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Time Out New York Project: Issue #834, October 27-November 2, 2011
★★★☆☆
Dir. Géla Babluani. 2010. R. 97mins. Sam Riley, Mickey Rourke, Ray Winstone.
When George Sluizer remade his Dutch kidnapping thriller The Vanishing in Hollywood, the results were disastrous. Thankfully, Georgian director Géla Babluani fares much better with the stateside redo of his own 2005 black-and-white French nail-biter 13 Tzameti. Sweetly introverted Ohio carpenter Vince (Control’s Riley) overhears one of his clients talking about a big payday, then assumes the guy’s identity when he overdoses. This ploy eventually leads our hero to a remote mansion where a bunch of grizzled guys (played by Winstone and Rourke, among others) compete in a high-stakes game of Russian roulette. Aside from some character-defining flashbacks, a godawful score and sweat-enhancing color photography, it’s the same movie as before — a divertingly tense yet superficial time-waster.—Keith Uhlich
