"Hard Cash" aka "Run for the Money" aka "In God We Trust" is a horrible movie not even worth renting. Just awful! How Christian Slater or Val Kilmer could be in this, I don't know!
--George
Hard Cash
Directors: Peter Antonijevic
Producers: Randall Emmett, George Furla, Joseph A. Nittolo, Allan Kassirer
Writers: Willie Dreyfus
Features: Widescreen and Full Screen Versions; 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround; 2.0 Dolby Digital Surround; Trailer; Spanish Subtitles; Scene Selections; Interactive Menus
Characters:
Thomas Taylor - Christian Slater
Mark Cornell - Val Kilmer
Virginia - Daryl Hannah
Eddie - Balthazar Getty
Contigency Plan - Verne Troyer
Genre: Action/Adventure
Review:
For me, there are not many films that are just unbearable to see, especially when talented actors are involved. "Hard Cash" is just hard to watch, as you see Christian Slater, Val Kilmer, and Daryl Hannah slumming it out in roles you would normally see Treat Williams in. How these actors got caught in this reject of a film is beyond me!
There were no features to speak of, and the menu system that is supposed to be interactive is really just as plain as can be. Outside the trailer there are no commentaries or featurettes, but hey, I'm actually not complaining. I would rather see Artisan utilize their efforts on better films. The sound was actually all right, with the explosions and dialogue coming through clearly on the 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround sound. The picture was not impressive, but was clear enough, though any imperfections are the fault of the cinematographer and director.
The movie centers around Thomas (Slater - "Windtalkers"), who is a career criminal always looking to score lots of cash. He messes up on one job and ends up in the slammer. Upon release, he is reunited with his shack up girlfriend and maladjusted daughter. Who says crime doesn't pay? They need money, so instead of being a better father and getting a real job (what kind of movie would that make, right?), he invents another great robbery.
He is successful in stealing the money, but it is all marked and belongs to an FBI agent, Cornell (Kilmer ("Red Planet"), who was trying to launder it for himself. Cornell kidnaps Thomas' daughter and holds her for ransom. But he doesn't really want the money he has, he wants Thomas to perform a bigger heist for him. So Thomas must do the impossible to save his daughter, can he do it?
I didn't really care. There wasn't much character development here as it all seemed rushed and pointless. Kilmer and Slater were not their usual talented selves as they did their roles as if on autopilot. Hannah ("Roxanne"), who I haven't really seen since "Grumpier Old Men," was also robotic in her performance. "Mini-Me" Verne Troyer has a small role (no pun intended), but it seems more for comedic relief than actual plot enhancement. I don't know, I guess with such noteworthy actors I thought this would actually be a good movie. It wasn't.
Val Kilmer maybe has 5 minutes in this film (well, it was enough time to get Judi Dench an Oscar), so I was surprised he got a name on the front cover. However, one compliment I have for the film is how creative the heists were. There were three in total and all of them were pretty creative. Unfortunately, they were the only creative aspect of this movie. It could have been a lot more under a better director and writer. It was just too shoddy in its current form.
I would rate this film with one star. It was not very entertaining, and there were no features to redeem it. Kilmer and Slater could not resurrect this corpse of a film, and there seemed to be no effort by the director to breathe life into the actors. This is what you might call a "paycheck film." It is definitely not worth a rent, even if you like any of the star studded names involved. It's just not worth it!
---George Castillo