An art heist goes wrong, leaving a member of the crew dead. Since none of the thieves trust each other, they all take a long road trip to Florida to fence the stolen loot. If they don’t wind up killing each other first, that is.
Body Count is another one of those post-Tarantino crime movies filled with flashbacks and scenes of tough guys talking tough and pushing each other around. These kinds of flicks can be worthwhile if the cast is great, and the writing is sharp. Well, the cast is great at least.
The problem is the characters they play are walking cliches. David Caruso is the no nonsense wheelman who gets angry whenever someone is being less than professional. Ving Rhames is the cool-as-a-cucumber leader. John Leguizamo is the hotheaded loudmouth street hood whose itchy trigger finger gets them in a jam. Donnie Wahlberg plays the stoner who just wants everyone to get along. Forest Whitaker is the man who set up the heist. All these guys do fine work with what they were given, it’s just that they weren’t given very much to work with.
It was nice to see Jade stars Caruso and Linda Fiorentino reunited, albeit briefly. Despite her prominent billing and placement on the video box, Fiorentino doesn’t show up until the picture is halfway over. Sadly, she doesn’t generate any sparks with Caruso, or with anyone else in the cast for that matter.
It also doesn’t help that the narrative is repetitive. The thieves travel by car to a bus depot and/or train station. They wind up getting into an altercation with one another, causing them to miss their ride. They then hop back into the car and drive to the next station. Rinse and repeat.
These Tarantino wannabes also suffer from some cringe-inducing dialogue. This one is no different as the thieves mostly talk about “pussy” in their downtime. The editing towards the end gets a little janky too, and the quick voiceover that wraps things up suggests either last minute reshoots and/or rewrites. Because of that, Body Count doesn’t add up to much.
I thought this one was pretty solid.
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