Movie: Fast Charlie
Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Morena Baccarin, Gbenga Akinnagbe, James Caan, Christopher Matthew Cook, David Chattam, Toby Huss, Fredric Lehne, Sharon Gless, Brennan Keel Cook
Director: Phillip Noyce
Rating: 2.5/5
Duration: 90 minutes
This film, scripted by Richard Wenk, is adapted from the novel Gun Monkeys by Victor Gischler. The central character ‘Fast Charlie’ is a cleaning/fixer boy for a criminal organization based in Biloxi, Mississippi. There is nothing new about this, you can say and it is also true, apart from the fact that Biloxi seems like too nice a place for such a criminal gang. The narrative is a very familiar and predictable set of plot points.
The predictable plot has Charlie Swift (Pierce Brosnan), as the centerpiece: works quickly and asks no more questions than necessary. He becomes involved in bad business deals, gets caught up in a conspiracy involving a rival gang, and eventually has to put business aside to go on a revenge-driven killing spree.
At the beginning we see Charlie in a junkyard, he is ordered to strip, and we hear his response: “I always thought my life would end like this, in some godforsaken place, by a bullet I didn’t see coming. But I never thought I would care.” As the narrative progresses, we come to know why he would start to care. Charlie works for Stan (the late James Caan), a crime boss who suffers from dementia. Beggar (Gbenga Akinnagbe), a New Orleans gangster attacks Charlie’s crew and leaves most of them dead. Charlie survives and decides to seek revenge.
Screenwriter Wenk and director Phillip Noyce seem to want to make their main character much better than a routine one. They work in some personal details, like what motivates this character, and also create an unlikely relationship that forces Charlie to reconsider his life choices when the going gets tough. Charlie shoots first and asks questions later. His loyalty and devotion to Stan is unquestionable. He loves Italian food and culture and even dreams of a comfortable retired life in Italy.
Charlie is tasked with finding Marcie (Morena Baccarin), after a hit goes wrong and the corpse becomes unidentifiable. Apparently only the wife, Marcie, can tell them about any intimate identifying marks that aren’t so obvious.
If you ask me, it’s a strange setup for a potential romance, but the filmmakers had other ideas. Marcie’s specialty is taxidermy and Charlie, enamored of her calm, collected, and level-headed demeanor, lands at her house with a dead raccoon he would like to stuff. Strange isn’t it? But Brosnan and Baccarin make us believe that something more could emerge from this strange relationship.
Pierce Brosnan is fully committed to the role, giving fullness to a character that may not have had much depth. The action is routine but quite entertaining. A villain known only as “the Freak” (Christopher Matthew Cook), he is the choicest character because he gives Charlie a difficult escape and makes his obsession with root beer obvious.
The cinematography fails to shed deep light on what is happening here. Most of the supporting actors fade into the background without leaving much of an impression.
There isn’t much suspense or excitement either. Violent acts are just that: violent and routine for the hitman’s universe. There are throwaway action scenes, quick cuts, and staples of the hitman action genre here. But what’s unique here is that Brosnan drives masterfully, pulling away from the guy.