008) hits hard from the start with a series of fast-paced bloody kills, and almost never lets up. Stana Katic (TV series Castle) heads the ensemble cast, as Raina Mavias, a native of Russia, taking bloody vengeance against various underworld figures, doing damage up close and personal, with her weapon of choice, a stiletto blade. The steady string of kills so wet and messy, you can almost feel warm blood on your hands. Crime boss Virgil Vadalos (Tom Berenger) miraculously survives having his belly slit open by Raina, his very determined ex-girlfriend, and brings in police detective Beck (Paul Sloan) to unofficially locate her for him. Vadalos has plenty of muscle available to do his dirty work, including his head of security Alex (William Forsythe), and Lee (Michael Biehn), but the Greek is not above getting a little blood on his hands. As Beck closes in on Raina, his partner and lover, detective Hanover (Kelly Hu), is vexed that he is not following police procedure. In this dark journey through the criminal underworld, the early victims are mostly unknowns, but the impact is intensified by some memorable kills. Lee experiences the wonders of brain surgery, and Hanover is the subject of a picturesque headshot. The reason for Raina's rampage is finally revealed, and the ending is nicely ambiguous. Directed by Nick Valleonga, and written by Paul Sloan, there aren't really any admirable characters, but the film is certainly intense, with good performances by most, including Sloan, Katic, Biehn, and Amanda Brooks as Penny, Lee's spitfiery girlfriend. William Forsythe as usual, excels at playing a slimeball.

dukevega 2012-05-21 05:00:18

About What you'd Expect

This movie suffers from two problems: the cast is too big and if youdon't read the back of the cover, you have no idea why Stana Katic("Castle") is carving up people with an edged weapon that is too big tobe a knife and too small to be a sword.In a movie this long, you need to focus on the protagonist, theantagonist and the world they live in; everything else just bogs downthe story. And in a revenge movie, you need to know why the protagonistis going after people, otherwise it makes it difficult for the audienceto root for her.What saves this movie is a nice little twist at the end and thecharacter of a cop working for the mob; he almost becomes theprotagonist because you get to know him a little and sense that whilehe may be working for the mob, he is not dirty.All in all, barely worth the price of a rental, but I will keep an eyeon the writer--he shows some potential.Note to the Publicity Department: If you're going to name a movie"Stiletto" and the cover is going to feature an armed woman, she shouldprobably be holding the weapon rather than a pair of guns.

2012-05-11 19:11:04

Routine, but entertaining, revenge flick

For everything that Stiletto does well, it's been done plenty of times before. Despite that though, Stiletto is a fairly entertaining revenge flick that boasts an impressive enough cast that helps propel the film. Stana Katic (TV's Castle) stars as Raina; a femme fatale out for revenge against her former gangster boss lover Virgil (Tom Berenger), who himself is looking to find her after her attempt on his life. Also in tow is the crooked cop (Paul Sloan, who also wrote the film) assigned after Raina, Virgil's sadistic muscleman (Michael Biehn), and Virgil's greedy cousin (William Forsythe). Fairly bloody and equally convoluted in its story, Stiletto delivers the goods that thriller fans are generally looking for, and seeing old pros like Berenger, Forsythe, and Biehn (who gives the best performance he's done in quite some time) make it worth seeing. Also featuring smaller parts from Tom Sizemore, Diane Venora, Kelly Hu, Dominique Swain, and D.B. Sweeney.

KrakatoaEnt317 2012-05-11 15:54:35

The Independent Kill Bill????

