A bold blend of cartoonish carnage and noirish sarcasm with a nasty bite, Give ‘Em Hell Malone is thin on plot but a devilishly crafted delight for the eyes and ears. In other words, the storyline is pretty much beside the point, as the brash, buffoonish action nearly takes off into an alternate cinematic universe.
Directed by Russell Mulcahy (Resident Evil: Extinction), Give ‘Em Hell Malone stars Hung’s Thomas Jane (The Punisher) as the title character, a detective turned drunken gumshoe following a hit on his wife and son. Demonstrating a knack for being nearly impossible to kill and rumored to rip out the hearts of his enemies for dinner if he gets into a mad enough mood, Malone takes on the case of suspicious hottie Evelyn (Elsa Pataky).
It seems the sultry sexpot is on the hunt for a mysterious attache case likewise being pursued to the death by an assortment of cutthroat baddies. Including crimelord bodyguard in psychotherapy, Boulder (Ving Rhames) and his outlandishly hilarious super-creepy eloquent pyromaniac sidekick, Matchstick (Punisher’s Loony Bin Jim). Also turning up for some dysfunctional family quality time is Malone’s boozer geriatric mom, played by Sean Penn’s real life mother, Eileen Ryan.
This wisecracking, surrealistically laced thriller is never a dull moment goofy gunplay galore, even if the narrative is deliriously going nowhere fast. In other words, who needs to rethink classic noir all over again, when you’ve got Give ‘Em Hell Malone.
National Entertainment Media
Unrated
3 stars
DVD Features: Interviews With Stars Thomas Jane, Doug Hutchison and Elsa Pataky.
