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STUDIO: Vivendi Entertainment
MSRP: $19.97
RATED: R
RUNNING TIME: 96 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
• Making of
• Cast interviews
• Deleted scene
• Community Outreach: Clementine & Carrie & Local Teens
• Trailer
The Pitch
A little girl bites her lip, killing several people.
The Humans
Written and directed by Leone Marucci, starring Christopher Walken, Jordan Prentice, Christian Slater, and Nicky Whalen.
The Nutshell
The Power of Few is another self-important film in the vein of Crash (2004), with a little Butterfly Effect mixed in with dumb results. The ensemble cast features some talent and one of the story lines manages to entertain, but it’s impossible to see beyond the overall silliness of the entire production.
The Lowdown
Hey guys, have you ever bitten your lip? Like, really bitten your lip? So bad that you prayed to god that you didn’t? These are just some of the heavy questions posed by the new bullshit DTV movie The Power of Few. Several stories intertwine apparently because a young girl, mind-boggingly named Few, bites her lip. But they’re not just any kind of stories, no sir. They’re transformational stories engineered to inspire a brain dead audience. Think Crash (2004), but worse.
Each story is bookended with young Few biting her lip, except the last one where she miraculously doesn’t bite her lip. It’s the butterfly effect of chaos theory, man! So the first story involves an underprivileged kid turning to crime to get medicine for his baby sister. Then we follow a hapless snitch who falls ass-backwards into a romance with a scooter-messenger. The snitch is being hunted by Anthony Anderson and washed-up rapper Juvenile, who’s really let himself go but has terrific, menacing eyes. He’s way more threatening than that big teddy bear Anderson. They try to make Anderson all scary by putting an obnoxious tribal tattoo all over his face, but he just looks like a clown.
Then the story shifts to homeless Christopher Walken and Jordan Prentice (In Bruges) who steal a cop’s gun because that’s what crafty street urchins do. Their story line is pretty entertaining since it consists solely of Walken delivering lengthy dialogues in his trademark style. Him and Prentice make a fun onscreen duo, with Prentice always ready for a baffled reply to Walken’s talks. This section would’ve made a great short film.
For the real clincher, we’re given Christian Slater and Nicky Whalen (Scrubs), as some form of secret agents taking on an alleged terrorist. This section of the movie is crazy. It has the vibe of a thriller parody thanks to some of the most ridiculous dialogue I’ve ever heard in a film. It’s like the satirical dialogue in NTSD:SD:SUV, only we’re supposed to take it seriously. Also, they bring in a female wrestler-like interrogation specialist who’s decked out like Tarzan. I believe it’s implied that she literally shits on the terrorist’s face to extract information from him.
Through the vigilant anti-terrorist skills of Slater, Whalen, and female Tarzan’s bowels, they’re able to pin down the location of the Shroud of Turin – the burial cloth put on Jesus’ face that was stolen from the Vatican. Oh, did I forget to mention that part of the story? Yeah, a female spy has stolen the shroud and is being tracked by Slater and Whalen. We first learn this because it’s reported by Larry King, who plays himself in the film.
Crap, I’m making this movie sound awesome. On paper it sounds pretty cool to have the living corpse of Larry King reporting on the theft of a legendary religious artifact, then having Christian Slater go sniff out the perpetrator. But in The Power of Few, it’s a silly, frustrating experience to sit through. All of the story lines are sluggish and terribly predictable. Despite some typically fine acting from Walken and Prentice, the rest of the cast feels barely present.
The Power of Few wants to be an important movie with a strong message of human interconnectivity, but it’s impossible to get past the permeating lousiness of the whole thing and its stinky self-importance. Or maybe, since the little girl is named Few, the title is supposed to imply that she has some kind of power. Like Carrie or Charlene in Firestarter. That would’ve been cool.
In the hands of a more capable filmmaker, perhaps there would be some viable weight here. Writer/director Leone Marucci fumbles the multiple characters and perspectives, while never developing a cohesive story line. It’s painful to sit through, please avoid this one if you value your eyeballs.
Did I mention the little girl’s name is FEW.
The Package
There’s a four minute behind the scenes, where the cast attempts to give some depth to the “answers” raised by the film. It acts as a nice appetizer for the separate interviews with Slater, Walken, Anderson, and Juvenile. I went right to the Juvenile interview. I suggest you do the same.
There are two features called “community outreach,” which are kinda sweet. It focuses on the extras used around where it was shot in New Orleans.
Everything is wrapped up with a very brief deleted scene and the trailer.
Rating: Out of a Possible 5 Stars
