Desert Saints (2000) from Tuna and Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy) |
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Tuna's comments in white: Desert Saints (2002) went through cable and vid distribution without a theatrical release. It is marketed as a thriller, and is the story of a hit man (Kiefer Sutherland) and the woman (Melora Walters) he hires to help him with a hit. |
| As the film opens, we see Sutherland check into a Mexican hotel with his wife, whom we don't see, in what is actually a scene near the end of the movie. Then the movie proper starts with him killing and burying his female partner, the feds finding the body, and his recruiting Walters. We then replay the hotel scene, but this time with Walters. |
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This is at about the 20 minute mark. At this point, you can safely cut to the last 5 minutes, where we see the full version of the entering the hotel scene, then the aftermath, where they pull off a surprise ending, and then another after the screen goes black for the credits. The only thing you would miss is the breast exposure from Walters, first through a partially open bathroom door, where we never see her face, and then in a long but boring sex scene with Sutherland. Scoop's comments in yellow: I thought it was a movie with a good handful of cards that misplayed some of them. It wasn't bad, but it needed some fixin'.
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Given a few minor changes, the story could have played out very well chronologically without any flash forwards or other tricks. The plot had about four pretty nifty twists at the end, and I thought they were generally pretty cool. I figured out one of them, but the others were pleasantly surprising. I also kinda enjoyed Kiefer Sutherland as the brilliant Ivy league hired killer who isn't quite as tough as he would like to pretend, but is tough enough. |
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