Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Killing the Fun, 25 Feb 2008
I loved Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, so I was expecting the creators to come up with something special.
This isn't it, Killing Zoe is incrediably boring with a long static storyline that results in nothing.
The action is ridiculous and unimaginative, with huge cliché shoot outs taking place like something you expect to see at Lasar Quasar.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A PLEASENT SURPRISE, 18 Aug 2007
This film is pretty much a masterpiece and not just another crime thriller made after Tarantino's success. Killing Zoe is Roger "a friend of Quentin" Avary's directing debut and it deals with a bank robbery which goes straight to hell after night of heavy drug and alcohol use. Two old friends (Eric Stoltz and Jean-Hugues Anglade) are the main characters of the film and their friendship seems to suffer pretty much during the robbery day..
I first saw this film about a year ago and then I thought that it was just an OK action pick with violence and great dialogue. I didn't see inside the film back then and now I'm very happy to have viewed it again. The main themes in Killing Zoe are friendship and things which can destroy it. There is also strong scene(s) concerning drug and alcohol addiction.
*Some kind of spoilers coming*
Zed thinks that his old friend Eric is his real friend and they are important to each other and can trust each other. Zed soon learns the horrific truth behind Eric and that he is real monster who perhaps has AIDS and is seriously hooked on heroin and other drugs. The end scene where Eric tells Zed that their friendship means nothing to him, is extremely shocking and surprising because throughout the film Zed seems to be important to Eric. In the end of Ringo Lam's magnificent City on Fire (Hong Kong) the main characters have developed a real friendship even though they are on the other side of the law, and the bad guy, Danny Lee, is really worried about his wounded partner, Chow Yun Fat. But in Killing Zoe, the friendship between the two lead men collapses and dies for ever. The director wants to make people to think about the importance of real friends and love between human beings.
The drug taking sequence at night before the robbery is very intense and realistic with all the hallucinations and nausea. The dangers of drugs and other addictive substances come very clear during the infernal film. Even the right minded main character (Stoltz) is about to collapse to the dark side and the hallucinations are pretty disturbing and harrowing and won't leave you after the film has ended.
*spoilers end*
So, after second viewing, I found this film a very great and unforgettable experience which is definitely not just another "art house violence" flick. In fact, I prefer this as much as Reservoir Dogs, which has same kind of themes as Killing Zoe, but omits the drug content.
But it is pretty sad to see that the final R-rated version doesn't look as Roger Avary wanted it to look. There are numerous scenes in which it is easy to see that those scenes were intended to be longer or more effective. I'm not talking only about violent scenes but also those hallucinations may have been stronger without the R restrictions. So I am waiting for the unrated DVD release to come from some label sometimes in distant future..
Highly recommended for fans of Quentin Tarantino, Peter Medak (Species 2 excluded!) and other interesting filmmakers of the 90's in this genre.
9/10
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty impressive action / thriller !! !! !! !!, 2 Jan 2007
The first thing ill mention about this film is that although Quentin Tarantino's name is printed all over the DVD sleeve, he was only one of the producers of this film, although i have heard that he helped quiet alot with the directing.
This film is based around a bank robbery although there is a very subtly split sex scene and some pretty hard drug use straight after that, but the pretty long drug scene is well made and has alot of effect, ive even heard from alot of people that it was quiet a disturbing sequence because of how we see the main character and the 'good guy' of the film get pushed into taking various types of drugs even after hes blatantly high out of his mind.
After that the film starts to move a bit faster and the more action'u scenes start to commence, in which the bank robbery takes place almost immedietly. Throughout the rest of the film we see our main character turn from bieng the good guy working with the bad guys to the good guy getting the girl at the end. From there on we also see the other main character slowly seep into madness and go on a bit of a rampage, there is also some bloody bits and a the rest is pretty much a non stop thrill ride!
As the other reviews said this film does have a bit of a violent nature and some scenes can be a bit bloody but therse nothing too over the top so dont buy this film for the reason that i did; because your a gore hound and want a gore fest film.
Yet this is a very entertaining film and id recomend it too most people and you can definetly see some tarantino in many parts of this film. The cast isnt anything too special but the acting is actually okay, especially a few of the characters including the main character whos actor you may recognice from PulpFiction.
This DVD doesnt really have any extras but the film will be enough.
Overall id reccomend this to any film fans really or people who like the kind of film that has a bit of everything (the violent, sex and drug filled films) perghaps.
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