Don't listen to any of these negative reviews posted about this so far.They are very wrong, If you are into crime or revenge films you willlove this. It has a Kill Bill & Thriller: A Cruel Picture vibe with afemale assassin taking revenge on the ones who wronged her in the pastin a different setting & different motivations obviously but you getthe point. Anyone see the new TV show "Castle"? Well this features theco-star of it Stana Katic (24, Feast of Love, Quantum of Solace, TheLibrarian 3, & The Spirit) as the lead character looking for vengeance.Writer Paul Sloan co-stars as the cop stuck in the middle of this mess.Tom Berenger (Big Chill, Platoon, Major League 1/2, Sniper Trilogy,Training Day, & Detective) chews up the scenery as the main villainwith henchmen Michael Biehn (Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Navy Seals,Tombstone, The Rock, Magnificent Seven, & Planet Terror) & WilliamForsythe (Halloween, Devil's Rejects, Deuce Bigalow, Gotti, The Rock,Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, Out for Justice, Dick Tracy,Extreme Prejudice, & Raising Arizona) helping him control the chaoscaused by Katic. Plus this film has an amazing supporting cast withDiane Venora (Heat, The Insider, & The Jackal), Kelly Hu (X2, No WayBack, & Friday the 13th 8: Jason Takes Manhattan), James Russo (BeverlyHills Cop, Extremities, Dangerous Game, & Donnie Brasco), Tom Sizemore(Heat, Point Break, Passenger 57, True Romance, Natural Born Killers,Witness to the Mob, & Saving Private Ryan), Dominique Swain (Face/Off,Lolita, Out of Season, & Alpha Dog), Tony Lip (The Sopranos, DonnieBrasco, Goodfellas, Pope of Greenwich Village, & Year of the Dragon),D.B. Sweeney (Eight Men Out, Spawn, & Jericho), Robert R. Shafer (Bobfrom TV's The Office), David Proval (Star Chamber, Monster Squad, MeanStreets, Romeo Is Bleeding, Shawshank Redemption, Four Rooms, Smokin'Aces, & The Sopranos) plus two former Leatherfaces in cameo roles R.A.Mihailoff (Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, Trancers III,Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings, & Fallen Angels) & Andrew Bryniarski(Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake/TCM: The Beginning, Black Mask 2, AnyGiven Sunday, Higher Learning, Street Fighter, Batman Returns, & HudsonHawk). Highly recommended, Check it out ASAP....

2012-05-11 01:00:02

Almost completely terrible

It's hard to believe that such a talented cast could make such a terrible picture. After all, it has Oscar nominated Tom Berenger ("Platoon"), the marvelous Michael Biehn ("Tombstone", "Terminator", "Aliens"), William Forsythe ("Out for Justice", "The Untouchables", "Things to do in Denver when you're dead"), and hit TV series sexy cop Stana Katic ("Castle"). And in smaller roles there are Golden Globe nominees Diane Venora ("Bird") and Tom Sizemore ("Witness Protection"), James Russo, D.B. Sweeney, Amanda Brooks, and Kelly Hu, to name just a few. But, with the exception of Biehn, Brooks, and Hu, the performances run from weak to worse.But bad acting doesn't come easily. It requires a moronic script which co-star Paul Sloan provides, and thankfully he seems to have given up screen writing to concentrate on acting, which he is very good at. Combine a bad script with equally bad editing, and not even the good photography and music can save this bomb.Of course there are worse films. But when you consider the quality of the cast, such a bad films is inexcusable.

helljoy1 2012-05-10 07:05:36

Kill Kill Kill

I had to write this after reading a few reviews. Especially the guy whosays he quit watching after 30 Minutes. What do you want a Oscarperformance. This movie is better than a lot of the trash with biggernames in it. This movie is non stop action. Very brutal killings donereally well. Even a couple ways I've never seen before and I've seen alot. I just don't want anyone not to see it due to one idiot. Whatdon't you like revenge flicks? Lack of adventure? Sit back and enjoysomething different. So what if the story isn't A-1. The shortattention span of most will be consumed with this one. A lot offamiliar faces. Check it out. Not for the faint at heart or those witha weak stomach

2012-05-05 12:16:59

Having seen the trailer & pics

Dearest filmmakers. For god's sake, please employ Russian or CIS actors to play Russians :)This girl is as much Russian as I'm Japanese. I understand that Olga Kurylenko might be a little too expensive nowadays, however there must be many more over there.Or, if being realistic is not the case then slip the background stories and just do the Tarantino...

2012-05-05 07:34:31

Katic Fan

This review is from: Stiletto (Amazon Instant Video) I viewed to see Stana Katic's work.More story,less violence,more Katic would have been appreciated.. without Ms Katic why bother seeing Stiletto.

ahsanland 2012-05-02 04:35:16

Watch only if you wanna watch a killer-Stana with a feminine rage and a masculine charisma for killing.

