Mean
Machine (2001)
Director:
Barry
Skolnick
Cast: Vinnie
Jones, Jason Statham, Danny Dyer, David Kelly, David Hemmings,
Robbie Gee,
Vas Blackwood
Length:
tbc
minutes
Release: 26th
December 2001 |
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| Vinnie
gets ready to pitch in during "Mean Machine". |
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If
Hollywood gave an Oscar for barefaced cheek, first-time director Barry
Skolnick would beat allcomers. |
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Not
only does he remake Robert Aldrich's classic American prison film
""
(aka "The Longest Yard") as a British comedy, but he puts
Vinnie Jones in the lead role and dumbs down Aldrich's satire into
a cross between Porridge and "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels".
Danny
Meehan (Jones) is an ex-England footballer whose dodgy past - taking
a bung to throw a national game - comes back to haunt him when he's
sent down for a stretch behind bars. The prison warden forces him
to set up a game of football between the inmates and the guards,
with Vinnie having to convince his fellow convicts that he's not
going to sell them out.
As
remakes go, "Mean Machine" is something of a smash and
grab raid on Aldrich's cult classic. Shamelessly lifting all the
best lines from the original, excising the political commentary
and playing up the violent comedy, this new version gives a two-fingered
salute to all notions of cinematic respect, trampling over Aldrich's
masterpiece like a squad of elephants in football boots.
Fortunately,
it keeps its tongue welded firmly in its cheek. The scriptwriters
have enough sense to replay every funny moment from the original,
while also adding a couple of innovations of their own. The final
soccer game is definitely the high point of the proceedings, if
only because it lets the star do what he does best - play some very
dirty football.
It's guaranteed
to make you laugh... but whether that's at it or with it is a matter
of taste.
"Mean Machine" opens in UK cinemas on Wednesday 26th December 2001.
Reviewed by , 大象传媒 Films.
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