Bad Karma

Excellent straight to video
This is a straight to video movie and in that context a strong 4 star. My bias here is I consider Ray Liotta one of our best and most honest actors. I think he is vastly under-rated and now just keeps working (like Sam Jackson) rather than waiting for that "big" picture to come along. He never phones it in and raises the level of each flick he makes. Here we have a typical plot: man into the bad stuff, has an event, changes his life and the past comes back to violently haunt him and his love. You can figure it from that. Actually enjoyed it more than the big deal production "Savages" which I saw the day before. Although that movie had a theatrical release, this is a full star better in terms of entertainment if not production values. Well worth seeing.

Pleasant (if quick) Australian crime drama
"Bad Karma" (2012 release; 85 min.) is an Australian crime drama. In the introduction of the movie, set in Sydney, we see Molloy (played by Ray Liotta) and Mack (played by Dominic Purcell) living hard and getting ready for a heist. For reasons too long to explain here, Molloy at the last minute skips out from the actual heist. Mack on the other hand gets arrested and is sent to jail. Fast forward three years: Molloy is now living in beautiful Gold Coast, drug-free, working a regular job, and in a serious relationship. Then one day out of the blue Mack shows up, having been released from jail. He immediately pressures Molloy to join him in a stick-up of the local convenience store. Will Molloy give in? Can he convince Mack to leave him alone? To tel you more would ruin your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is a tough crime drama and several scenes may be too violent and/or too upsetting for the faint of...



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