Solo (2006)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Simply Perfect

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

I was out in Sydney during their Film Festival and just happened to see "Solo" being advertised at this cool little cinema down by the Opera House called the Dendy. I went and checked it out and have to say enjoyed myself thoroughly right the way through with some turns in the Movie that caught me off guard.The Aussie humour I dig so much and this movie captured it in spades. Found out later that the dude who made this film had won project greenlight and it was his first feature. This guy will go places and I'm looking forward to the next flick he brings out as I love that edge he created in Solo and I love a movie that I walk away thinking I should've seen it coming but I just got blindsided.Top Marks from me! Well done.

I just watched SOLO last night. I went into it not expecting much so that once the film was finished i would hopefully be pleasantly surprised... I wasn't. Now I realise that the film was only made for a million dollars and that it all had to be done by the book, but this has proved time and time again to be detrimental to the Aussie industry. We need guerrilla film-making at the lower end simply because we have to make a million dollar film look like it's worth so much more. On the documentary which screened about the film (it was a project greenlight film, the first in Australia) it showed how due to restraints they could not lock down a car wash so they dressed an allyway to look like an Asian Laundry. now the set looked good, but when i went to see the film you couldn't see any of the set design because of the poor choice in coverage and because they decided to use a long lens.Now it's not all the technical stuff which got to me, the writing and performances, the clichéd storyline also hit me hard. Solo comes across as a film noir, which is such a staple of American film-making but fails to translate well on the Australian screen, i'm sure in the future someone here will actually be able to do it but for the time being... they can't.Now the plot: Barrett (Colin Friels) play's the age old clichéd character of the hit-man who wants to get out of the business but can't leave until he does one last job. It's a tired plot device and I for one am sick of it. His last job of course is to kill off Billie (Bojana Novakovic) who is a nosy uni kid digging too deep into the underworld. Now becomes an exercise in fitting in as many clichéd scenes as possible. everything you think will happen does happen. 1) he can't kill her but instead falls for her 2) there are crooked cops how also want him dead 3) he's sleeping with a hooker (cause as we all know hit men can't have a stable relationship) 4) there are other gangs that want to see him dead, yet no one can seem to kill him. 5) an automatic uzi still can't kill a man with a single revolver 6) when the cops corner our hero about to kill him their crooked chief will arrive to say goodbye then of course leave before the 'killing' is done leaving our hero to escape 7) (you'll get this when you watch it) if you're 80+ and can still play piano with just one hand in an earlier scene then why think you life is over when some fingers on one hand are broken.there are other clichés too, like the ending (which i won't spoil) but lets just say that anyone with half a brain can figure it out about 30min into the film and it doesn't come as a surprise or a shock like the director intended... simply because this ending has been recycled from sooo many other films.all the actors (and i do realise that there was No rehearsal time at all) seem to just walk through their performances. the characters and o two dimensional it's hard to care about any of them, especially Barrett who we are supposed to latch onto. Look it's not a bad film but it's most definitely not a good one either. all i can say in it's support is that at least it got made. the sate of the Australian film industry is on a massive decline and more private investors are needed so it's good to see it at least get made within a year instead of the usual 3-10 year waiting period that usually occurs with most Australian films, so for that i applaud it.

Morgan O' Neill's Solo is the first Australian film produced under the Project Greenlight banner, where a first time writer/ director was provided with $1 million dollars to get their film made. Working with a total budget that probably wouldn't cover the catering bill on a big summer blockbuster, O'Neill has crafted a gritty urban thriller, set deep within Sydney's criminal underworld. Colin Friels' Jack Barrett has built a life making people disappear for the criminal kingpins, but has finally reached a decision to go straight. Certainly, it's a cliché, but clichés become cliché's for a reason, because they work. When a young university honours student (Bojana Novakovic) starts digging a little too deep with her research on underworld crime, Barrett is ordered to "terminate her research career permanently". The film then tracks the relationship between the two, the hit-man and his mark. O'Neill has crafted a tight script where the twists are surprising, but always believable. Friels' opening monologue is a particularly wonderful piece of dialogue and serves to hook the viewer from the start. The performances are generally good, with Linal Haft and Angie Milliken particularly strong. Some artistic decisions let the film down somewhat. An appalling wardrobe choice sees Friel's Barrett in flashback, dressed in fright wig and terrible moustache. Rather than evoking the mid 70s as it's supposed to, you could be forgiven for mistaking him for an extra from a Comedy Inc sketch. Such costuming effectively removes much of the power such scenes should (and could) have contained. That said, Solo is an excellent low budget film, but importantly it is also an impressive film in its own right. O'Neill has gone a way to proving what logic keeps telling film lovers: It's not how much money is thrown at a film that makes it watchable, but the more intrinsic elements of script, plot and performance.

Despite the excitement I had watching the build up to this movie on FOXTEL after seeing Morgan O'Neill win the project greenlight Australia competition, even my expectations were surpassed. O'Neill has crafted an authentic Australian crime movie that fulfills its promise to entertain.We are introduced to Barrett in the movie, sublimely played by Colin Friels, and I would challenge any viewer to feel a pathos for this heartless dealer in death. However O'Neill achieves what every director aims for: to make us care for the characters he has created. To be perfectly honest I thoroughly enjoyed all the performances and thought the casting was top notch.The camera work also deserves a mention as there are some wonderful lighting effects . The jazz soundtrack is sensual and matches the side of Sydney O'Neill is exhibiting. There is also some Australian hip-hop in a scene set in Sydney's seedy King's Cross whose only criticism I have is that it isn't long enough.As a Sydney-sider this is the first time since watching "Two Hands" that I have felt a movie has captured the texture of one of the world's great cities.Another special mention must go to Vince Colossimo whose performance I thoroughly enjoyed and I felt to be the best of the movie, perhaps this is down to the fact that I like seeing this type of a character in the movie.O'Neill has also mastered the use of Australian humor in his work as the lines feel natural to the characters and reminded me of the Lock, Stock type of delivery. Kudos O'Neill, Kudos