Review: Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son

Reviews

Undoing

Noir makes a return

By BRETT MICHEL | December 5, 2007

2.5 Stars

STUNNING EX: X2's Kelly Hu.

Noir makes a return to the Brattle this weekend, albeit in a slightly reinvented form. Just as the beloved Harvard Square landmark has struggled to find its audience in recent years, Korean-American director Chris Chan Lee’s follow-up to his acclaimed Yellow labors to bring freshness to a genre that belongs to the past. Taking fewer risks than Rian Johnson in Brick, Lee sticks to what he knows, setting his picture in LA’s Koreatown. Sam Kim (Better Luck Tomorrow’s Sung Kang), a loner who disappeared after seeing best friend Joon (Leonardo Nam) get gunned down in a drug deal gone bad, returns a year later to avenge his pal and reconcile with his stunning ex (X2’s Kelly Hu). Brick’s foundation was mortared with a labyrinthine plot and stylish dialogue; Lee’s HD-lensed effort is a less successful tale of redemption. As a former gangster who’s got Sam’s back, Tom Bower is the grizzled glue that keeps the picture from coming undone. 90 minutes | Brattle Theatre: December 7-9

Related: The Motel, Autumn peeves, Review: Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, More

Topics: Reviews , Tom Bower, Rian Johnson, Sung Kang

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