Stiletto Dance

I like Eric Roberts and found this DVD on eBay cheap so I figured I would give it a try.

This is a violent movie - so, not for everyone. But, it is well-acted enough for my tastes and the story never lost my interest. The villan (Anton) is easy to hate. Eric Roberts character is easy to like but he's rough around the edges.

The action is not predictable - at least it wasn't for me, and that makes watching fun.

It's no blockbuster epic but it is worth watching. Without Eric Roberts this would not be as good but with him, it's kicked up a notch.

Undercover New York police officers Eric Roberts (as Kit Adrian) and Romano Orzari (as Jay Flowers) go up against a ruthless Russian mafia, pretending to work for bleached-blond crime lord Shawn Doyle (as Anton Seaberg). Mr. Roberts invites even more danger by sleeping with the enemy's estranged wife, luscious Lucie Laurier (as Lena). This film's obvious intent is to bring female flesh and human blood to the home box office crowd, without resorting to anything hard-core. The female flesh is real, and the human blood is fake. On a cheap blood and guts level, "Stiletto Dance" is successful. Mr. Orzari and Yaphet Kotto (as Captain Sands) provide star Roberts with solid support. But, it's really Mr. Doyle's characterization of the temperamental bad guy, who keeps it moving.

**** Stiletto Dance (6/8/01) Mario Azzopardi ~ Eric Roberts, Shawn Doyle, Romano Orzari, Lucie Laurier

"Stiletto Dance" is all about Roberts as a deep cover cop who's inclined to go so "deep" even his own partner doesn't trust him. His mission is to stop Russian mob heavies from getting some red mercury which they need to make a nuclear bomb to nuke Americans. The film features the usual sensationalism (babes, shootouts, blood & guts, brawls, etc.) but fails to distinguish itself even in the B-movie category. Ultimately it plays out like a bad Seagal or Van Damme flick. Only for the most macho-minded couch potatoes. (D+)

Much better than I expected from a made-for-cable movie. Eric Roberts apparently can too act! Who knew? The plot is OK, and the direction is unobtrusive. Shawn Doyle plays the Russian baddie with flair. You might think he's taking it a bit over-the-top. But from what I hear, you really cannot caricature these Russki mafiosi as any more violent, evil jerks than they actually are. Canadian actress Lucie Laurier was stunningly beautiful, and totally nailed her part. As a bonus, Laurier and Doyle both did their accents pretty well, not overdoing them too much, but never getting caught out of them. Maybe not Streepian, but good. And the ending, well. There was the perfect opportunity for a standard sort of Hollywood ending, and the filmmakers took a pass on it. That's worth something all by itself. I'd say check it out if you can stand the gruesome violence.

This thriller has Tarantino`s forged signature written all over it . It starts with a funky monologue which instantly revives memories of Tim Roth in a certain film . Add to this a shock revelation of a couple of villains who aren`t who they appear to be , some novelty violence involving a jealous wife and a coffee grinder , a running joke about a suit being ruined and the bizarre site of a member of the clergy tooled up . I was expecting someone to come out with a line about " I`m stuck in the middle with you " and the homage would have been complete .

The other thing that struck me was this could only have been a HBO production . I didn`t know this at the time but later finding out it was made sense . Have you ever noticed watching an episode of OZ there always seems to be a sudden upsurge of profane dialogue in the slower episodes ? It`s almost as if the producers of the show have got round a table with the writers and said " Okay we`re pretty low on shankings and gang rapes this week so can you make sure the F word appears at least three times in every sentence just to indicate it`s an adult show " . Well in STILETTO DANCE when people aren`t getting blown away or getting limbs chopped off the characters often seem to revert to ridiculous amounts of swearing . I can`t really emphasise how false the dialogue sounds in these scenes , especially the bit where the police captain is explaining the plot to the two good guys in the car park .

One final comment . I know Eric Roberts career is now a bit of a joke starring in cable and straight to video films such as this , but he really does deserve much better and I look forward to seeing him play a memorable screen villain in a blockbuster someday