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Four young Asians (Hao Do, Tony Dew, Kevin Bach, Dang Tran) try to rob
an electronics store, but something goes wrong, and when they fail to just
abandon the thing while there's still time, they find themselves with no
option than to barricade themselves inside the store with a whole bunch of
hostages on their hands. And they really have no idea how to deal with the
situation, nor are the hostages an easy group to control. The police has
the area cordoned off before long and the store surrounded, and hostage
negotiator Gomez (Mario Van Peebles) tries to talk the men into giving up
to prevent the worst. And Loi (Hao Do), the most level-headed of the
quartet, really seems to be somewhat reasonable, even if his original
reqests are not - which include a few million Dollar, full body kevlar for
the four of them, and a helicopter to escape over the border. But Gomez
makes small progress over the course of the day - while really fighting
against time, as not only does he know the situation is only getting more
dangerous the longer this takes, there's also the local sheriff (Michael
Balin), who just doesn't like Gomez' approach much and would rather just
send in the SWAT team he has on standby to emerge as the hero of the
situation. But Gomez digs in the hostage takers backgrounds and finds not
career criminals but scared young men who feel disenfranchised and who see
the robbery as the last ditch to get what they consider rightfully theirs,
no matter how wrong that might be. But there are just too many variables
in a situation like this to really control everything for too long ...
A Clear Shot sure is a bright light for all those who
have tired of the seeming addiction to spectacle prevalent in current
mainstream thriller movies, as there's little in explosions, over-the-top
crimes, super-villainy, and out-of-this-world heroics here, instead the
film puts an emphasis on characters (with all their flaws), and the
psychologically layered mechanics of the situation they're thrown into,
mechanics bound to spin out of control because of the very characters and
circumstances, while not forgetting to add a bit of social commentary
either. And thanks also to a well-structured screenplay, a subtle
directorial effort, and a uniformly strong cast, the movie works like a
charm.
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