Ned Cruz (Antonio
Banderas) is a burned out private investigator in Los Angeles. He is approached by a giant ex-boxer, Anton "The Pro"
Protopov, to find his girl Lexi Persimmon (Sienna Guillory) who stopped writing to him a few days ago. Anton has never
met Lexi, but she wrote him every week in prison (for a murder he may or may not have committed). Ned's search takes
him to San Celeritas, New Mexico where reclusive billionaire Simon Kestral (Sam Elliot) has built a super collider to create
the so-called God particle. Someone has also been following Ned and he finds out his case is also about diamonds that
Anton got for throwing a fight.
THE BIG BANG is a mystery that in some ways a remake/ rip-off of MURDER, MY SWEET. It parallels that film while sometimes not doing it as good as the superior
film (the above mentioned MURDER, MY SWEET) based on the Raymond Chandler novel- FAREWELL, MY LONELY. Ned is a jaded
version of Phillip Marlowe. The only thing lacking from THE BIG BANG is a femme fatale. It has a great cast playing
unique characters while other play the usual roles they get in other films and Sam Elliot taking up another oddball role.
THE BIG BANG is a twisty noir that gets more crazy as it goes along until it falls flat. MURDER, MY SWEET found
ways to keep people interested in the hero where some may find Ned's jaded take on his job a little off putting.
Also MURDER, MY SWEET does it better than THE BIG BANG in the script department with an ending that brings it together where
THE BIG BANG decides to depart from the ending and fizzle out instead of ending with a bang.
It was filmed in Washington
state (around or near the city of Spokane). The film uses the locations well and makes one think that the Washington
film industry could attract more film productions and maybe even steal some from nearby British Columbia which used to have
a weaker Canadian dollar.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Non-rental copies have an audio commentary, a making-of featurette, and extended scenes.
FINAL ANALYSIS: THE
BIG BANG is an entertaining rip-off of MURDER, MY SWEET that ends up fizzing out by the end.
this DVD review is (c)5-30-2011 David Blackwell and
cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com
