Russell Mulcahy(Highlander)directs this bloody gangster opus which follows Thomas Jane as he works his way through the crime syndicate of Gregory Harrison, over a toy elephant(!)found in a steel case. The elephant is known throughout the movie as "the meaning of love." Jane is costumed in 40s Bogie attire as the hard-to-kill Malone, having to stay one step ahead of Harrison and his hired killers, Ving Rhames(as Boulder)and the absolutely insane Doug Hutchison(as Matchstick, notorious for burning his parents alive, narrowly escaping the house, suffering hideous burns on his own face in the process). The eye candy of the movie is Elsa Pataky(striking in blood red lipstick), sliding smoothly into the sultry Film Noir moll role, as Evelyn, whose motivations remain suspect as she asks Malone to help free her kidnapped brother, killed by another assassin, a Japanese girl named Mauler(Chris Yen). French Stewart shows up as a bad lounge comic who also works as a stool pigeon for Harrison and ends up on Malone's bad side for almost getting him(and his alcoholic mom)killed. Rhames only works for Harrison because the crime lord pays to keep Boulder's wife alive on life-support. GIVE 'EM HELL MALONE is a homage to those detective noir films, where the film's hero is a flawed man you only root for because everyone else is so evil. Malone is always having to constantly look over his shoulder for either a knife to his back or bullets aimed in his direction at all times. Even Evelyn can not be trusted. Jane's Malone is the usual tough-guy archetype, good with a gun, takes a licking and keeps on ticking. The film sure as hell opens with a bang as Malone attains the case with the elephant for his boss, Murphy(Leland Orser), annihilating a whole army of Harrison's men with plenty of Hong Kong John Woo balletic gunplay, bodies torn to bloody shreds as bullets damage and destroy in grand style. This would make an ideal double header with the equally ultra-violent, cartoony, gratuitous crime actioner, SHOOT 'EM UP. Easily the most entertaining character in the movie is Matchstick because of how batsh#t crazy he is(funny is how he progressively becomes more worse for wear due to his inability to finish Malone off, his face set on fire on more than one occasion).

The "film noir" from the 40's and 50's is one of the easiest cinematographic (and literary) genres to imitate, but also one of the most difficult ones to capture without falling on the ridiculous or the involuntary humor.And even though I suspect some purists could consider the modest film Give 'Em Hell, Malone as a mediocre parody, I personally think that it fulfilled with the necessary requirements in order to simultaneously consider it as an affectionate tribute and respectful imitation of the genre.But, beyond its intention, I think it is a very competent "noir" film with solid performances, an interesting screenplay and even some substance behind the characters which enriches the story.Naturally, the screenplay is a collection of encounters with murderers, allies and informants, which do not always significantly contribute to the story, but at least they keep it on a constant movement, with various opportunities of suspense, violence and stylish dialogs.And that is were Russell Mulcahy's direction best works.Despite the false moves he had during his career (like, for example, the atrocious Tale of the Mummy or Silent Trigger), Mulcahy shows in Give 'Em Hell, Malone that he has not lost his absolute control on the visual language, rhythm and edition in order to construct a consistent narrative flow yet.The costumes, vehicles and sets from this film show a curious combination of nostalgia and modernity; thanks to that, a good "noir" atmosphere is achieved at the same time the technical problems of creating a set from the 40's are solved.By the way, I think the comparisons between Sin City and Give 'Em Hell, Malone are unfair, because the simple fact that they both use the archetypes from detective literature does not mean one is a copy of the other.As for the actors, with one exception, they all contribute to the tribute with natural performances which are free of any irony, at the same time they do not fall in the temptation of taking the story or their characters as a joke.To start with, Thomas Jane is flawless as the main character.Ving Rhames and Doug Hutchison also bring precise works as the villain's henchmen.The exception I talked about on the beginning of the paragraph is Elsa Pataky as the "femme fatale", because she does not bring enough passion or intensity to her character.Give 'Em Hell, Malone may not be a great movie, but its combination of actors, "noir" atmosphere and a labyrinthine screenplay with a satisfactory ending made it very entertaining to me.Besides, it confirms us that Mulcahy can be a very competent director when he works with the right material.

