The Big Bang

The Lunatic Marriage of Film Noir To Eccentric Sci-Fi: An Offbeat Choice And Something Different
At first glance, I'm not sure how promising Tony Krantz's "The Big Bang" seemed. A strange blend of detective film noir with science fiction undertones, I think the movie might be a bit divisive. I'm sure that some people will be perplexed by this uneasy marriage of disparate concepts! Maybe I was in a good mood, but I went with this increasingly wacky premise. Having no fore knowledge of the plot and absolutely zero expectations, I enjoyed the visual flourishes and dark humor inherent in the tale. Almost a send up of classic private eye films where the intrepid hero pursues a missing person, "The Big Bang" veers unexpectedly into the territory of particle physics and the actual Big Bang. I won't go much beyond that in describing the film, whose main pleasures come from not knowing exactly where this sordid tale is leading you.

The story unfolds as our gumshoe is being interrogated by three cops after a series of murders. Antonio Banderas plays the lead and recounts...

It's A Raymond Chandler Evening
Director Tony Krantz and Screenwriter Eric Jenderson have definitely done their Film Noir homework in this excellent modern day merge of the Philip Marlowe/Mike Hammer private eye genre 'THE BIG BANG'. The story begins as a carbon copy remake of Edward Dmytryk's 'MURDER MY SWEET'-1944 where Dick Powell played the shamus character which was remade with Robert Mitchum in Director Dick Richard's underrated 'FAREWELL MY LOVELY'-1975 where we now have a new Marlowe named Ned Cruz played brilliantly by Antonio Banderas being sought out by a big palooka fighter/ex con looking for his beloved girlfriend here named Lexie. Slowly, a routine missing persons case becomes a pandoras box of intrigue which enters into Director Robert Aldrich's territory of the theme of the great whatzit in his masterpiece 'KISS ME DEADLY'-1955 where here Sam Elliot plays a Howard Hughes like recluse experimenting with quantum physics to recreate the seconds before the scientific big bang theory of the end of the...

Not what I expected. If Quentin Tarantino directed the movie "Southland Tales" this is what it would be like. Not bad. I say B-
Can you find someone that doesn't exist? After being approached by a former boxer looking for his girlfriend P.I. Cruz (Banderas) begins the search for her and $30 million in diamonds she has. After his investigation begins to take stranger and stranger turns he wonders is this Lexie exists at all, or is he looking for something far more serious? This is a very strange, but good movie. I think it's best described as "Southland Tales" meets Quentin Tarantino. It's got the bizarreness of a Tarantino movie, mixed with the sci/fi aspects of "Southland Tales" or a "Donnie Darko" type movie. It's much easier to follow then those two, but the feel is the same. I would recommend it to those that like a different type of movie. This is defiantly not for everyone, but it's worth watching. Not many Sci/Fi - crime mysteries being made these days. It does drag in some parts. I liked it, but the slow parts hurt the movie. I give it a B-

Would I watch again? - I don't know, mabye I...

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