Well, I don't want to be too harsh because my granddaughter picks out these flicks for some family viewing and I can't be critical to the point of alienating. But boy oh boy, this was a bit of a chore to sit through. I kept mentally comparing the Sonny Corleone James Cann with the Undercover Grandpa James Caan and it just didn't compute. It's what happens when you turn eighty and still making movies, but still. Even so, Paul Sorvino is a tad older and Louis Gossett Jr. has him by four years, so this was a real Old Timers reunion. And lest one think I'm making fun, I'll be hitting seventy myself in a couple months, so more power to these guys.
As for the story, it gets a little over the top with the fictional Krakhovians kidnapping a teenage girl because she saw them kill somebody. Guess you can't blame them, but the story could have used a different premise. The teenage actors in the film were at best adequate, while the older, former headliners deserved a better script. I saw Louis Gossett Jr. receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Hoboken International Film Festival (held in Greenwood Lake, New York!) two years ago, and he didn't receive it for stuff like this. What really blew my mind was the idea of Caan's character, ex-Major Lou Crawford, faking his own death at the end of the story so he could take off with former associate Maddy Harcourt (Jessica Walter). I guess those old timers still know how to have fun.
One upside to the picture though. My granddaughter being twelve years old at present, I suggested that something like this might be in her future. I don't mean the kidnapping part, I'm thinking more along the lines of undercover grandpa.
As for the story, it gets a little over the top with the fictional Krakhovians kidnapping a teenage girl because she saw them kill somebody. Guess you can't blame them, but the story could have used a different premise. The teenage actors in the film were at best adequate, while the older, former headliners deserved a better script. I saw Louis Gossett Jr. receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Hoboken International Film Festival (held in Greenwood Lake, New York!) two years ago, and he didn't receive it for stuff like this. What really blew my mind was the idea of Caan's character, ex-Major Lou Crawford, faking his own death at the end of the story so he could take off with former associate Maddy Harcourt (Jessica Walter). I guess those old timers still know how to have fun.
One upside to the picture though. My granddaughter being twelve years old at present, I suggested that something like this might be in her future. I don't mean the kidnapping part, I'm thinking more along the lines of undercover grandpa.