As a matter of fact, it's a typical specimen of comic noir style, mixing traditional elements of ''Sin City'' and ''Dick Tracy'' films it portrays black & sharp humored, seamless, vivacious and agile detective story. In one breath, ''Give 'em Hell, Malone'' rapidly and aesthetically carries spectator through the subtle nuances of swirling plot, leaving pleasant impressions from what you've seen. Love, sharp humor, betrayal, cruelty, selfishness. Everything presents here in good supply.Perfectly balanced characters like rollicking main hero Malone who's got two favorite things: drink and shoot. Sexy beauty Evelyn who trying' to avenge her killed brother. Big guy Boulder whose feelings wave between good and bad side. Charismatic evildoers such as Graceful Asian girl called Mauler who likes to play with sharp toys and Matchstick who always utters reckless wised expressions and crazy philosophy resembled Heath Ledger's character Joker from the Dark Knight movie.Wonderfully made operator's work constantly absorbs attention. For only 15 000 000$ creators made a beautiful action that can compete to the dozens of high budgetary blockbusters. Astonishing result indeed. Yes, here we can find a lot of bugs and disadvantages in the script but it's not really a drawback of the film, there is no emphasis on a deep plot, everything is simple and ingenious, to keep you relaxing and funning. It's just a crazy and well stylized mess nothing more.Even if you ain't got much grasp of noir, ''Give 'em Hell, Malone'' is a great movie for spending free time and taking some rest.

I first caught sight of this movie through a small article on a flick site. The theme interested me, and Ving on the cast made me rent it.James is not the best actor in the world, surely not as bad as his older lookalike, Lambert, but it's not fair to say he's not right for the part. I thought he was the only guy acting like the movie needed him to. I felt a lot of genre satire, and his apparent over-the-topping was precisely what I thought made Malone a pleasant character. Don't forget he did the amazing Stander in 2003, and worked great with Deborah Unger (now, she's something else...). Although he also did the pitiful Punisher.As for Elsa... what a disappointment! Her Spanish- Italian accent makes the character sound like an amateur Pakistani singer trying to qualify for American Idol. Stupid accent, absurd acting... but a fine looking woman nonetheless. But in reality, the biggest casting mistake was here... a more skilled actress, or at least, one who had a proper believable accent perhaps. (I doubt an emigrant could be so eloquent and yet have such a weird accent, so that made her totally over the top).Then, the "villain", Whitmore... never saw that actor before - that might not be a bad thing, though. But it was, he never felt dense, intense, or cruel... it's like he sounds like a detached and unrelated personage, someone who does not fit the movie. His output is the most evidently out of sync and the weakest of all, but I don't think this was a casting mistake - it's just bad writing and bad directing.Then there's so many holes in the writing... when Matchstick holds the kerosene against Evelyn and stupid Malone doesn't shoot his ass. What could he do? Wet her full of kerosene?I thought there was more attention given to the dialogs of Malone and Evelyn, and the speeches of Matchstick, that with any other character's discourse. Of course, Matchstick is annoying after 2 minutes into the film... his over-predictable and over-stereotyped infancy stories, his over-obsessed body language (the site does no allow me to use the proper scientific word for spacial body management) and his stubborn persistence throughout all the film kill the few moments of glory that Hutchison can provide for his faulty character.Finally, the real great character... Frankie The Crooner, played by the hilarious French Stewart. I hadn't seen Stewart since his 3rd rock from the sun days. In this movie I got to hear him swear and play a pimp crooner wannabee. Loved his look, feel, output, delivery, all perfect. Too bad he's not cast more often.Also the Stallone conspiracy: the car (1952 Chop Top Buick Straight 8) is the same as in Cobra, the mom is the same character idea as in "Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot"... I see a Stallone pattern. I also agree that Matchstick is a timid attempt at recreating a villain as cunning and cruel as the Joker - the myth portrayed by the eternal Ledger, that Ving's Boulder is a rip off of Miller's Sin City character, Manute... and that the Mauler is the other Asian ninja hooker in Sin City, but she actually speaks (although poorly) in this flick. So a lot of this film is a collection of faulty rip-offs. Even the name Malone has been used countless times in this genre before!Seriously, you need a writer? I'll script you right up!Final words: it's a 5 for me. Because for all it's faulty downsides, it's actually a reasonably fun and funny film to watch, against all expectations. Something in it's imperfections makes it oddly unique, and almost so-bad-it's-good. There's something that came out OK in the end for me, but I can't really say what it was... maybe I was impressed by the first 3 minutes (the best part), and gave the rest a "discount". But I think it's the better part of the dialogs (as I hated the editing, too), I thought was funny, had verve and could keep me there, waiting for the next cheap and clever punch line. Or the cool car (rip-off, nonetheless), or the automatic revolver, or the way Malone was always half dead... or Pataki's swift nude scene. Well, I thought the movie had enough effort in it for me to deliberate and expose a supported opinion has a lover of all cinema, from mainstream to under-achieved.