Humphrey Bogart is as good as ever in Dead Reckoning, playing opposite lispy Lauren Bacall lookalike Lizabeth Scott, but the convoluted plot really takes its time coming to the point, wasting time on plot points that never really make sense. Par for the course in Noir stories? Sometimes. But where the villains don't mind killing off side characters, they'd rather knock Bogey out and put him back in his hotel room so he can keep putting his knows where he shouldn't. And then there's the Noir conceit of starting the story in medias res so the hero can lay down some colorful voice-over, but though the monologuing is good, they never do anything with the priest Bogey confesses to. Lovely last image, but it's unearned. On the one hand, it feels like Bogey is a paratrooper for no other reason than to justify that shot, and on the other, it doesn't make sense to superimpose it on a character who WASN'T a paratrooper. Watchable, but its Noir tropes don't really come together very well.
I liked it, and especially how it keeps you off balance for a lot of the film. Bogart's very well written voiceover does exactly what it's intended to do and rarely fails at being entertaining.
Add your comment
Comments 1 - 5 of 5
Siskoid
Humphrey Bogart is as good as ever in Dead Reckoning, playing opposite lispy Lauren Bacall lookalike Lizabeth Scott, but the convoluted plot really takes its time coming to the point, wasting time on plot points that never really make sense. Par for the course in Noir stories? Sometimes. But where the villains don't mind killing off side characters, they'd rather knock Bogey out and put him back in his hotel room so he can keep putting his knows where he shouldn't. And then there's the Noir conceit of starting the story in medias res so the hero can lay down some colorful voice-over, but though the monologuing is good, they never do anything with the priest Bogey confesses to. Lovely last image, but it's unearned. On the one hand, it feels like Bogey is a paratrooper for no other reason than to justify that shot, and on the other, it doesn't make sense to superimpose it on a character who WASN'T a paratrooper. Watchable, but its Noir tropes don't really come together very well.Violet Poppet
"...came to me like a photograph to my eyelids."DisneyStitch
I liked it, and especially how it keeps you off balance for a lot of the film. Bogart's very well written voiceover does exactly what it's intended to do and rarely fails at being entertaining.AndrewB
Camille Deadpan
I love Bogie's witty comments.