Review by Dragan Antulov
2 stars out of 4
Some people have misfortune to discover some facts about life
they didn't want to know. One of them is protagonist of HARD
TRUTH, 1994 thriller directed by Kristine Peterson. Jonah Mantz
(played by Michael Rooker) is a policeman who has spent the best
years of his life trying to save the public from the street scum. Yet
after the years of pain and sacrifice Mantz has realised that his
efforts would remain unappreciated and that he would spend his
old age as a poor man. Hamilton Nichols (played by Ray Baker) is
a city official who had adopted somewhat more pragmatic view of
the public service and the results of such practice are stashed in
his safe. Nichols' secretary Lisa Kantrell (played by Lysette
Anthony) happens to be Mantz's girlfriend and the policeman
would use this in order to steal that money. Unfortunately, his plan
requires extra hand so he hires Chandler Etheridge (played by
Eric Roberts), electronics expert and part-time burglar. But
Etheridge soon shows that he is interested in something more than
his share of the loot.
Among many low budget thrillers that used to be made in mid
1990s, THE HARD TRUTH stands out because of its faithfulness
towards film noir principles. The tone of the film is pessimistic, the
atmosphere is dark and the ending is rather unpredictable, at
least compared with the average example of this genre. Yet the
biggest asset of this film is Michael Rooker, character actor who
was very good choice for the role of disillusioned and world-weary
protagonist. On the other hand, hard look of the film is
compromised with the overuse of erotic scenes that are often
distracting and give THE HARD TRUTH unmistakable taste of
exploitation cinema. Yet, even with this flaw taken into
consideration, Kristine Peterson's direction and Jonathan Tydor's
make this film much better than its title would indicate.
Copyright © 2002 Dragan Antulov
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