One Way (2006)

One of my all time favorites.

It is a performances centric movie

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

One Way is an interesting, unpredictable sort of genre bending thriller that shouldn't be judged by its cover, which makes it out to be an action flick. Not even close. It's the story of several different characters who intersect by the mistakes they make, and the lengths they go for redemption and revenge. In the opening sequence we see a young girl pursued by a pack of perverted hooligans through the woods. After being sexually assaulted, she is visited by a hulking military general (the excellent Michael Clarke Duncan) who seems to be her guardian angel, brutally dispatching the youths with an automatic machine gun. The story then switches randomly to a cocky, adulterous ad executive (Til Schweiger trying hard not to ham it up) who's in crisis with his suspecting wife, arrogant boss (Art Hindle), and his boss's son, a vile prick with a penchant for sexual assault himself. Lauren Lee Smith plays the older version of our heroine in the prequel, whose continuing story collides with Schweiger's predicament for some really surprising thrills that take you by surprise. It's a really unique setup, without any sort of warning or conventional intuition as to where it's going to take us, and eventually gets to some dark places of morally frightening danger. Smith is excellent in the intense lead role that requires some harrowing work, which she pulls off without a hitch. Sebastian Roberts is a snivelling little piece of human garbage as the boss's son and Schweiger's brother in law, and provides an antagonist that you just love to hate, and gets what's coming to him in a a disgusting sequence that lets just say, sneaks up on you....from behind. Michael Clarke Duncan is only around for a few scenes but makes his usual impression, and is unforgettable as the sympathetic general. Eric Roberts shows up out of nowhere in the third act, nailing his role as a slick defence attorney, and Kenneth Welsh kills it as the rival lawyer. Stephanie Von Pfetten is heartbreaking as Schweiger's put upon wife who has deep issues of her own that come piling out in a devastating courtroom sequence. If you enjoy thrillers that spin a left field, unconventional narrative where you never really quite know who's who or where things are going, give this one a watch. It's a unique treat.

This movie starts out with Michael Clarke Duncan playing a black, militarized version of Harvey the Invisible Rabbit. It goes on to introduce us to a main character that is a cheating, arrogant weakling. A perfectly fine young woman is brutally raped with her clothes on and THEN we see her naked in the shower. Three cops show up who appear to have learned everything they know about police work from the Erik Estrada Correspondence School of Law Enforcement. Eric Roberts pops by as a lobotomized version of Perry Mason. Oh, and this film also features one of the rare non-porn appearances of a strap-on dildo. If that all sounds like something you'd like to watch, put down the meth and go eat an orange.The plot of One Way is rather involved but I'm not going to get into it in too much detail. That's because this story is like running on a treadmill while falling down the side of a mountain. It feels like you're stuck in the same spot and careening wildly out of control at the same time. Anyway, here's the basics of it. Eddie Schneider (Til Schweiger) wants to marry Judy Birk (Stefanie von Pfetten), his boss's daughter. His professed love for Judy, however, doesn't stop Eddie from banging as many other women as his unit can handle. Eddie is an extremely talented and extremely self-destructive a-hole. He's the sort of guy who makes himself late for the most important business meeting of his life because Eddie just has to get a morning quickie from an anonymous red head, then incorporates his being late into the pitch that lands the company a big client.Judy's brother Anthony (Sebastien Roberts) finds out that Eddie is a cheating bastard. He doesn't tell Judy or their parents. He doesn't confront Eddie. No, Anthony decides that it gives him an excuse to rape Eddie's friend and assistant, Angelina Sable (Lauren Lee Smith). Only after that does Anthony blackmail Eddie with evidence of his cheating. Eddie lies in court about Angelina to get Eddie acquitted. But in a case of leaden irony, Judy finds out about Eddie's infidelity on her own and breaks up with him, which leads to her father firing Eddie.Ugh. I've already gone into more detail than this thing merits. To wrap things up - Angelina starts hallucinating; Anthony winds up dead; Eddie is put on trial; the story bounces back and forth from being about vigilantism to personal redemption to familial dysfunction; and Judy reveals herself to be one of those women with colossally bad taste in men.The acting in One Way is okay. Lauren Lee Smith is fairly good as Angelina until the character gets saddled with a mental condition and Stefanie von Pfetten is appealing as one of the wimpiest empowered women you'll ever see. Til Schweiger is…well, he's Til Schweiger. If you like the stuff Til Schweiger does, you'll find Til Schweiger doing it here. The rest of the cast is asked to do too many ridiculous scenes and speak too much bad dialog to fairly evaluate their performances.The direction is also okay, but it's a little disturbing that the best staged and most affective scene is the rape of Angelina and the worst staged, least affective scene is the revenge rape of Anthony. I mean, writer/director Reto Salimbeni can only make the rape of Anthony work by equating being handcuffed with being paralyzed from the waist down, which creepily makes it seem as though he put much less thought into it than he did with the more realistic violation of Angelina.One Way certainly has narrative ambitions. It's trying to take on subjects of morality, ethics and responsibility. Unfortunately, those concepts aren't addressed with much talent or skill. It's a little like listening to a 6 year old try and tell you what War and Peace is all about.There are moments in One Way that make you think that this film might have turned out better in an alternate dimension where radical changes were made to the script. We can only watch the movie that was made in this dimension, though, and that's not something anyone really needs to do.

