Movie Review: Foolproof with Ryan Reynolds
Although he is a very successful and wonderfully talented movie actor now, starring in such famous films as “Smokin Aces” and “Waiting”, Ryan Reynolds was once, within the past couple of years, one of the lead characters in a movie that didn’t even gross a million dollars! That movie was called “Foolproof” and was released in 2003, grossing just $450,000 in it’s target country of Canada and releasing straight to DVD in the United States. The movie itself was done on a small budget of just 7.8 million dollars. It was written and directed by a man named William Phillips and made by a small Canadian studio that was taking it’s first shot at creating a movie with an intriguing plot and intricate heist.
What was so wrong with this movie to have it release straight to DVD? I honestly couldn’t tell you. The plot itself rivals that of the “Ocean” movies with Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and George Clooney. It takes places in the great city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada and revolves around the tale of three friends (Reynolds, Kristin Booth and Joris Jarsky) who plan very detailed and very extensive robberies and then practice executing them in an abandoned warehouse. These three plan their heists down to the last second and even take risky steps to gather pertinent information from the sites themselves, going as far as to take pictures of the security alarm inside the building so that they can research how to hack it and conducting brief run throughs in the actual area itself to find out how long it takes to run up the stairs in addition to the amount of time the guard takes in the bathroom. Although they plan and practice their techniques to perfection, they never actually act on them and never carry their plans out to their full potential. To them, it’s just a game and that is all.
The plot is quite intriguing from the beginning and has many twists and turns and one that can be viewed on tvmuse alternatives easily as Rynolds appears in a different role and he is easily among the greatest actors of his generation.
It stops being a game when a man comes along and steals their written instructions that describe the intricate steps to rob a popular diamond store in the area from the gym bag of one of the three friends. He not only steals the plans from them, but carries out the crime himself. Although he is the one to commit the crime, he takes the opportunity to blackmail the three friends, stating that they can either undertake a large act of wrongdoing for him or they can be reported to authorities and go to jail. They obviously choose to aid the man in his plans.
I won’t go into any more detail on what exactly happens, as it’s so suspenseful and ingenious that it’s something you want to experience on your own, with an open mind. Just know for now that you won’t be disappointed and you most definitely will be on the edge of your seat. Ryan Reynolds is great throughout this movie, even if not at the top level that he is today, and both Booth and Jarsky compliment his acting extremely well. The three of them together make this action movie a true action movie. You can purchase the DVD through Amazon.com for under $4.00. I’m here to tell you that it’s the best $4.00 you will ever spend!
