13

When I was younger, I narrowed my career choices down to two options: chef or movie critic. I have always loved movies and have the weird ability to remember actors and directors, movies and roles. Even if you just give me a small amount of detail, I can tell you what movie your thinking of, most likely the director, and rattle off the cast even if they only had a small part in it. I slightly pursued it when I lived in Tennessee, talking to movie critic's for the Nashville Star and then again in Boston for the Globe, asking them how they got started and how to begin. However, I fell back into my chef career and have never looked back. Now that I have this blog going, I'm going to give it a shot.

First off, I have been waiting for this movie to be released here in the states for well over a year. Thirteen was filmed in 2010 and release overseas but just recently was released here in the states. It has a strong cast including Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Ray Winstone, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, and newcomer to the states Sam Riley. It starts off with Vince(Sam Riley) overhearing an opportunity to make a lot of money fast in a "contest" while he's doing some electrical work at the house of a small time gangster. When the gangster dies of a drug overdose in the house, Vince seizes the chance, steals the invitation, and assumes the dead man's identity. However, once he gets to the "contest," he finds that making some fast cash is no where near what he thought.

Known only as number 13, he is thrown into a game of modern day "Russian roulette" where contests are placed in a circle and only refereed to by their number. They then place one bullet into a gun, spin the cylinder and place the loaded gun to the head of the person in front of them. A light is hung in the middle of the circle and when it goes off, they pull the trigger. 

Rich men from all over place bets on their player or on someone else's if their player has already been "eliminated."

There have been many movies that wrangle in a bunch of famous actors and hope that if the plot falls flat, the talent alone will lift the movie(think Ocean's Thirteen). The same theory applies here but in reverse. The idea is completely original, something that is hard to find these days coming out of Hollywood, but the actors don't do anything for the film. Mickey Rourke and Curtis Jackson's characters have no depth, very little background, and are totally pointless to the overall plot of the film. You feel nothing for them and don't care if they make it or not. Jason Statham and Ray Winstone turn in fine performances but it's nothing we haven't seen before.

I will say that the best performance of the movie comes from Michael Shannon. He plays the mediator of the "Russian roulette" process barking down orders from high atop a chair. He has become one of my favorite new actors out there right now. He reminds me of Daniel Day-Lewis the way he "becomes" whatever character he portrays. He was recently in "Take Shelter" which I haven't seen yet but have heard good things about and is also coming out as General Zod in the new Superman "Man of Steel" movie. Down the line, I see him winning an Oscar.

What hurts the most about "13" is that it's a remake of a great french movie called "13 Tzameti." Both movies are directed by Gela Babluani but he cannot seem to harness the same feeling of tension that the first movie imparts. If you can take subtitles and the fact that "13 Tzameti" is all in black and white, which adds to the tension believe it or not, I highly recommend skipping "13" and

going with the original.