From the start of the film, the audience knows that this is going to be a complex, and not a simple who-dun-it. The audience is enlightened by the completely truthful depiction of rape as violent. Beyond lust or sexual molestation, rape is brutal and violent. It is not at all uncommon for the victim to wish the rapist(s), and any accomplices, dead. To survive, the victim must initially fantasize a murder of the perpetrator(s), and holds on to a strong feeling of revenge.There is the wealth and power of the Birk family, who maintains a 'we against them' philosophy to cover-up any corruption, and to protect each member of the immediate family. A strong matriarch and patriarch holds the family together, no matter what. Somehow, I think the entire family knew about the evil deeds of the son, but protects him anyway, with the help of corporate lawyer with a track record of winning most, if not all, of his cases. The son engages in blackmail, to selfishly hold onto the Birk fortune (he covets wealth, at any cost). Things get so chaotic and heated that, towards the end of the film, the daughter is pitted against the son, even after he is sexually violated (here, one of the victims gets her moments of revenge), and shot to death. But, has justice been served?I will not give any more details because I do not ruin the excitement and thrills of the film. If you are like me, the film will hold you on the edge of your seat. The film is riveting.I was disappointed that the film has a rather bittersweet ending. I so much prefer happy endings. But, the film is true to life. Yes, life does have its compensations. Unfortunately, however, there may be some harsh realities and shattered dreams. In the end, do the victims win? And, will the perpetrator(s) be brought to justice? Is there equality and fairness in the judgments made? Does life go on after injustice and rape? Find out the answers, to at least some of these questions, by seeing this very worthwhile film, which really makes you think about the issues surrounding corporate power, cover-ups and corruption, the judicial system, ethics, morality, rape, status and wealth, etcetera.This film is a must-see, and I rank it a 10 out of 10. The ensemble cast is superb, as is the direction and writing by Reto Salimbeni. The editing is well executed, and the music aptly adds to the film's mystery, suspense and tension--which constantly builds and increases the tautness of the spellbinding thrills of this crime drama. I hope that we will see more of these fine actors, including Eric Roberts.

I enjoyed this movie very much, I like that as the plot unfolds we are thrown many curve balls that catch us by surprise and keep us in our seats. I was impressed with most of the acting (especially the villain)Anthony Birk played by Sebastien Roberts. I didn't know him before so I don't know if he plays villains often but man is he nasty!! I love Eric Roberts, I thought he was great but I was expecting to see him a lot more. I wasn't certain about (the General) character played by Micheal Clark Duncan but in the end it works.The only thing that bothered me in this movie was the overwhelming violence in the opening scene, I thought that was a little much. Definitely a movie to see.Marc