Raul Faust Although I've never really been a fan of action films, "The Death and Life of Bobby Z" is a film that I saw when I was much younger, and it's one of the few of the genre that I can still remember of. Last night I watched it again, and I may now understand why it's so good: it has a very cool plot. This story's writers have invented a lot of messy situations in which corrupt people and criminals try to fool each other, and the one who gets away with it is, obviously, our nostalgic actor Paul Walker. He plays a convicted that needs to pretend being the famous Bobby Z, in order to escape from his certain next conviction. It feels right, for me, to state that Walker does his job perfectly, despite the fact that he looks more like a model than like a bandit. His character in here is similar to Van Damme's in 1999's "Inferno". Directing is also very well done, delivering plenty of enjoyable scenes, which end up bringing irony and fun, instead of suspense-- which is more often in action films. So, long story short, "The Death and Life of Bobby Z" is a project that proves to be GREAT, and I really want to know why it's still so unknown in mainstream.

Matt Kracht The plot: Kearny, a loser convict,is pushed into impersonating Bobby Z, a larger-than-life drug dealer, in a hostage trade, only to find both his own and Bobby Z's enemies trying to kill him.Herzfeld previously directed 2 Days in the Valley, a Tarantino ripoff if ever there was one. However, unlike most people, I actually kind of liked it. This movie is another attempt to clone Tarantino's style, heavy on flashbacks, stylized violence, and witty anti-heroes. Unfortunately, it's not all that great, but it did manage to keep my interest for the runtime.Bobby Z is built up as a small-time celebrity in the local surfer scene, as well as a rising star in drug distribution. Kearney, on the other hand, is a three time loser with a price on his head. The movie compares and contrasts their personalities many times, with Bobby Z being revealed as a manipulative, egocentric jerk, while Kearney shows many admirable qualities despite his impulsive violence.After a somewhat grim opening, the movie becomes quite lighthearted. In fact, I'm really at a loss as to why they even opened the movie with such a dark and disturbing bit of character development if they were just going to completely ignore it for the rest of the film. Oh well. Much of the movie is like this, however. Whenever anything shocking and dramatic happens, it's instantly forgotten by the next scene, where everyone pretends that it never happened. Even being shot seems to be glossed over rather quickly with some cursory first aid. It reminded me of a video game, where picking up a first aid kit heals your character of all wounds.The acting was passable. It was certainly better than many direct-to-video movies, but nobody really stood out. I guess the script didn't really allow anyone to shine, though I was probably most disappointed that Laurence Fishburne was given such a bland role. Still, it's always fun to see him, even if it's in such a small and clichéd role.If you're looking for an action movie, this will probably satisfy you, but I'd be surprised if you remembered it later or recommended it to your friends.

nathan-yeo I bought this book in the black author section of a MILITARY PX(AAFES), So you could imagine my surprise when I opened it up and was reading about a Mathew Mc- kind-of-gay toe headed surfer drug dealer type. I read the book and this is a word for word scene by scene adaption of the book, well the crib sheet of the book. Several scenes of the book were not in it for time and budgetary reasons. A' la one of Bobby-Z's great escapes took place in a crowded theme park, and to film that with the cost of X-tras and such would have added an easy cool million. They also let off all of Booby-Z's desert storm flash-back as well. The final scene shoot-out was a down-play as well but all the characters were there. Obviously this well a well produced, they didn't skimp on the production values but they did on scenes and such. The opening desert body for body exchange should have been what pre-ceded , the post shoot-out desert scene that was in "No country for old-men." WIth the trucks and dead Mexican Mafia hench-men laying every-where. But it was scaled down, again for budgetary and time restraints. Paul WALKER was perfectly cast as a Mathew McCONAUGHEY's younger edgier little brother. A three time loser who's winning at escaping the feds, the cartel, and the bikers who are trying to kill him. I read the book, this is the book, I got what I came for PERIOD.

legendaryunderdog I rented this movie thinking, "Hey, Paul Walker wasn't too bad in the fast and furious films and Laurence Fishburne is just awesome so why not get it?" Well friends, looks can and are deceiving, and I learned the hard way last evening watching this film. The director is trying so bad to keep you involved (or wanting to be involved) and for me it wasn't happening. The whole 'syking everyone out to think I'm Bobby Z' script work got old really quick, Paul Walker's acting was sub par (I haven't seen a lot of his work but I've been told by many that he's not that great of an actor). I cannot imagine what went through Laurence Fishburne's head when choosing to be in this film, he has done better, WAY better! There are way too many close up shots of Paul Walker (for absolutely no other reason than to show off his "Good Looks" and play some really lame music along with it). There is always some hot girl and a kid involved that need their lives saved, if you've seen it once, you've seen it a hundred times (just this time with Paul Walker). I suggest this film to people who only like Paul Walker and his close ups and not action flicks, because thats about all you get. Walker couldn't portray a criminal to save his life! Sorry Paul Walker fans, your boy let me down.