Think about an old classic detective story, preferrably taking place anywhere from 1940's to 1970's. Add some really refreshing non-PG13 violence and a constant layer of humor - not forced jokes every once in a while, but a constant weird, funny tone that is nearly always present.The characters are all really stereotypical clichés, and in the best possible way. You get the seasoned and rough good guy, a femme fatale (dressed in red, of course) and villains. A stoic one and some over the top ones. Bear in mind that this is all intended. We get to see some really fun characters. Thomas Jane fits in his role very well, as does Ving Rhames. Elsa Pataky is pretty and also bad in a way that somehow fits this crazy film. Also, Doug Hutchison gets to give a really hammy performance, he had a lot of fun with this one.At some point, the film lost its strong grip on me. Understandable, because this kind of film is extremely hard to pull off perfectly. I won't say that it falls apart, but perhaps the movie got more slow and serious when I would've preferred otherwise. Some pacing issues probably too.Besides that, I have one thing to say: I won't forget this movie 15 minutes after the end credits start to roll. It's different from the abundance of modern mediocre action thrillers in every possible way. I will remember seeing this 10 years from now.The tongue-in-cheek style makes this movie worthwhile. It's a fine line when you're trying to fit film noir and a constant humorous tone in the same film, but most of the time it works. If you're looking for something really serious, wholly original or exceptionally thrilling, look elsewhere. This feels more like a homage than anything else. Whatever the case may be, I liked it.

I looked up the word "incongruous" on one of those online dictionaries and all I found was an embedded video of Give 'em Hell, Malone playing on an endless loop. This thing has quite a few relatively clever elements but nothing whatsoever to tie them all together, producing a film that makes it about half way through on the strength of those elements and then implodes. The last half of this movie is almost amazingly terrible and you can practically see the filmmakers shrugging their shoulders as ever more stupid, illogical and arbitrary nonsense spills out onto the audience.Malone (Thomas Jane) is a hard man with a big gun making his Raymond Chandleresque way through the urban jungle. He's given a job of picking up a briefcase and finds himself the target of a slew of thugs, who he dispatches with brutal alacrity. Inside the case, Malone finds a toy elephant he calls "the meaning of love". Teaming up with the woman in red who hired him (Elsa Pataky), Malone finds himself on the run from a trio of noirish supervillains hired by crime boss Whitmore (Greg Harrison) to retrieve the case. Battling the vicious Mauler (Chris Yen), brooding Boulder (Ving Rhames) and insane Matchstick (Doug Hutchinson) in turn, with occasional stops at the nursing home so his mother (Eileen Ryan) can sew up his wounds, Malone bulldozes his way to an ending that frantically reaches for the heights of The Usual Suspects but falls to the depths of a self-referential circle jerk.Give 'em Hell, Malone appears to be the result of somebody who saw Sin City and walked away very impressed but with no understanding of how that sort of "cartoon noir" storytelling works. The result is a standard action flick with a bunch of anachronistic quirks which never have any point. For example, the characters of Malone, Boulder and Evelyn (Elsa Pataky) are straight out the 1940s in speech pattern and behavior. On the other hand, Whitmore and Malone's mother are totally modern in their words and affect. Doug Hutchinson is baldly doing an imitation of Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. A guy gets set on fire and it only makes his flesh more smooth and moist. Mauler is established as a super-Ninja ass kicker only to have Malone defeat her while remaining tied up in a chair. We're shown numerous different scenarios of how Malone's family was killed and they're simultaneously played for humor and drama. A bad guy changes to a good guy with a one sentence explanation out of nowhere.The opening gun fight is extremely well done and the "cartoon noir" stylings of the film are amusing at first, but Give 'em Hell, Malone quickly falls into making too many obvious and easy jokes at the very noirish conventions it embraces. The humor in "cartoon noir" comes from how absurdly seriously it takes those conventions. When characters essentially start winking at the audience to let them in on the joke, all that's left is a lot of forced artificiality.The turning point for this movie is when Malone forces a motel clerk to admit that he's part of the scheme against him…and Malone then rents a room in the motel and stays the night. Does that make any sense? Why would you stay at a place being managed by someone who could call the bad guys and let them know where you are? The clerk never does that, which only compounds how ludicrous it is, and from that moment on these filmmakers no longer cared about any sort of internal logic or consistency in their story.Give 'em Hell, Malone is neither fish nor fowl. It never figures out why it does the things it does and gets smothered by that incomprehension. The first half isn't an utter disaster, but I can't imagine anyone sticking around 'til the end and feeling satisfied with how it turns out

Malone (Thomas Jane) is one tough detective, he has an reputation for being tough and being too good...some believed he can't be killed. He was on the job to retrieve a briefcase from a seedy hotel. But Malone finds himself set-up for the city's most infamous crime boss (Gregory Harrison). Malone finds himself in between bullets, fists and blood all around him. He battles the hulking Boulder (Ving Rhames) and an army of killers to kill Malone and protect the briefcase. Malone needs to know, what's inside the mysterious briefcase and a bombshell client (Elsa Pataky), who's in his way.Directed by Russell Mulcany (Resident Evil:Apocalyspe, Highlander, The Shadow) made an extremely entertaining, tongue-in-cheek, violent and cartoonish crime thriller. Mulcany has style to burn in this movie and it is also one of his best films in years... Jane is well cast as the lead, the supporting cast are great (especially Eillen Ryan as Malone's mother and an scene stealing Doug Hutchison as one of the criminals). It is a shame that this movie didn't get an wide release.DVD has an sharp anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) transfer and an strong Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. The DVD includes interviews with Jane, Hutchison and Pataky. I would have love to hear an running commentary track from the filmmakers or cast members. Like some of Malcany's work, this movie will probably have an cult following. Don't miss it. Super 35. (****/*****).

I saw this movie recently on bluray and I must say I was mightily impressed. Though I'm not usually a huge Thomas Jane fan,I must confess to be an aficionado of all things Ving Rhames. Frequently type cast as the heavy, it's expertly acted roles such as Ving's Boulder, than makes him the undisputed go to guy when you need a very scary henchmen/goon to strike fear in the hearts of audiences. Ving simply kicks ass in this noir thriller that's a tongue and cheek homage to the 40's style detective movies. Jane does a good job channeling his inner Humphrey Bogart and the action sequence are some of the best I've seen in a straight to bluray film in some time. I won't get into the particulars of the story, but I will say that the film is well acted for the most part(Jane obviously is having a good time in the role) and that there are a few plot surprises. Overall, you could do a lot worse than this with your Saturday evening.