The Power of Few-A Movie Review

During one afternoon in New Orleans: A desperate teenager assaults a store clerk to get medicine for his ailing baby brother. Two undercover agents come into conflict with the rules of torture while taking down a terrorist ring. To feed himself, a delusional homeless man steals a gun from a cop and sells it to the wrong guy. And while delivering a package, a courier rescues a man on the run and becomes the target of a ruthless gang. All are unknowingly connected to a smuggling operation, and they are to cross paths on that day.

MPAA Rating: R (for violence, language and brief drug use); Genres: Drama, Urban; Run Time: 1 hour 35 minutes

Writer/Director: Leone Marucci

Actors: Jesse Bradford, Christopher Walken, Q’orianka Kilcher, Christian Slater, Nicky Whelan, Moon Bloodgood, Anthony Anderson, Juvenile, Devin Gearhart, Tione Johnson

Let me start out by saying that I may finish watching this film when it makes it to Netflix or something. Me and Lay went, and couldn’t make it past the first hour. We were the only people in the theater. As I said to him as we left, it felt as though it were some high school film clubs project.The few reviews I found on-line seem to like it better than me, but being a Christopher Walken fan, I was very disappointed.

There was a foot chase scene which appeared to be filmed with a goPro camera probably mounted on a weird tower strapped to the runner’s head and looking down as he runs through alleys. In another scene, two of the main characters get glasses of tea, and go up to a building rooftop. Throughout the scene, they have straws in the drinks, then no straws, then a straw in one glass but not another. It was like someone didn’t even think about continuity.

Further supporting the idea that it had the look and feel of a high school project, I found the movie was open to fan casting, as well as online editing suggestions in post-production. I don’t know much about how that might work, but the movie had a disjointed feel, and made it seem like a committee effort.

I think The Power of Few, produced by co-star Q’orianka Kilcher (above), was supposed to revolve around the theft and smuggling of the Shroud of Turin. Larry King does some cameos to carry this part of the story, and was part of what got me interested.  In the end though it was hard to tell if this was supposed to be the main story line.

I think Marucci was trying to create some broad themes about tough lives in a poor urban area. but the result is a jumble of story lines which try to create some broader epic commentary by coming together on one day. There is an attempt to tie the stories together, and philosophize by using the Walken character as something of a”Greek Chorus.”

Cinematographer Reinhart Peschke uses a range of styles, like the “GoPro” running scene, which I found distracting. I noted the problems with continuity which made the film feel amateurish and kind of corny. I just don’t think the director had the kind of vision to bring all these story lines together. Maybe by the end of the film they come together better, so I have to reserve final judgement on that. That will be a pleasant surprise, but I just didn’t see them coalescing in the two-thirds of the film we saw.

The acting was terrible. It was obvious at times that the actors were reading que cards during the filming.

I’m willing to try to watch it to the end by myself on Netflix, but do not spend money to see this film. I really wanted to like it. It had a story I thought could be interesting, and generally like Walken, so this was a disappointment.

(3 votes, average: 7.33 out of 10)

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