A typical tale of double cross as a three-time loser who happens to look like a famous gangster is pulled out of prison to impersonate him.
Tim Kearney (Paul Walker) is a three-time loser. His third time was when he killed another inmate in prison. Now federal officer Gruz (Laurence Fishburne) is offering Kearney an opportunity to get a whole new set of stats. All he has to do is impersonate the infamous Bobby Z (Jason Lewis), a legendary drug dealer.
Gruz’s partner is being held by Don Huerto (Joaquim de Almeida) and the Don wants Bobby Z in exchange. When they get to the border to do the exchange it seems that Agent Gruz didn’t exactly have Kearney’s best interests at heart. Kearney ends up at the hacienda of Cervier (Jason Flemyng) where he meets up with Elizabeth (Olivia Wilde), an old girlfriend of Zs.
She’s taking care of Kit (J.R. Villareal), a young kid who happens to be Z’s son. Kearney escapes Cervier’s compound and ends up with Gruz, Johnson (Keith Carradine) one of Cervier’s thugs, and the gang of his third time mistake all in hot pursuit of him.
Bobby Z (originally called the Death & Life of Bobby Z) is an okay action adventure film. Paul Walker still seems just a little too clean cut to be playing the role of a ex-Marine criminal and eventual bad boy drug dealer. In fact, some unintentional comedy arises as he stumbles and fumbles through some portions of the film. He’s a bit clumsy - which is what saves his butt in the border incident in the first place.
There are some leaps of logic that will leave you scratching your head [spoiler – Why does Gruz spend any time training Kearney to impersonate Z when he’s going to off him in the first place /spoiler]. Just keep repeating to yourself that it’s only a movie, turn off your brain, pop the popcorn, and you’ll at least enjoy the 90 minutes that the film is on. It’s not exactly original but it does entertain.
Bobby Z is presented in both anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) enhanced for 16x9 televisions and fullscreen. You choose your aspect ratio when you hit the play button. Special features include the 11-minute “Behind the Scenes of Bobby Z.”
It has interviews with director John Herzfeld, Laurence Fishburne, Paul Walker, J.R. Villareal, producer Heidi Jo Markel, Olivia Wilde, and producer Matt Luber. What’s strange is that Bruce Dern appears in scenes where he’s explaining the legend of Bobby Z, which makes me think that his scenes were deleted.
I wonder if there are other deleted scenes somewhere? I looked at the Internet Movie Database and Tracey Walter is listed, but I don’t remember seeing him in the film. There are also previews for other Sony DVDs.
Bobby Z seems was treading on ground that was pretty familiar, but it still had its entertaining points. I still wondered what happened in the editing room since the Bruce Dern footage just ended up in the documentary and not the feature. I suppose if you’re fans of the actors involved that you’ll want to check it out.
Bobby Z is now available at Amazon . It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a Sept. 24th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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