Sometimes things just don’t go according to plan. Director Géla Babluani seemed to be on the cuSp of great things after his “13 Tzameti” won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize in 2006. Not bad for a movie that was pretty overrated and kind of ridiculous to begin with. As these things tend to go, Hollywood came calling and a remake with a first-rate cast was promptly ordered up with Babluani at the helm. And then things went disastrously wrong. It was yanked from the 2010 SXSW festival before its U.S. premiere (rumored to be because of in-fighting on the final cut between the director and producers) and has sat around on a shelf for nearly two years until Anchor Bay recently rescued it in a (probably bargain basement discounted) acquisition. So it it really as bad as all that? Just watch this trailer.
Featuring a huge ensemble that includes 50 Cent, Jason Statham, Ray Winstone, Alexander Skarsgard, Ben Gazzara, Emmanuelle Chiriqui, and Mickey Rourke, the plot revolves around a young man (Sam Riley) who stumbles across the craziest high-stakes game of Russian roulette you’ll ever see in your life. The movie dumps the black-and-white look of its original incarnation with Babluani revealing himself to be a mediocre visualist when working in color. The whole thing is pitched with an extreme tone which even makes Michael Shannon — whose mere presence could elevate a chewing gum commercial to high levels of art — look awful, giving him nothing better to do than wear a terrible haircut and shout loudly and incessantly.
Anyway, in case you still want to see what happens (the trailer kind of gives it all away), “13” will get a limited release on October 28th before hitting DVD/Blu on November 8th. Watch below.