.45 or a Feminist's Adrenaline Tease

If I tell any of my friends that I rented a straight to video Milla Jovovich film, an explanation is expected from me. To that, all I can say is,  "I am just optimistic."

She always seems to give her heart into every role, and I can't say that I've seen a bad performance. Surely she has another "Fifth Element" in her. Fuck Sam Rockwell for landing the lead in "Moon". Just imagine the potential of a kooky Milla isolated with a Kevin Spacey voiced robot.

If only we could some how set "The Miracle Worker" in space, Milla Jovovich would have gone full circle.

Perhaps ".45" was...okay...is just to fringe for a theatrical release. Hollywood knows that she has some drawing power, but I guess she isn't a sure enough bet to bring Stephen Dorff back to the big screen. Thank God for Johnny Depp and Michael Mann for Stephen's sake.

It's sad that Dorff is pretty much considered to be a younger Val Kilmer, so it must mean he's only straight to video talent now. So it may never be Milla's fault for gracing the "new release" wall instead of a 3-D cut out. It's just the supporting cast bringing her down.

• "You Stupid Man" - David Krumholtz (better known as one of the Harold and Kumar jews), William Baldwin, Denise Richards
• ".45" - Stephen Dorff, Angus MacFayden, Aisha Tyler

This may actually be an unfair correlation with .45. This story wouldn't make any bank at the box office because it is brutal, and that is not in an action-packed way. It wouldn't have been in a bad way, but this film is a kick return team member wanting to play hero by charging an onside kick. .45 knew what it wanted to be, but wasn't sure how to be it.

Kat (Jovovich) is an illegal gun dealer's girlfriend in one of the seedier burrows of NYC. She will do anything to help him out in hopes that they will one day have the change to move to the ocean side. Unfortunately for her, he (MacFayden) is an abusive, alcoholic, and no matter how her friends (Dorff and "Stargate SG1's" Sarah Strange) tell her to get out of the relationship and into their protection, she seems determined to stick it out. One night the abuse goes too far, and Kat must decide how to get out of this inevitable death trap, in the most powerful way possible.

.45's Deceptive Advertising:

Why does the box have Milla sexed up with a gun? Why do all the DVD menus transition are fades out from fresh bullet holes? Unless the real world has become the one Samuel L. Jackson from "Jackie Brown" lives in, this isn't how to properly sell a video. If you are looking for gun play, this title has none.

If this was the films way of drawing action starved men into checking out a movie about feminism and domestic abuse, it may work, but as a feminist, this may back fire. This misrepresentation doesn't show a woman's strength. Perhaps it's a poor attempt to be clever (we girls tricked you), but this is a film written and directed by a guy, "The Shield's" Gary Lennon. It is disappointing that a guy whose show never strays from brutal imagery in its advertising does so with his directorial debut.

.45 wanted to be one thing, and that was a brutal depiction of domestic abuse and female liberation. Unfortunately, it does not know how to tell this story.

There is a lot of dialogue that one can enjoy for comedic value, but by the second half of the film it disappears. When the second act starts and the brutality ends, it becomes a struggle to sit through the film without the wit of the first act. Not until the third act where the cleverness of Kat's plan comes into play and the results of it do you appreciate Lennon's screenwriting ability.

As a writer/director, Lennon has a lot to learn. The film uses observational interviews to try explaining the film like in documentaries or as an homage to Woody Allen in the late 70's. These are suppose to lead you to a better understanding of the characters, but they lack depth, so further exposition is just a wasted effort. It is sad, because the actor delivering these performances (Jovovich in particular) give their all to make you like these characters.

The worst thing about the direction is that his difficulty to follow the action is quite apparent. The domestic disturbance was intense, but shot horribly. It feels like you are missing something, and when you are watching a girl being beaten and ridiculed like that, I for one don't want to think about what isn't there.

There was a lot of effort to make .45 a meaningful and provocative film, but the unclear vision of the Gary Lennon wastes what everyone put into it. The issues that the film explores definitely need more attention, but this film does not call on Hollywood to do so. .45 is a sad example of how good intentions are lost when there is poor execution.