hrkepler 'Hard Luck' is one those many half baked direct to DVD movies that Wesley Snipes starred in after the third 'Blade' movie. Not definitely the best one, but one of the most interesting from the bunch. Snipes stars as an ex-hustler gone straight, but with the string of bad luck he ends up as a witness for a deal gone bad. Throw corrupt cops, striper, stolen money and couple of serial killers into the mix and you get quite interesting over the top and action packed thriller (that lacks the actual thrills). Although the film has quite usual premise that is liven up with some ohter interesting subplots, the uneven tone and occasionally rushed screenplay hinders the film grow into it's full potential. As the film was trying to be serious and hilarious at the same time, it was little hard to feel for all the characters and take some of the actions seriously even in the context of the movie. In that sense, 'Hard Luck' felt like someone's first experiment as feature film director, but by that time Mario Van Peebles had became quite experienced filmmaker with some critically acclaimed works under his belt. And they had 56 days to shoot? The most entertaining part of the film was Cybil Shepherd as demented serial killer - her performance was so wonderfully hammy that it would have been perfect fit also into Tarantino's universe.Not the usual Wesley Snipes movie, but nothing very exciting either.

frog2077 Slow moving, a little incoherent and with next to know pay off.You must have been sniffing paraffin if you think this is good… a GCSE student scripted this after an all night Tarantino movie watching session Incoherent, badly scripted, hammy dialogued, in places poorly acted. See Wesley Snipes amble from one flung together scene to another (with little or no continuity) as he inexplicably meets a lot of deranged, unbelievable, two dimensional characters.The only value this movie has is that it features Snipes, who manages to put in an OK performance (unbelievably under the circumstances).Its tried, its old, its clichéd, it's a waste of your money and/or time and finally it features Mario-Van conducting one scene wheeling about imparting dialogue on a push-bike…why? Who the hell knows.At the end if you know or care what is going on then you must be on some higher level of consciousness is all I am saying! Avoid, unless you want to laugh at a bad movie done badly.Rubbish I will say that again…Rubbish

gradyharp Mario Van Peebles has done some good work in his past but this bizarre, confusing, silly dud is not one of them. The script feels like someone gave a party for wannabe writers, told them each to submit a plot for a far out film, then mixed them all together and came up with a hash that in the end is merely a re-do of the bad guy turned good guy on the run - with diversions.Lucky (Wesley Snipes) is released from prison with the plan of going straight. Of course his buddy covets his reputation and invites him to his birthday party where Lucky lusts after a pole dancer Angela (Jackie Quinones) and manages to become involved in a dirty cop drug deal that sends him on the usual wild car chase with Angela looking for a way to hideout with the corrupt money stashed in metal suitcases (rigged of course). After a shootout in a motel, the couple seeks housing from a gay porno filmmaker Mendez (Luis Guzmán in yet another chameleon role) and his associate Antonio (Gavin J. Behrman) who just happens to be in on the dirty cop aspect of the drug deal.Off Lucky and Angela drive to a wooded area where they hole up next door to a weirdo pair of serial killers - Cass (Cybill Shepherd), who is angry at the world for negative response to her retarded grown son Eugene (Mike Messier), and Chang (James Hiroyuki Liao), Cass's strangely sick lover and wannabe martial arts expert (yeah, that is thrown in, too) - who kidnap victims and torture and kill them in Hollywood-style videotaped sequences. Of course, when Lucky and Angela need telephone help, Lucky goes next door, is immediately strapped into a torture chair, only eventually to be discovered by the bad of bad cops and one decent cop, Captain Davis, played by Mario Van Peebles of course. And things change and intertwine and nobody really cares.Wesley Snipes does have charisma and it is because of him that the film is watchable, but even his role doesn't explain why this mess was made in the first place. It looks and sounds like a very low budget film on which probably millions were spent. Pass on this one unless you're in the mood to laugh AT a movie instead of with one. Grady Harp

trishardent This is your usual Wesley Snipes movie. No surprises in that area. The surprise, however came from different sources:1. Mario van Peebles doing his version of Pulp Fiction. Not bad but why bother - if it ain't broke, don't fix it. 2. Cybill Sheppard - her character is just so way out in left field that watching her in this movie is like watching a train wreck - you know it'll end badly but you just can't tear your eyes away. Because she looks like she must be miscast in this role, it's all the more unnerving to see just how well she nails it. 3. The violence in this movie is overwhelming, from the brutality of a blood sport - Spike TV has done it to death, move on! - to the gratuitous speeding car chase - makes me wonder how many red Mustangs they had to go through not to mention keeping innocent civilians off the road while they filed the chase - and the final degradation of watching serial killers do their thang.I think the movie would have packed just as big a punch had they faded to black for most of the serial killer games. I mean, it's been done to death. I'm pretty sure the public can fill in any blank after seeing the tools of the serial killer's trade. In fact, I'm certain our twisted minds can do much better than any director/writer after being exposed to The Silence of the Lambs.Wesley isn't what made this movie - the ensemble cast was. He just sweetened the deal.TS