dnjsthd It shows his performance skills that really ends. The main character Breathing between two actors is very good.The content is simple. However, we demonstrated tremendous acting skills with such content and made full use of the movie.Especially the performance of De Niro is a dish .... This movie is sightseeing by acting skill alone. I make a dramatic ending while making various circumstances that make me feel uneasy from beginning to end. Do you call it frenzy if you look at it? Anyway, I evaluate it as a work full of dynamic feeling.

Leofwine_draca It's probably best that you ignore the hackneyed plot of this movie, plus all of the déjà vu you'll be getting from watching it. Sure, we've seen this type of movie before, many times, but slickness of direction, good cinematography and two standout performances from Snipes and De Niro as the leads make this a worthwhile venture, no matter what the critics might say.Basically, De Niro revisits his role in TAXI DRIVER as a normal, everyday kind of man who is thrown out of sync with everyday life and is forced to take drastic action to be noticed. De Niro's acting is flawless and he really convinces us that he's completely mad in his tour-de-force performance of innocent knife salesman turned psycho. Wesley Snipes is also surprisingly powerful as the good-natured star forced to deal with an obsessed fan, emoting pretty well in some heavy scenes. Ellen Barkin is realistic but irritating as a commentator, while the familiar face of John Leguizamo has little to do as Snipes' agent. Benicio del Toro briefly appears as a rival baseball player who comes off the worse for wear after his encounter with De Niro.The movie is at its most subtle and best at the beginning, with a character study of De Niro's initial descent into his insanity. There are many clichés along the way, and over the top bits, culminating in a ending which is a bit predictable, but still fun thanks to the actors. While not a gory film (aside from one unforgettable scene), this is still pretty violent stuff, both physically and mentally, thanks to effects work from Kevin Yagher. It's also quite disturbing and frightening, and has an edge of hard realism which makes it a gripping movie. Although not the most original film of all time, this is a fine showcase for the talents of the two leading men and passes the time well enough.

slightlymad22 In this psychological thriller, Robert De Niro fresh off Casino and Heat, stars as a down on his luck salesman who becomes obsessed with his favourite baseball player Wesley Snipes, who despite his last few movies Drop Zone, Money Train flopping, was still popular after success in movies like 'Demolition Man' with Sly Stallone and 'Rising Sun' with Sean Connery, both of which grossed over $100 million dollars.De Niro who has contributed some tough fisted, hard as nails characters over the years is walked over and insulted by people early on as salesman Gil, but he remains as intense as always. Snipes is charismatic and likable as the Giants new record signing Bobby Rayburn.Benico Del Toro is annoyingly effective as Rayburn's rival player. John Leguizamo puts in a fine performance as Rayburn's agent. Ellen Barkin pops up as the local sports reporter, intent on getting the story if the star player is worth $40 million. And look for a blink and you'll miss him Jack Black working for Barkin.Given the talent involved, I'm surprised this failed to find an audience, as Tony Scott's direction keeps things moving at a steady pace and it is an intense movie that whilst not a home run is more than watchable.Worth checking out at least once.

sddavis63 To talk about the movie as a whole, one has to say right off the topic that this isn't especially great. In fact, it may not even be especially good. It's the story of Gil Renard (Robert De Niro) - a former little league star who never made the majors but who's become a fanatical fan of the San Francisco Giants. Gil is also a knife salesman - and a fading one. His marriage has broken up, he's on the outs with his ex-wife, who eventually gets a restraining order to keep him away from their son after he abandons him at a ball game and then forces his way into their house to apologize. So, he's got a lot of personal problems. The "fading salesman with problems" character seems to have more than a little bit in common with characters like Willy Loman in "Death of a Salesman" or Shelley Levene in "Glengarry Glen Ross." I would guess that both were probably at least a little bit of an influence for Peter Abrahams, who wrote the book on which this was based, and Phoef Sutton, who adapted it as a screenplay.De Niro is excellent in the part. To draw another parallel, his portrayal as the obsessed, psychotic fan reminded me a bit of his performance as Max Cady in "Cape Fear." De Niro has the talent and the presence to pull these kinds of characters off, and to be believable while doing it, which isn't always easy. Renard is both obsessed and psychotic. He becomes particularly obsessed with Bobby Rayburn (Wesley Snipes) - a $40 million free agent signing by the Giants who struggles as the season starts, and gets into a battle with Juan Primo (Benecio del Toro) - who was moved from centre field to left field to make room for Rayburn, but who won't give up Rayburn's favourite #11. While Rayburn slumps, Primo becomes a star. The fans turn against Rayburn and embrace Primo. There's some reflection here on the fickleness of sports fans - the "what have you done for me lately" attitude - as well as on the big money that players make. But Gil is on Rayburn's side. He wants Rayburn to succeed - and he becomes obsessed with Rayburn, to the point at which he goes to great lengths to "help" him (watch the movie), and then, when Rayburn won't thank him for what he did, he kidnaps the star's son and threatens to kill him unless Rayburn hits a home run in the next game and publicly dedicates it to Gil. That's the story in a nutshell.Overall, the story isn't that compelling to be honest. Aside from De Niro's performance, which is excellent throughout, there really wasn't a lot to this. It takes a very long time for the movie to really get going. Most of the first hour or so is tied up with Gil's personal troubles with his job and his son. I didn't think we really needed that long to understand that the character is mentally unstable. Snipes tried hard, and he wasn't bad, but his character was less than compelling. He came across as little more than an arrogant, self-centred millionaire ball player until the angle with his son was introduced. There was very little interesting about the character. Some of the baseball action portrayed had problems. To mention something that really stood out for me - every time Rayburn was portrayed coming up to bat, he went to the batters' box from the dugout? Shouldn't he have been in the on deck circle if he was next up? Minor point perhaps, but it bugged me a bit.The last half hour (once Rayburn's son is kidnapped) is fairly tense; the last scenes on the field are way too over the top unfortunately. So, no, this isn't really a great movie. It's watchable for De Niro's performance. As far as the story is concerned, you really haven't missed much if you haven't seen this. (5/10)