Catch .44 Blu-ray review

           

            Catch .44 is a clever little crime film. It may have a little too much in common with many others to be astounding, but it leans heavily on successful films and is enjoyable even when predictable. Often the biggest problem with the narrative is the secrecy which leaves expectations open. The storyline seems much more complex than it actually is, simply because of the manner in which it is being told, which could also be said of many films it resembles. Most of which have Quentin Tarantino attached to them in one way or another. The number of conversations which take place over a diner table alone makes it feel like a Tarantino rip-off.

            The film follows the mishap at a rural Louisiana diner and all the led to the bloody shootout involving a trio of female hit-women (Malin Akerman, Nikki Reed and Deborah Ann Woll). They believe that the diner meet is supposed to be a drug transaction, but it ends with a shootout instead. It is all connected with another quirky hit-man (Forest Whitaker) and the head boss (Bruce Willis).  Each of these characters meet at the diner late at night and we are finally clued in to what went wrong.

            It is a clever little crime film, but the content seems stretched out a bit past its limit, even at 94 minutes. It is also not as satisfying of a revelation when we discover much of what would have solved the mystery was never revealed to the audience in the first place. This does not mean that the film doesn’t still have its entertainment values, however.

            The Blu-ray includes an audio commentary with writer/director Aaron Harvey, along with editor Richard Byard.