Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Le Couperet (The Ax)


The Ax is the latest film by Costa-Gavras... honestly, I hadn't heard of him before this, but if that means anything to you, then there you go. The Ax is the story of a man who was terminated from his job in the paper industry and, two years later and still jobless, decides to truly eliminate his competition. He sets up a false post office box, reads the replies to his "ad" for a job, and rates the responses, ultimately deciding that there are six men more qualified than he for any job - so they must die. He sets off on a killing spree to ensure that he will be the only - and therefore best - candidate for any job that might come his way.

It was a good movie. Good, but not great. One of the deaths was kind of disturbing to me, and the pace was painfully slow at times. It was a dark comedy, for sure - there were some very funny moments - but it was definitely more dark than comedy. I think that the marketing team of the Traverse City Film Festival dropped the ball on this one by marketing it as a comedy. At any rate, I enjoyed it, but I think it should have been saved for rental.

The Ax - B-.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your appraisal of this movie reminds me of a film I was once forced to watch with my ex-fiancee called, "man bites dog". I do not recommend this film, in any way shape or form. It's supposed to be a documentary of a serial killer (not a real one) and in one scene he puts a flute in a mans, well, "nether region". Anyway, it just sounds like the same type of movie. Have you by any chance, seen it?

amanda said...

It wasn't really icky or anything, just a little disturbing. The funny parts were really funny, but overall, it just didn't do that much for me.
I haven't seen Man Bites Dog, but I will stay away from it!