"HAVEN"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: ** (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: *1/2 (out of 5 stars) STARRING Raz Adoti as RICHIE RICH Orlando Bloom as SHY Agnes Bruckner as PIPPA RIDLEY Joy Bryant as SHEILA Bobby Cannavale as LIEUTENANT Stephen Dillane as MR. ALLEN Anthony Mackie as HAMMER Bill Paxton as CARL RIDLEY Victor Rasuk as FRITZ Zoë Saldana as ANDREA Rated R Studio: Yari Film Group Directed by: Frank E. Flowers Back to DVD Review Home |  |
Every year, you hear someone in the press complain about how movies go too far nowadays. Well, my biggest complaint seems to be the opposite. I get frustrated and annoyed with films that just don’t go far enough.
“Have” is one of these films. It reveals the seedy life of drug dealers in the Cayman Islands, from the suppliers and funders to the thugs on the streets that sell them. There are several interlocking stories. One follows Carl Riley (Bill Paxton) and his daughter Pippa (Agnes Bruckner) as they flee the feds with a million dollars in cash. Another follows Shy (Orlando Bloom) who is in love with a rich girl named Andrea (Zoë Saldana), but gets in trouble with her family when their relationship is discovered.
The stories are marginally related and eventually tie together in the end. The structure wants to be what we saw in “Traffic,” but the story just isn’t complicated enough. It just doesn’t go far enough.
And while I’ll be looked down upon by some to say this, but the violence doesn’t go far enough either. I don’t care how low the crime rate is on the Cayman Islands. If you’re going to make a movie about drug dealers, there had better be some violence. In “Haven,” there are threats of violence, and some spats, but nothing ever erupts into the insanity you’d expect when your sister’s honor and a million dollars are on the line.
Technically, “Haven” is well assembled. I appreciate and give the filmmakers credit for the asynchronous nature of the story. It’s biggest problem with mixing things up from a chronological standpoint is that, again, they didn’t go far enough.
None of the actors in this film are poorly cast. They just don’t have enough to work with. Orlando Bloom, who normally blows cold as an actor, actually throws himself into the part. However, there’s not enough for him to bite onto, and the story suffers.
Likewise, with Agnes Bruckner. She’s a fine actor, but she’s given nothing to work with. Even when she’s caught up in the drug culture, she slides right out without a problem. It’s like watching a failed storyline on “Desperate Housewives” that never goes anywhere but had plenty of potential.
If you watch the single special feature, which is a behind-the-scenes look at the film, you’ll learn that director Frank E. Flowers grew up on the Cayman Islands. It seems that he made this film in an attempt to show people that things aren’t just sandy beaches and no-tax bank accounts.
However, Flowers fumbles the story by not making it relate to someone back here on the mainland. I’m sure it’s a hit in the Caymans, but in the States, it just doesn’t go far enough.
Specifications: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. Full screen (1.33:1) and widescreen (1.85:1) – Enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Spanish subtitles. English subtitles for the hearing impaired.
