R E V I E W S
Blow (2001)
Starring: Johnny
Depp, Penelope Cruz, Ray Liotta, Jordi Molla, Franka Potente Studio: New Line Cinema Review Posted: 4.11.01 Spoilers: Yes Rating: 8/10
By Stephen.
"It will 'blow' you away, almost [no pun intended]"
It won't be until 2014 that George Jung will be released from prison. His life has been living and dealing drugs. Though, his real reason to live was his daughter. Ted Demme's Blow tries to convey all of that and a little more just under two hours. And it works. Jung's life has been plagued by greed and back-stabbing and fate managed to sometimes cut him some slack. Blow is the story of a man whose rise to the rich community came fast and the downfall even faster.
Johnny Depp plays George Jung with great sensitivity and emotion. It's actually one of his best performances, I think. Penélope Cruz (playing Mirtha) and Frank Potente (Barbara) play his wife and girlfriend, respectively. Cruz enters the movie during the second half of the movie. Mirtha offers love and devotion to George, but as the years pass, she succumbs to drugs and drinking creating a new force of enemy (I'm assuming) that George probably never could see coming. She is actually the reason why cops pulled George over one night. The result lands George in prison and losing his wife and daughter (his most valuable thing in life). Barbara was George's girlfriend for two years. She introduced him to Derek Foreal (Paul Reubens) who later would become one of his partners in the business. Sadly, though, she died of cancer.
The first 30-40 minutes of Blow established George's early life. The rest shows how much of an impact George had on drugs and others. Cutting deals with Colombian farmers, the source, to grow the merchandise and drug Pablo Escobar (Cliff Curtis), a drug czar, to ship it around. George and his best new friend (Jordi Mollà) make it all happen. They're making money here and there, risking getting caught, and making the very best of good times. During the last 40 minutes we get to see how George gets fucked over by his best friend, loses huge amounts of money to a bank, gets busted two or three times, ends up poor, and ultimately faces about 20 years in prison until 2014. For all the good times there are bad times and George Jung lived both of them. One of the worst times he must've had has to involve the cops bust him in front of the his parents's house because his mother (Rachel Griffiths) ratted him out.
Blow is not perfect. While it's emotional and intriguing, there are some flaws. Most evident is the pace. The movie dragged at several spots and it slowed down the "involvement" factor. Most of it, however, was undermined by the great performances and directing (even writing at some points). Depp was great. Cruz annoyed. Potente charmed, though it seemed as though she was dubbed. Mollà and Reubens added their respective acting talents to make Blow as authentic as possible. Though it has to be Ray Liotta, playing George's father, who stole the show. Ted Demme did a good job on directing and the writing was good most of the time. Blow reminds of Goodfellas and Scarface a lot. Though not as good as the two, it has its own traits to make a good movie.
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