Sunday, November 30, 2008

Pusher III: I'm the Angel of Death (2005)

Pusher III is the best offering from the Pusher trilogy. The more I contemplate, the more I like Pusher II, but Pusher III has complex emotional elements that were missing from I and II.

Pusher III takes place in the span of one day--a long and hectic day. Past-his-prime drug lord Milo (Zlatko Buric--who has a role in all three Pushers) is on day 5 of sobriety and seems likely to relapse as the tensions escalate the second the movie opens. His demanding daughter is celebrating her 25th birthday and he's to cook for the party of 50, while also trying to sell off ecstasy pills about which he's clueless. His colleagues are young and letting him know he's old and needs to evolve or else. He's presented with so many Gnarly crewhurdles that it's no wonder he's tempted to use at every turn. The tension building and plot complications are gripping. You're there with him at every stressful step. He's an empathetic and likeable character. You see him tiring of his life as each turn gets more difficult. I don't want to spoil the plot happenings but he does reach his breaking point and things get messy. The ending drags on; the violence is savage and hard to watch (think hammers and industrial garbage disposal), but this is a great movie. Gives the dark side of Copenhagen a peep. Even though Pusher was lame (IMHO) and Pusher II isn't as great as Pusher III, it works well as a trilogy...gotta have the potatoes with the meat.

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn

Country: Denmark

Genre: Action/Gangster

Minutes:  100 minutes

Scale: 4.25

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