“Nobody does revenge like a woman.”
A sadistic thug abuses his girlfriend for the last time and she takes measures to make sure that he gets his. Although this movie has plenty of f-bombs, frank talk about sex, and violence it still has moments of comedy that will have you guffawing.
What the back of the box says:
If you’re easily offended you may want to sit this one out. The first line of the movie is “Big Al has a big c*ck.” No doubt Angus Macfadyen took the role of Big Al based on those lines alone. However, if those lines offend you then you want to stay away from .45. I should also say that .45 is not a remake of Ms. 45 by Abel Ferrara’s 1981 film about a mute woman avenging herself upon her rapists.
If you’re not offended by dirty talk (both sexual and cursing), then you might find something to like in .45. Although there are acts of brutal violence against Kat by the drunk, abusive Al there are also moments that you’ll spit out your popcorn with laughter. The movie has moments of “confession” when characters talk directly to the camera about other characters. For example, Big Al’s mom complains that she doesn’t know where Al got his terrible ways as she waits for the Thanksgiving dinner to be done. The buzzer goes off and she goes to take the bird out of the oven, burns herself, curses up a storm, throws the bird to the ground, and tells the f-ers to come and get their f-ing Thanksgiving dinner.
I know that I was howling with laughter, but it’s a black comedy. Even though Ma blames Al’s “Scottish pig of a father” we recognize where Al gets his familiar traits from. Though just when you think that it’s going to be a black comedy, Al gets drunk, pissed off or jealous at Kat, and beats the hell out of her. These scenes are not funny in the slightest and show the terrors of living in an abusive relationship. Although Kat doesn’t have more than one abuser to go after as Ms. 45 did, she still finds a way to avenge herself against her abuser. I found myself liking the more comedic elements of the film and really didn’t think that the mystery surrounding Kat’s revenge was as mysterious or exciting as it was supposed to be.
.45 is presented in 16x9 anamorphic full-frame, well that’s what the box says. Actually there’s no such thing as anamorphic full-frame. It’s either full-frame or anamorphic widescreen (in a varying array of aspect ratios). I’m estimating that the film is anywhere from 1.78:1 to 1.85:1. Special features include a commentary by director Gary Lennon, .45’s trailer, and a collection of other ThinkFilm trailers.
.45 is a film that both has comedic and disgusting moments. I’ll have to say that I much preferred the comedy, but you can see why Kat wanted to avenge herself against the abusive Al. It’s one of those films that you’ll laugh at one moment and flinch at in the next moment. However, those easily offended need not apply.
.45 is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
JakeySep 14th, 2007 - 19:48:18
I was surprised to see 'anamorphic full frame' also, and was relieved to see that it meant what I thought it did: if you have a 16:9 TV, the DVD is formatted to fill *that* frame. This is a (very) slight change from the movie's original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, so technically it really is a 'full frame' version, altered to fill a television screen. The same thing is done with the high-definition versions of HBO and Showtime, where no matter what the original aspect ratio, movies are reformatted to 1.77:1.
(I realize this is not the most exciting comment in the world, but hey.)
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