User reviews

With the exception of "The Unscarred", this is Buddy Giovinazzo's most technically accomplished piece. It does share thematic similarities with "Combat Shock", but it is a solid character drama that would not be out of place on a double bill with the Australian "The Boys". Being a Giovinazzo flick, it's about deeply flawed characters living in a personal hell. They see no way out of their situation and are too emotionally paralyzed to act, anyway.

Deborah Kara Unger, who is a dynamite actress (and seriously sensual), is terrific as Lorraine, the girlfriend of James Russo's Tommy. Tim Roth plays Joey, who has just been released from jail and relies on his brother gratitude to give him a roof and bed until he gets his act together. Complications arise when local criminal elements encroach on Joey's rehabilitation.

The plot is nothing new and hardly worth a mention. The drama's the thing here and it burns like a bolt of lightning once the the film's niceties are out of the way. Russo, who was also in "The Unscarred", is hard as nails and scarily convincing as Tommy. Roth never disappoints, unless the script's not there, and in this venture he makes us feel his pain.

Another vacation in hell, with a great score, from one of cinema's darkest contemporary directors who is as seriously underrated as Ferrarra is seriously overrated.

This is my first experience with a Giovinazzo film, and with all the actors, so it's totally fresh eyes. I liked the film. I knew from early on, when the brother is introduced, where the story was going to go. It would have been thrilling had I been wrong, but I wasn't. That didn't diminish the film in any way. All the production qualities were excellent, which left me only watching three actors really inform their characters. Consistency of mood I would call it. Even when there are brief happy moments, the smile or laugh is expressed, but the hard truth underneath is still apparent. There are a lot of references to Tim Roth's Joey being slow, which I don't quite buy. He carries on cohesive conversations, has logic, understands consequences, and makes decent decisions. He isn't bumbling through life. There's only one line I recall about him being very smart before, which is valid to support a change in mental capacity, but I would rather have had them refer to his malleability more that mental capacity since I did not see him as "slow". Having said that, I did accept the story line that his peers in their youth and older, rowdy, unthinking selves would call Joey that. The one thing I appreciated most about this film was the total lack of over-reacting that so often happens when there is violence. Violence and fear are part of these people's lives, so, when it happens, it's just part of that particular day. Brilliant restraint. Even at the end, there is what I might call the "look" that could have occurred between the brothers, and, thankfully, didn't. To the end, the film stayed true to it's mood and truths. That's what I think kept me engrossed in it.

Tim Roth (Hoodlum, Reservoir Dogs) stars as a recently paroled prisoner who goes home to his older brother who has gotten married when he was in prison. His brother, played by James Russo (Donnie Brasco, Panther) lets him live with them which doesn't please his wife, very well-played by Deborah Kara Unger (The Game, The Hurricane). Soon Unger discovers that Roth is actually a pretty nice guy who is slow in the head, but wants to go legit. His brother continues to sell drugs and may bring Roth back into trouble. The film's main story is the relationships among these three people with the most focus on the brother's relationship. This relationship is especially compelling as you see the love, but also much strain and pain between these two that is revealed later. James Russo creates a very interesting character in the older brother. He isn't a standard bad brother, he obviously cares for Roth, but also will do whatever it takes to make his own life better. Russo is great from start to finish in the role. The always-reliable Tim Roth gives a powerful lead performance as the slow-minded and easily influenced, but nice younger brother. Roth very quickly gains sympathy while creating a compelling character. Highly recommended, but not a feel-good movie.

Joey gets out of prison after six years. What crime he has served we don't know yet. He goes to his parental home and rings on the door. A blonde opens. Joey asks for his brother Tommy, troubled the blonde goes to get him. A surprised Tommy invites his younger brother. Against his wife's (the blonde) wish Tommy and Joey agree that Joey should live at their home a while, until he get a job and can get a place of his own.

Tommy sells grass and Lorrain works as stripper at private parties. Joey is determined to not get in to jail again and begins to work as a window cleaner. Something that Tommy think is stupid, because there's more money to earn on drugs.

Joey - who according to himself, is a bit 'slow' since a incident in childhood - develops with time a special relationship with Lorrain, who's at first is skeptical to Joey's stay in the house. Tommy appears the longer the film goes as a real a**hole - he doesn't do anything home, is unfaithful and lies to his wife. When Joey asks Lorrain is happy with her situation he explain, in the key scene of the film, that marriage doesn't have any benefits; "You get marry when you're in love, then you get tired with each other". Lorrain is in any case grateful of that Tommy haven't during their more than four years together never have beaten her once. Something that her former husband did.

No Way Back (the title unfortunately sounds like an inferior action flick.) is a traditional film, without too many clichés. The director manages to work up scenes and solutions we recognize to something natural. Powerful, with an every day tone (e.g. when Joey visits his former girlfriend).

