SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

SincereFinest disgusting, overrated, pointless

Inadvands Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Comeuppance Reviews Boomer (Wiper) is a young Chicago cop that gets mixed up in a war between federal agents, such as Dexter (Phillips), and shady gangsters and criminals, such as Cleveland (Braugher) who want a special computer chip. Apparently this chip contains sensitive information that leads all the way to the top. So Boomer ends up on a road trip of sorts, dodging dangers at every turn, and meeting wacky characters such as Flash (Pantoliano, not Jeff Kutash). All he wants to do is propose to his beautiful girlfriend Kelly (which is probably a decent idea considering it is puzzling why a woman of this caliber is with this dork in the first place)...but, as they say, life has other plans...It seems, since the 2000's, the term "Direct to Video" is synonymous with this type of production - a not-quite-movie-theater-quality, run of the mill, post-Tarantino crime thriller that relies more on cursing in the dialogue than on good ideas. This is a shame, DTV used to encompass all sorts of things, not the least of which was punchfighting movies. But, alas, this relatively new form of entertainment has paved the way for such personalities as Scott Wiper, a man whose career would not exist were it not for the miracle of DTV productions.Despite the good cast, don't be fooled. This is some sort of vanity project for the aforementioned Mr. Wiper. Just because he wrote The Last Marshal (1999), now he feels he's entitled to write, direct and star in his own project, leaving the real stars in the background. Well, you're no Scott Glenn, sir. (Note snarky attitude). Lou Diamond Phillips and Wiper should have switched roles. But we're left with the unlikable Wiper, who appears to be some sort of irritating cross between Edward Burns and Ben Affleck.At the outset, it appears we're in for a low-budget, gritty crime drama that's at least striving for some measure of quality. Sadly, the "irony" sets in and we realize we're in sub-Boondock Saints (1999) territory once again. Of course, why that movie has a gigantic following and was even re-released back into the theaters (an unheard-of move) while A Better Way to Die and its ilk are unnoticed by these same "fanatics" is unknown.This movie is not impressive, although the (unfortunately) supporting cast tries their best. Henstridge has never looked better, but that's not nearly enough to save this dud. Regrettably, a Better Way to Die is a waste of the talents of LDP, Braugher, Pantoliano, Henstridge and Sweet Lou (B'Nard Lewis). Avoid.For more action insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

Paul Andrews A Better Way to Die starts in Chicago where a cop named Boomer (writer & director Scott Wiper) witnesses the murder of his partner Carlos (Carmen Argenziano) during an undercover operation, he decides to leave both Chicago & the force & head out to the sticks to be with Kelly (Natasha Henstridge) the woman he loves. En route he finds himself dodging bullets & fighting for his life when he is mistaken for special agent Harrison James (Jefferson Moore) who the mob wants because of a computer chip with informant information on it & the Government wants him because of, well a computer chip with informant information on it. Seemingly everyone wants him dead as he tries to work out a solution to the situation he finds himself in...Staring, written & directed by Scott Wiper this wasn't anywhere near as bad as I was fearing, in fact I'd go as far as to say it's a fun little action flick without ever being spectacular. The somewhat predictable & often routine action thriller script doesn't take itself too seriously & is fairly light hearted in tone, the character's are decent & the dialogue is alright even though it resorts to constant use of profanity & bad language on occasion. It moves along at a brisk pace & is never boring although the action scenes are somewhat repetitive & are a little low key, don't expect car chases & explosions every five minutes because you will be disappointed if you do. My main problem with A Better Way to Die is that every time it starts to get good the pace slackens & it never quite reaches the dizzy heights of greatness, every time it starts to get good the scene just fizzles out into nothing. The fight in the burning barn at the end & the shoot-outs are average action sequences rather than great ones & as a consequence A Better Way to Die is a touch forgettable, it's a good solid film which you can sit down in front of if it's on TV for free & waste 100 odd minutes in it's company happily enough but by the next morning you'll probably have forgotten all about it & I certainly don't think it's worth spending a lot of money on buying the DVD.Director Wiper does a fine job here, it looks pretty nice & although the action scenes are distinctly average they are well shot & choreographed. It's just a shame about some of the poor editing during the shoot-outs, was this cut to get an 'R' rating? Is that why some of the shoot-outs look so choppy? Those outside the UK will have no idea what I'm talking about but while looking at the credits I noticed one of the producers was named Graham Taylor, I can assure everyone that it's a different Graham Taylor to the ex-manager of Watford, Aston Villa, Wolverhampton Wanderers & the Graham Taylor who had a disastrous time in charge of England when The Sun likened him to a Turnip when they superimposed his face on one of the vegetables all over their paper after we lost to Sweeden! Swedes 2, Turnips 1 was the headline... Still, at least us England fans can look back on it & laugh now, then again maybe not.Technically the film is fine, it looks nice enough with decent cinematography & production values. The action sequences could have used beefing up a bit, I mean one blown up car & a blown up shed isn't much to get that excited about. The acting is fine, although there are some fairly experienced names in the cast the likes of Lou Diamond Phillips, Natasha Henstridge & Joe Pantoliano they have very little screen time & are more cameo appearances than anything else.A Better Way to Die is a decent little action film, it's light hearted & has decent character's & an OK story but it didn't quite reach the heights of greatness for me I'm afraid. It's also rather predictable at times & nothing that we haven't seen before. If you can catch it on TV for free then go ahead but don't spend good money on it. Good but not great.

peladophobe I found this movie very entertaining. Although it was an action film I found the humor hilarious. It's no Tarantino, but I loved the dark humor in the movie and the fact that nothing went right for our hero throughout. I'd definitely recommend this movie for a rental. Just bare in mind that it's not a comedy, but it's also not a total shoot em up. Like I said, this is no Tarantino, but if you like Quentin's movies I think you'll like this one. This movie started strong for me, maybe compared to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (minus the drugs) meets the second half of True Romance (they even throw in a hot blonde to sauce up the mix). This movie has a good mix of characters. From the rugged hero, to the righteous hit-man, and a slew of other crazy individuals met by Boomer along the way.

James Miller I personally thought this was much better than just an action film to satisfy the gun -hungry. It has the plot of a road movie, where the hero gets into one scrape after another, off which the writer / director can hang a plethora of quirky characters (the one-armed Flash, Karmic Hitman Andre Braugher) and incidents (an escape down a just-used dunny, a Carrie-like re-appearance), and with, as the ultimate goal, a reconciliation with his ex-girlfriend, the utterly gorgeous Natasha Henstridge. The driving force of this odyssey is the search for missing FBI agent Harry, in this case James and not Lime.**POSSIBLE SPOILERS**There is a certain dream-like quality to the whole film, similar, say, to `After Hours', and particularly Point Blank. In fact, at times I thought perhaps he was actually shot at the start, and the subsequent events were thoughts paralleling the path of the bullet through his brain. There is a Twilight Zone based on an Ambrose Bierce short story that does exactly that (during a hanging). Thus, a better way to die than the reality of being shot in an alley - being dispatched at the end of a spiraling sequence of events leading to an inevitable showdown. It doesn't look like the sort of film where the director was made to change the ending, but I'd have preferred him shot at the end, to complete the circle. A shame Flash died quite so quickly, as well.