Chute infernale

Blaise Rybeck, (C Thomas Howell) plays the role as a private eye in California and business is not very good, his American Express card is not being paid and business is slow. However, one day a sexy blonde gal, Emma Roussell, (Sophie Ward) walks into his office and asks Blaise if he will investigate her missing brother who was a pilot and his body has not been found. Blaise starts his investigation and runs into a few wild bungee jumping guys who he believes are involved with the missing brother he is looking for. Blaise jumps off bridges to prove he is like this group of guys and seeks to obtain as much information from them as possible. The FBI gets involved with this case and this turns the entire direction of the picture with car chases, romantic scenes between Emma and Blaise and plenty of beatings and torture. Enjoy

This movie started out great, very Sam Spade, very pulp fiction, on the order of the 30s-50s stories penned by Raymond Chandler and others. Unfortunately, the story couldn't keep up the pace and the tone changed drastically to a 90s chase/shooter. Not to say that this movie isn't worth watching. That said, Mr. Howell has potential, obviously as an actor, and does a good job as an initial directing effort. Sophie Ward is wonderful as the client/seductress.

C. Thomas Howell both directs and stars in this little gem of a movie, that more than proves his worth (and potential) in both forums. Despite a rather dull run-of-the-mill storyline, the film is enhanced by some snappy dialogue, brought wonderfully to life courtesy of an inspired performance (both in front and behind the camera) by the charismatic C. Thomas himself. It is an absolute crime that this incredible actor isn't getting the recognition he so richly deserves. Watch this film and then go figure!

PM was best known for making hyper-action movies, though occasionally they would try something different, in this case tackling the hard-boiled detective drama. The screenplay (by PM regular screenwriter William Applegate) seems to have been written to be more or less straight, with occasional bursts of comic relief. However, it becomes an unintentional comedy for much of its running time because of C. Thomas Howell. Looking here very much like Jim Carrey in DUMB AND DUMBER, Howell is a howl, gnashing his teeth and trying to act tough and spout out hard-boiled narration. (And dressing in a trenchcoat and hat, even though the story takes place in the present day!) If Howell was intending this to be a spoof of the genre, he needed to know that in satire, less is often more.

A much better performance can be seen with Jeff Kober, who manages to be pretty creepy and menacing without the screenplay giving him much to do. The screenplay also doesn't give us much sense, with plot details and incidental actors equally murky at times. Howell's directing is more competent than his acting, boasting some impressive shots and a few not-bad scenes, though he proves to be helpless at this point at directing action scenes. He might even pull off his next (if ever) directing effort, if he first puts in a lot of preparation and gives up some creative control.

I got this movie as part of a 10-movie DVD collection at Walmart because we like love to watch them and make fun of the horrible ones. After sitting through several of those crapfests, I figured this would be the same. I was wrong. This was actually probably the best movie in the collection.

The PROS: It was directed well; Howell has an eye for intrigue and action. My favorite thing about this movie is the way Howell and the production team melded the aesthetic and feel of a 40's noir flick with its contemporary environment; it didn't feel out of place or forced. It's like Howell was wise enough to know he didn't have the budget to pull off a full blown, believable 1940's detective movie so he blurred the lines and gave us a very clean and exciting picture. Now THAT'S good film making!

The CONS: The only thing that kept pulling me out of the story was how much Howell resembled Jim Carey from 'Dumb and Dumber'. It was also kinda difficult for me to buy into the idea of baby-faced Howell being this tough-as-nails, rough and tumble private eye. But, he does get his a$$ kicked enough to offset that notion and make it a bit more believable.