Jaume Aler I want to believe that this tries to be a rather naive homage to Noir films with a sense of humor. It has all the ingredients of a Noir film except one: a good story! Everything is predictable, cliché after cliché, and the feeling is that the formal part of this film was much more important that what it tries to describe. It has elements from comics and the visuals are rather good, which makes this m,movie watchable if you want some fun, but do not try to take it seriously.Another disappointing was the acting, which always seems odd and forced.So watch it, have fun, and forget it!

Scarecrow-88 Russell Mulcahy(Highlander)directs this bloody gangster opus which follows Thomas Jane as he works his way through the crime syndicate of Gregory Harrison, over a toy elephant(!)found in a steel case. The elephant is known throughout the movie as "the meaning of love." Jane is costumed in 40s Bogie attire as the hard-to-kill Malone, having to stay one step ahead of Harrison and his hired killers, Ving Rhames(as Boulder)and the absolutely insane Doug Hutchison(as Matchstick, notorious for burning his parents alive, narrowly escaping the house, suffering hideous burns on his own face in the process). The eye candy of the movie is Elsa Pataky(striking in blood red lipstick), sliding smoothly into the sultry Film Noir moll role, as Evelyn, whose motivations remain suspect as she asks Malone to help free her kidnapped brother, killed by another assassin, a Japanese girl named Mauler(Chris Yen). French Stewart shows up as a bad lounge comic who also works as a stool pigeon for Harrison and ends up on Malone's bad side for almost getting him(and his alcoholic mom)killed. Rhames only works for Harrison because the crime lord pays to keep Boulder's wife alive on life-support. GIVE 'EM HELL MALONE is a homage to those detective noir films, where the film's hero is a flawed man you only root for because everyone else is so evil. Malone is always having to constantly look over his shoulder for either a knife to his back or bullets aimed in his direction at all times. Even Evelyn can not be trusted. Jane's Malone is the usual tough-guy archetype, good with a gun, takes a licking and keeps on ticking. The film sure as hell opens with a bang as Malone attains the case with the elephant for his boss, Murphy(Leland Orser), annihilating a whole army of Harrison's men with plenty of Hong Kong John Woo balletic gunplay, bodies torn to bloody shreds as bullets damage and destroy in grand style. This would make an ideal double header with the equally ultra-violent, cartoony, gratuitous crime actioner, SHOOT 'EM UP. Easily the most entertaining character in the movie is Matchstick because of how batsh#t crazy he is(funny is how he progressively becomes more worse for wear due to his inability to finish Malone off, his face set on fire on more than one occasion).

Anoke I'm happy to report that Russell Mulcahy's GIVE'EM HELL MALONE is one of the best films he's ever done. It's super-stylish, has great visionary directing and it's full of ideas. It's Mulcahy the artist, not Mulcahy the gun for hire. Great casting (Thomas Jane, Ving Rhames, Elsa Pataky, French Stewart) are doing a terrific job..Very cool intelligent neo-noir screenplay pays a homage to a classic detective story. The cinematography is dynamic and energetic. I haven't got so much fun with Mulcahy's movie since the glorious times of the HIGHLANDER. It's so good to see Russell in a top form again after the string of shitty movies he did recently.

drgrozozo Lots of gory effects and nice idea about throwing them into ambient of film-noir. That's about it for this movie.As for acting, I only liked supporting actors French Stewart and Leland Orser (Frankie and Murphy) as rest of the cast was mediocre at the best. Never felt any spark between boring Elsa Pataky (Evelyn) and not-so-believable-as-unbuttoned-drunkard Thomas Jane (Malone). Malone does get a cool voice, that seems to be a standard for cinematography these days :) Characters are cartoonish, we can see bits of Sin City in it, unfortunately they are clumsily developed and often over the top. World is mix of 50s and cell-phones, music is scarce but appropriate and pleasant. There are few fresh spots and lot more clichés and borrowed places. Too bad, with more creative freedom it could be fun flick.Overall movie looks good, it just doesn't have good enough script. I doubt you could say who actually hired who to do what and why when you finish watching.