paulmarsilii The movie, mediocre at best. What a disappointment. Some great actors in not so great roles. I really think I started to lose interest every time I was reminded that the movie was NOT shot in Philadelphia. My mind would wander and take time to try to get back to the story. I really feel the movie lost its authenticity by not being filmed in Philly. I couldn't agree more with Sunee161. C'mon. Philly is one of the cheapest places to film ANYWHERE! Pittsburgh is a great city, but it's no Philly. The filmmakers had to keep reminding us of that with shots of mountains in the background, the Bud billboard with the Steelers logo on it, a route 837 North sign outside the Antique Gallery. REALLY??? Even the street signs didn't look like Philly. Ever hear of SECOND UNIT??? Couldn't you have used some stock Philly footage or some b-footage. How hard would the 5 1/2 hour DRIVE have been to get some real Philly footage? World War Z was shot in Glasgow, Scottland and looked more like Philly because at least they brought in newspaper honor boxes, parking signs, street signs and streetlights. Admittedly, the taxis were New York, not Philly. And jeffca from Ardmore, considering Philly was having it's "city wide government shutdown" I don't blame Knight for shooting Devil in Canada. He really wanted to shoot it in Philly like all the rest of his movies, but how long should he have waited, losing money, for Philly to get its act together. I agree, the film council has to be more aggressive and lure more film production to this city. I have a great idea for the producers of 10th & Wolf, how 'bout filming a movie that takes place in LA and shoot it in Paris. That should look convincing!

lynn-ash Although this movie seems to be a mob story, the theme of this film is betrayal. Tommy, the protagonist-narrator, had a boyhood hero- his father, who was the first to betray him. So when his father was killed before his eyes, his child-mind figured he had it coming to him. He and his brother, Vinny, now orphans, go to live with his cousin Joey's family, and he saw Joey's mother betray her husband and ultimately her son. The first villain was Uncle Matty, who cuckolded Joey's father, and then killed him, lying to Joey as to who did it. Joey depended on Tommy's friendship, but Tommy's angst propelled him into the Marines, where his government and president betrayed him by not crushing Saddam in the first Iraq war. He winds up in a military prison, faced with long imprisonment. Brian Dennehy's law enforcement "bail-out" was also a lie, because Vinny's involvement in crime was not revealed until it was too late for Tommy to back out of his spying on the family "business" for the FBI, and then he was forced into wearing a "wire."His family welcomes him home, not realizing his dual role of spy and helper in the "business." He is trying to save them, but he's forced to do it in a backward manner. The only loyalty expressed and lived out was that of his simple brother, Vinny, who pays the ultimate price for his loyalty. The only way Tommy can prove himself with Joey, who has begun to suspect him, is to go into a suicidal mission to try to destroy Joey's head mob enemy, and the prize the FBI wants. Joey dies; Tommy survives. His only hope now is to leave the area with his new love and her son; her husband was also a victim of mob betrayal. "What doesn't kill you will leave you stronger" is the final lesson from all this and they leave town, hopefully to start over somewhere else.The acting was universally excellent, marking James Marsden's further display as a serious actor in a serious adult film. Brad Renfro's portrayal of the pathetic younger brother is all the more poignant; he would die not long afterward. Ribisi played his role well. The more famous actors: Dennehy, Hopper, Mihok, and Warren, to name a few, added class and stature to the film. This is my favorite Piper Perabo portrayal: she played a thoughtful and brave and a caring mother, as well as a new bartender in a difficult situation. The direction portrayed moodiness and contrasts of color. One of my favorite scenes was the opera aria, with Ribisi's reaction to it and Marsden trying to keep a straight face. Truly enjoyable file, despite the subject matter.

JoeytheBrit This is one of those films that gives the impression it is written by someone who is more a fan of the genre than a practitioner. It contains all the usual elements found in these 'tough' and 'gritty' crime dramas – the questionable loyalty between hoods who have grown up together on the mean streets of the city's slums, the psychotic gangster, the tough but vulnerable single mum, the doting mother, the sleazy clubs, the random acts of violence, the pop music soundtrack – but never once comes close to showing any signs of originality.James Marsden – as anonymous a leading man as you are ever likely to find – plays the son of a mobster drummed out of the marines for stealing a jeep and going after Saddam on his own when the US call off the Gulf War on the dictator's doorstep back in '91. He is offered a deal by shady cop Brian Dennehy (looking surprisingly trim but worryingly frail) to help put away a mobster from his old neighbourhood in return for his freedom from military prison. Returning to his old haunts, he falls in with his slightly feeble-minded brother and his cousin – ably played by Giovanni Ribisi – who is about to embark on a gang war with the mobster in question, which leads to the usual conflict of loyalties.After watching this I wondered not only why I bothered watching it through to its inevitable conclusion, but also why anybody bothered putting up the money for it. The script is pedestrian at best, and the storyline never wavers from a path that is as predictable as it is dull. Only the quality of the acting, and especially a blistering performance from Ribisi, make this worth watching at all. Well – that and the unintentionally hilarious death scene of one-legged gangster, Julian.

lastliberal Basic story here is one of situational ethics.This is the kind of thing that the right-wing nut-jobs on radio and TV decry except when it is used to do things like fight drugs or find terrorists.In this movie James Marsden plays a returning Desert Storm vet that got in trouble and is used by the government (Brian Dennehy & Leo Rossi) to rejoin his brother and friend (Giovanni Ribisi and Brad Renfro) to infiltrate the Philadelphia mob and bring down the drug lord. Torture and murder are government-approved for this purpose.Marsden and Ribisi do excellent jobs here, and this is the best work I have seen by Piper Perabo. It even has a cameo by Tommy Lee, which would have been much better is it was Pamela instead.