The actors in the three leading roles are exquisite: Tim Roth as Joey does a typical Tim Roth role without because of that it would be too much Tim Roth of the role. James Russo (Tommy) makes a role portrait who resembles that kind of things he done before, but I want to rank this performance as the best I've seen from him. Deborah (Kara) Unger as Lorrain, who placed the centre of gravity on the acting and not to look sexy, convinces with her restrained acting style in her study of a woman who's become tired.

An ex-con is released from the pen and returns home determined to go straight. He moves in with his brother and sister-in-law and learns of his brother's troubles with a local crime organization. The brother's problems excalate to the breaking point when the thugs demand more money than he has. This was a good show, however it had several flaws; namely the gunfire sounded like underpowered fireworks, and some of the kicks and punches were obviously not connecting. Extremely violent, with buckets of blood.

This is a good story of a man trying to get back in to the real world after a few years in prison. Tim Roth and Deborah Unger are both good and it might have been a better movie if this revolved around their characters than Roth and James Russo, who play brothers. Russo takes this movie from a 7 out of 10 to a 6. He wasn't a very good bad guy.

It's Tim Roth, who steals the show in No Way Home. The film in itself is very good, and it manages to balance emotion and action very nicely. But it wouldn't be anything special without Roth. I believe he is in a role which he can act the best, an "awkward" guy. This is a film which deserves a DVD-release, and hopefully so will happen.

Those who are familiar with Buddy Giovinazzo will have known the film COMBAT SHOCK. This one, and his past effort, share a trusting relationship with each other, with this film's script being fairly identical to the Troma classic. Buddy G's idea for making movies appear to be concerned with a haunting look at modern society, and while it worked extremely well for COMBAT SHOCK, it does the same for NO WAY HOME. It's not the old film since this was made on a bigger budget and providing a different story, but it suffers from a serious lack of balancing. This begins as an ideal "brother" drama set in the slums, and later progresses into trashy proportions. You might be baffled over a couple of melodramatic moments that serve no honesty to this, and that is if you liked COMBAT SHOCK. NO WAY HOME isn't worth sitting through, but you'll be greatly rewarded with a slam-bang finish that can forever remain disturbing.

Just saw this film for the first time, 8-Jan-06. It conveys to me why I like Boys in the Hood and New Jack City. As a self described movie person, who only learned and saw the film maker's art through the lens of the boob tube beginning in the 1960s, I would like to recommend this movie. When the movie opened up, I just assumed a mid USA rust belt city that could be any one of thousand places. Chicago, Gary Indiana, Cleveland, etc. The ending surprised me , in that the cops from NYC showed up at their parents house. The last scenes action did not.

The first half of the film I just could not stop watching. We all grow up with dreams. We all think things will be like they are in the movies. At least the famous ones. The Classics. The reality of Boys in the Hood, New Jack City and The Best Years of Our Lives, later on in the film slaps you in the face. The ending did not do it for me. Every thing leading up the ending was believable. Going back home to the old neighborhood after getting out. Getting hooked up with family. Seeing people moving on, moving to their same end. The girl who was left back and was about to by hooked up to a violent looser like Loraine's 1st husband. Diane marrying a nice quiet boy, like she thought Joey was. Joey looking around and seeing the life he thought he would have. I just could not watch the strip scene with Loraine. The last good scene was Joey and Loraine in the car talking.

I would like to hope the ending was forced on the director because of perceived market forces.

After a torrid 6 years in prison, Joey (Tim Roth) returns to his family home to stay with his brother and wife whilst he tries to get his feet back on the ground. Only to find his brother is mixed up in criminal activity that could violate his parole. This is an attempt at a story of family loyalty in the face of adversity, and the lengths people will go to protect the unconditionally loved.

This is essentially a character piece, or least meant to be. It is worth mentioning that the story and script aren't all that bad and technically it effectively achieves the definite grittiness of its setting's social standing. There is, however, something missing in the acting department of almost every character that dares to introduce itself. It's as if they've all agreed to turn up as a favour to a friend but don't really want to be there. There are numerous points where they can't seem to be bothered to act pain. For example, at one point Tommy, James Russo's brother character, doesn't make a single sound when taking a knife in the chest. Tim Roth looks as though he thinks he's too cool to play a character that is mentally "slow". Tom Hanks could be ranked fairly highly on the cool front. Now if he has to cross the entire spectrum to play a character of the other extreme in Forest Gump then Roth only has to cover a fraction of the distance on the same scale for this role. But for an actor proved to be of ample talent, he just doesn't manage, or try, to pull it off. The budget must have been reached and breached some time before any of the heavy characters were cast. I've literally seen fights in school yards play acted better than in this film. Deborah Kara Unga doesn't do too badly but by no means well enough to pick the whole thing out of the huge empty hole it finds itself in.

One other worrying thing about this is that Giovinazzo was recorded in a radio interview likening his film to On The Waterfront. I mean come on.

Let me just get this outta the way. *ahem* This movie has two scenes where someone gets kicked in the nuts. Two! For someone like myself, that's reason enough to check it out. But if you wanna know what it's about and blah blah blah, I suppose keep reading.