Main Flaw Low Budget attributing to shortened story telling and cheapcinematography. Knowing Stana Katic was playing lead in this movie iknew that there must be some intelligent attribute to this motionpicture, having seen her other efforts previously particularly "Castle"and "Faceless". Both of the former mentioned i recommend. The main flawof the movie is that it suffers from low budget and short script.Budget is something that can be acquired after-wards if the scriptdemands it but if it doesn't have much potential for a memorableexperience for the audience then a high budget cant save the movie. Thelow budget is evident in the shortened city scape footages and thecheap camera technology used (cheaper in comparison to wild things III,which i think didn't have a decent enough script to be given some verygood camera action angles and cinematography and colors). The mainattribute that would really appall audiences is the hasty and cheapcinematography. It could be said that Stana Katic's performance iswasted in this movie having seen her in this endeavour she can make adecent action-heroine if not the best, rivaling 'Carrie Anne Moss'. Allin all i would not say that it suffer from bad acting as almost allfront and lead actor in this movie with the exception of "Stana Katic"and "Paul Sloan" are or were mainstream cinema veterans having starredin well known movies. i also can't say that it suffers from bad scriptor bad dialogue because it struggles hard not to sound clichéd orcontrived , which is an intelligent attribute.negative: low budget:(true)-1 point hastened storytelling:(true)-1point bad cinematography(camera-everything):(true)-1 point neededsomething more:(true)-1 point All leads needed more air - time :(true)-1 point Explanation for the main characters killing skills: (true) -1point ending needed more:-1 the cover gives a false impression of majormotion picture or a high octance good budget action flick within theleague of punisher(2004): -1 positive: good acting from all leadactors: +1 not a bad scrpit: +1 good casting:+1 main actor(Stana Katic)good performance:+1 All kills warranted:+1 ending was apt:+1negative:positive -8:+5 movie:lost whether to watch it : Will bedisappointed due to poor cinematography, but won't be by Stana katic'sperformance, i would recommend instead watching any of her Castleepisodes or "Faceless", but then a huntress/killer Stana you'd bedeprived of. Watch only if you wanna watch a killer-Stana with afeminine rage and a masculine charisma for killing.

killerkandykorn 2012-05-01 13:48:57

Its okay

I'm gonna sum this up so you can easily decide if you want to watch it1st Cinematography is bad. Sometimes it looks like a home movie. But itdoesn't destroy the movie2nd Story is crap. This woman goes on a revenge killing spree becauseof what happened to her sister. But its so poorly put in that it justdoesn't seem to fit, and you just don't feel the emotion. The storytries to twist at the end I guess but it fails.3rd The ending is just stupid.4th This is whats good. Well... there are a couple of ass shots. Thereis some tension between the characters of the gangs which pretty muchholds the movie together. The action sequences are pretty good.The thing is, it's a movie you can enjoy, but you aren't going tocompletely enjoy it in the end, and your not going to want to watch itagain.

merklekranz 2012-04-28 08:27:26

Meaningless and ridiculous ............

This ultra violent female revenge film does not reveal the motivationfor all of Stana Katric's carnage until it's almost over, so whatprecedes the revelation seems like random nonsense. If you are intothis for the cast, beware that Tom Berenger is corpulent with dyedblonde hair. Tom Sizemore actually gives the best performance,expounding priceless dialect inside a strip joint, but his part issmall. The movie has many problems, confusing and meaningless script,mostly bad acting, and zero likable characters. The ending isespecially weak and a ridiculous conclusion to everything that precedesit. Very definitely, a movie to be avoided. - MERK

2012-04-28 00:04:08

Killer Looks

I mostly watched Stiletto for Stana Katic(Castle) as she's an absolutely thrilling actress and she's just wonderful to watch. At first watch I was lightly appalled by the large amount of bloody, gore-ish, violence, but I quickly grew to love it. It has a interesting plotline, murders within a gang with a killer who doesn't mind leaving behind her perfectly shaped tracks. And I mean how many people kill with a gorgeous, bejeweled stiletto now a days? So Raina is out killing members of a gang. Why? Who freaking knows. But she does it so well that even though they know who it is(well one of the cops anyways), she remains effectively out of their grasp. Stana portrays heartbreak and fury perfectly. And the rest of the cast does exceptionally well too. The crazy girlfriend who really just has relationship issues that she wants to fix is violent as hell. Her boyfriend is a maniacal gang killer. And their gang boss is in love with her. A perfect watch when you're really in the mood for a good action flick.

lastliberal 2012-04-24 10:11:53

Guy runs with a bunch of clowns called "Nazis for Jesus".

Raina (Stana Katic - "Castle", Quantum of Solace)is out for revenge.She takes it in the opening on a former lover (Tom Berenger), whomanages to survive only, as he jokes, because of his lifestyle - a bigbelly! He puts Beck (Paul Sloan) on her tail, but she is hard to catchas she pops up all over the city like Jason, slashing her way throughvarious bad guys, even Tom Sizemore, who imagines himself a playerafter leaving a group of Nazis who sell crack to teen girls beforeturning them out.At the same time, we are seeing Amanda Brooks really do a dance on someothers. She & her boyfriend Lee (Michael Biehn - Aliens, TheTerminator) have an interesting way of removing tats; some massivegunfights, and lots more deaths.A good slasher/gangster film.

