The Quiet Arrangement (HWIC/MVD DVD)
Picture:
D Sound: C Extras: A Feature: C+
Walter
Briggs is a lawyer for the less than innocent and is not afraid of the
criminals he represents, but when his wife gets kidnapped and ransomed for a
million dollar job, he takes things into his own hands. However, things get complicated when detectives
get involved with the kidnappers, hitmen and the mastermind behind it all, each
has their own ideas for the money, hostage... their own 'quiet arrangements'.
In Quiet Arrangements, Briggs comes home
to find his wife missing and decides to take justice in his own hands and shoot
those responsible, but little does he know that he is being tailed by
undercover detectives, as well as hitmen. The hitmen's job is to make sure the ransom
goes smoothly, the detectives (unaware to Walter or the kidnappers) is to
recover all the dirty money. Coupled
with the kidnapper developing a Stockholm's
Syndrome for the wife (who is also a junky), things get a little complicated,
everyone’s intentions are slightly different, but ultimately everything is for
self gain/preservation. Who wins, who
survives is a game of luck, all depending on who meets who first.
This was
a murder mystery, it keep on jumping back and forth in timeline, from day
before to the day after and then back. It
kept on changing various perspectives of all the characters and showed how each
of them fitted into the ransom. The
character casting was a bit weird, oddly all the male characters looked like
overweight and over-the-hill, and all the females looked young enough to be
their daughters. For criminals, I found
they left so many clues, evidence behind, in real life they would have been
caught before it all ended. As for the
cops/detectives they were the lousy, never have sex on the job or think they
are above the law.
Therefore,
this is not that well thought out, despite its ambitions and despite some parts
that worked, most of it does not. It
also looks awful and the audio is not great.
Extras include director's final cut of the film, two audio commentaries,
making of the film, deleted and extended scenes, alternate ending, music videos
and trailers.
- Ricky Chiang