After spending some time in the cooler Joey is now released and is looking to get his life back on track. He ends up heading home, and reunites with his brother. Staying at his bro's until he finds steady work all seems fine, that is until he begins realizing the outside world is still as unforgiving and selfish as it was before.

No Way Home was a good flick. It had a lowkey and unpredictable Tim Roth running the show with a decently solid supporting cast bringing up the rear. At first the movie tends to feel like it's trying too hard (overacting), but it hits a pretty serious groove and it begins becoming a very solid flick. Most probably due to the increase in sex, adult-themed conversations and gritty violence.

With some surprising developments, some nice attention to realism, and a couple kicks in the groin, this should be a nice viewing for anyone who enjoys serious drama. Tim Roth being the lead doesn't hurt the flick much either.

Joey gets out of prison after six years. What crime he has served we don't know yet. He goes to his parental home and rings on the door. A blonde opens. Joey asks for his brother Tommy, troubled the blonde goes to get him. A surprised Tommy invites his younger brother. Against his wife's (the blonde, Lorraine) wish Tommy and Joey agree that Joey should live at their home a while, until he gets a job and can get a place of his own.

Tommy sells grass and Lorraine works as stripper at private parties. Joey is determined to not get in to jail again and begins to work as a window cleaner. Something that Tommy think is stupid, because there's more money to earn on drugs.

Joey - who according to himself, is a bit 'slow' since an incident in childhood - develops with time a special relationship with Lorraine, who's at first is skeptical to Joey's stay in the house. Tommy appear the longer the film goes as a real asshole - he doesn't to anything home, is unfaithful and lies to his wife. When Joey asks Lorraine is happy with her situation he explain, in the key scene of the film, that marriage doesn't have any benefits; "You get marry when you're in love, then you get tired with each other". Lorraine is in any case grateful of that Tommy haven't during their more than four years together never have beaten her once. Something that her former husband did.

No Way Home (the title unfortunately sounds like an inferior action flick.) is a traditional film, without too many clichés. The director manages to work up scenes and solutions we recognize to something natural. Powerful, with an everyday tone (e.g. when Joey visits his former girlfriend).

The actors in the three leading roles are exquisite: Tim Roth as Joey does a typical Tim Roth role without because of that it would be too much Tim Roth of the role. James Russo (Tommy) makes a role portrait who resembles that kind of things he done before, but I want to rank this performance as the best I've seen from him. Deborah (Kara) Unger as Lorraine, who placed the centre of gravity on the acting and not to look sexy, convinces with her restrained acting style in her study of a woman who's become tired.

They said Tim Roth was yet to turn in a bad performance back in the late nineties. I truly know he never will. He is one of my favorite actors, and No Way Home is a film that deserves much more recognition, it's cinema release hardly noticed. It is a low key film as in cinema appeal. It's a more dramatized sort of movie, with a straight forward plot. Ex con Roth, playing another vulnerable type, and he does it, bloody well here, has just got out of prison. His bad arse older brother (Russo) begrudgingly takes him in, where too the misses (Unger) isn't hot on him staying with them. She too is a stripper, Unger appearing in more and more movies around this time. Now Russo, who's into selling drugs, and owing money, is not really providing the best environment for Roth who has to report to a PO, who tells him, "I can pop up at your place anytime. I don't need a warrant. I don't need a reason". So you can imagine what ensues. Unger is hot why doing a gig for an old guy's birthday, where Roth tags along. Startling truths about that night, prior to Roth ending up in the can, surface, even an old girlfriend hating him, for taking the rap. Heavy bits of impactful gore here and there, it's start, reminding you, prison's no picnic. Yes I do say No Way Home is a simplified drama, all it's bits of plot and story, nothing new, but if you love Tim Roth, it's worth it for seeing another splendid performance, this one at his most vulnerable, it's kind of demeaning, the character, this fine brave actor plays.

The characters of "Tommy" (James Russo) and "Joey" (Tim Ross) are typical of the genre of the American "undream." Pathetic, yet engrossing, this story is a predictable drama of the failure of our system of crime and punishment. The graphics, scenery, and soundtrack make this a film worth viewing (only once), but memorable in its characters and story.

It was late at night, I was bored, and am a Tim Roth fan, so I decided to watch it. I didn't expect much. Maybe that's why I enjoyed it so. It was very interesting. It presented you with questions about these characters and gave pieces of the puzzle slowly. It kept you engrossed, wanting more. It had various different sub-plots, all entertaining. It had this build up of a true great film and a truly great drama and character study with a uniqueness to it. However towards the end it falls into the standard, predictable plot points, transforming from a character piece and drama, to the cliche crime drama Tim Roth is most known for. That is truly a shame since, when given the chance, Roth can give great comedic and dramatic performances only if given the chance. While Roth made this film what it is, it featured good performances by Russo and Unger, those two should be watched in the future, they could easily go places.