2012-04-24 04:41:18

Awful!

This review is from: Stiletto (DVD) I love how bad reviews, never get helpful votes. Well I don't care, those people are idiots. This movie is terrible! I feel bad for the actors in this film because they're better than this. The acting is terrible, the story is dumb and if it wasn't for some hot chicks, fast cars & gore, there wouldn't be a reason for any guy to watch this. I bought this for a friend & I feel sorry for him. This movie was a waste of money!

dbborroughs 2012-04-17 14:15:43

Violent revenge flick has a great cast and rewards for those who'll take it on its own bloody terms

Wickedly violent revenge drama with Tom Berenger as a Greek crime bosswho, along with other people, is being hunted by a young Russian girlwho used to be his mistress. The whys and who's of the affair take thefull running time to unravel so I won't say more than that. What I willsay is that this is a mean and nasty film with violence explodingusually in ways we least expect it, in a manner that is really in yourface. This is a movie that makes you frequently sit up and go "whoa".Well stocked with a fantastic cast of character actors (WilliamForsythe, Michel Beihn, James Russo, Tom Sizemore among others) this isas solid a "B" crime film as I've seen recently. (and I mean B as inthe classic definition of a B film, the sort that was carefully craftedto play on a double feature, that was made with care and not justthrown together). If there is any real flaw, or if there is going to beany point that may trouble some viewers it's that the film is verycomplex, or at least it doesn't reveal anything until the stand in forthe audience, the cop working for Berenger, finds anything out. Thismakes for several scenes that seem like they are coming for left field,when in reality they are not. (I'm also sure that the end will leavesome people annoyed, but I'm not one of them, I think it works). Wortha bucket of popcorn and a soda for anyone wanting a dark little crimefilm to "brighten" up their evening.

Jay Harris 2012-04-17 09:45:34

overly violent 3rd rate crime drama,released directly to DVD

First of all,There have been many worse films than this. I did not expect this to be a film to remember, so I was notdisappointed.Years back the studios made this type of film to be shown as the lowerhalf of a double bill, with a 69 minute running time. This film is afast 99 minutes. It is very violent & bloody, what would you expectwith the title. STILETTO.Truthfully, the main reason I saw this was because of the star TomBerenger. 20-30 years ago he was a HUNK.(Looking for Mr Goodbar &Platoon were just 2 of his real good films). He is (of course) mucholder& plays the nasty,mean crime boss, Tom is still good and does holdyour interest. The rest of the acting & production values are onlyfair.I am not even going to mention the leading lady by name.She is pretty &kills most of the cast,I doubt if she make many films.If you remember Tom Berenger,& like them very bloody,profane andviolent see it.Ratings: ** (out of 4)52 points (out of 100) IMDb 4 (out of 10)

2012-04-17 15:49:19

instant classic

As the other reviewers have mentioned: STILETTO does not lack talent. Michael Biehn, Tom Sizemore, Tom Berenger and William Forsyhte co-star along with Stana Katic. I was pleasantly surprised with this film. Plenty of twists and turns coupled with hard-hitting violence kept me extremely entertained. The performances are all top-notch...Michael Biehn plays a real psycho and the actress that plays his girlfriend is someone to watch. This is not your run-in-the-mill action movie. Instead, STILETTO is a hard-boiled tale of love and vengeance. Set on the gritty streets of Los Angeles, Katic plays Raina, a sexy femme fatale seeking revenge on the rapidly deteriorating crime family responsible for her sister's disappearance. Berenger plays a overly sensitive, yet hyper violent mob boss. Berenger's over-the-top offering is one of the many fun performances of the movie. Do yourself a favor and check it out. STILETTO is a stylish thriller filled with revenge, murder, and mystery set in a world permeated by violence and corruption. Instant classic.

2012-04-16 22:11:47

Good show of Stana Katic

This review is from: Stiletto (DVD) The reason I bought this is purely because of Stana Katic. I only knew her through Castle - the best TV show I've ever seen. This is an earlier work of Stana and no wonder she got the role as Detective Beckett, she is so natural in all the flights. Good show Stana, looking forward to more of your work.