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Pawn Blu-ray Review

“Pawn” is a poorly acted and clumsy thriller.

On the surface, “Pawn” looks like a standard thriller about a trio of criminals robbing a diner. Nothing is as it seems, however, as this twist filled story involves corrupt cops, a gangster, a fresh out of jail man named Nicholas (who has a police officer brother), a hostage negotiator, a hard drive, secrets, murder, and the wife of a certain character being kidnapped. How does this all connect and play out? That would be telling.

With a cast containing Michael Chiklis, Forest Whitaker, Ray Liotta and Stephen Lang, you’d think “Pawn” would at least be a decent thriller with solid acting across the board. Sadly, this low-budget thriller doesn’t quite pan out the way it should.

First off, the allure of the all-star cast is completely misleading here. Forest Whitaker and Ray Liotta barely have any screen time here, and Michael Chiklis gives the single worst performance of his career. For some odd reason, Chiklis (who starred in one of the greatest TV series with “The Shield”) dons a British accent in this film which is truly laughable. Considering he also produced this film, you have to wonder why he opted to go this route with the character. It’s distracting to say the least. Also, cringe worthy here is hip-hop artist turned actor Common as a tough hostage negotiator. I’ll let that speak for itself.

On the screenplay front, I admire the fact that writer Jay Anthony White attempted to mix things up a bit with a non traditional story structure told with a variety of different character view points. However, the story’s implausibility makes the whole film hard to swallow from the get go. It’s hard to be convinced by the story when one of the cops is so blatantly shady that you have to wonder how everyone seems so oblivious to his nefarious deeds. It’s little things like that that hamper the overall story.

Video/Audio:

The film, which is presented in 2.40:1 1080p, is a gritty crime flick and it looks it. It may not be the most glamorous hi-def transfer, but it’s certainly a step-up from the DVD copy.

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 is not going to blow you away, but it’s adequate.

Extras:
* DVD copy.
* “Pawn: Behind The Scenes” contains set footage, cast and crew interviews, story discussions, etc.

April 20, 2013 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Blu-Ray review | Forest Whitaker, Michael Chiklis, Pawn Blu-ray Review, Pawn Review