Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.

Aiden Melton The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

TonyMontana96 (Originally reviewed: 21/02/2017) I found a lot of this film reprehensible; only a couple of things are positive; Snipes' well preserved performance, the soundtrack from the Stones and though I found his character extremely unpleasant; De Niro gives a good performance. Tony Scott has made great films like Top Gun but The Fan is not one of his better ones. The film begins with some promise but as soon as it unfolds, it's just ridiculous and uninvolving. Early on you see De Niro (Gil) driving his son to the baseball game; his son has a knife on him, and De Niro's character says I thought your mother confiscated it, and the kid says no I took it back, in which De Niro replies "good boy", so he thinks it's acceptable for someone to carry around a knife, and his son is a mere child, what happens if he gets into fight at school and stabs someone because his father taught him knives are a must have accessory; already the film had showed it's unpleasant side even before he goes completely crazy. Later on Gil leave's his son at the baseball game unattended; did he go the bathroom? No, did he go to check his car? No, he went to try and make a sale while leaving his son in a possible kidnap hot spot for a very long time. The picture even has some stupid dialogue such as " I thought I was off your list" says Jewel (Ellen Barkin) the radio host at the game, in which Manny, Bobby's agent (Leguizamo) tells her " Schindler has a list, not me" yes because they needed to reference superior films in this dud. Leguizamo's character also suggests exploiting a kid's death from cancer to get Bobby (Snipes) a crowd pleaser again; for which he at least understands its wrong and declines; the screenwriters have wrote something extremely sickening. Then it's last 30 minutes or so turn into a slasher type film, where the crazed Gil is killing people, kidnapping a child and so forth; but we've seen this kind of stuff before, handled in better films with more care and precision. It's not that this is merely a baseball film, it's that it's a dreadful thriller that has an awful plot, bad writing and many unpleasant, unnecessary sequences; The character of Gil is forgettable, the film is a nasty mess and I felt a sigh of relief, like I do in most terrible films, when an old friend in the form of the end credits had finally arrived.

Leofwine_draca It's probably best that you ignore the hackneyed plot of this movie, plus all of the déjà vu you'll be getting from watching it. Sure, we've seen this type of movie before, many times, but slickness of direction, good cinematography and two standout performances from Snipes and De Niro as the leads make this a worthwhile venture, no matter what the critics might say.Basically, De Niro revisits his role in TAXI DRIVER as a normal, everyday kind of man who is thrown out of sync with everyday life and is forced to take drastic action to be noticed. De Niro's acting is flawless and he really convinces us that he's completely mad in his tour-de-force performance of innocent knife salesman turned psycho. Wesley Snipes is also surprisingly powerful as the good-natured star forced to deal with an obsessed fan, emoting pretty well in some heavy scenes. Ellen Barkin is realistic but irritating as a commentator, while the familiar face of John Leguizamo has little to do as Snipes' agent. Benicio del Toro briefly appears as a rival baseball player who comes off the worse for wear after his encounter with De Niro.The movie is at its most subtle and best at the beginning, with a character study of De Niro's initial descent into his insanity. There are many clichés along the way, and over the top bits, culminating in a ending which is a bit predictable, but still fun thanks to the actors. While not a gory film (aside from one unforgettable scene), this is still pretty violent stuff, both physically and mentally, thanks to effects work from Kevin Yagher. It's also quite disturbing and frightening, and has an edge of hard realism which makes it a gripping movie. Although not the most original film of all time, this is a fine showcase for the talents of the two leading men and passes the time well enough.

cindylee1333 If you are a major die hard fan of any sport, then not only will you enjoy this movie, but, we have come a long way since this movie was made, with our so called obsessions of our favorite players, of what we think and how they should play. Also, the money they are getting paid, all professional athletes, we seem to not only become obsessed with our teams and players, but we put them on a pedestal, to perform, no matter what.Thought, this movie kind of makes you think? Are they playing with their heart in the game or have we allowed, and part to blame, to make them almost "unreachable" and to win at all costs! No matter what, watch and enjoy. Deniro fans, couldn't have picked anyone better. I think it's a must see, for all of the above!! Makes you really think.

sddavis63 To talk about the movie as a whole, one has to say right off the topic that this isn't especially great. In fact, it may not even be especially good. It's the story of Gil Renard (Robert De Niro) - a former little league star who never made the majors but who's become a fanatical fan of the San Francisco Giants. Gil is also a knife salesman - and a fading one. His marriage has broken up, he's on the outs with his ex-wife, who eventually gets a restraining order to keep him away from their son after he abandons him at a ball game and then forces his way into their house to apologize. So, he's got a lot of personal problems. The "fading salesman with problems" character seems to have more than a little bit in common with characters like Willy Loman in "Death of a Salesman" or Shelley Levene in "Glengarry Glen Ross." I would guess that both were probably at least a little bit of an influence for Peter Abrahams, who wrote the book on which this was based, and Phoef Sutton, who adapted it as a screenplay.De Niro is excellent in the part. To draw another parallel, his portrayal as the obsessed, psychotic fan reminded me a bit of his performance as Max Cady in "Cape Fear." De Niro has the talent and the presence to pull these kinds of characters off, and to be believable while doing it, which isn't always easy. Renard is both obsessed and psychotic. He becomes particularly obsessed with Bobby Rayburn (Wesley Snipes) - a $40 million free agent signing by the Giants who struggles as the season starts, and gets into a battle with Juan Primo (Benecio del Toro) - who was moved from centre field to left field to make room for Rayburn, but who won't give up Rayburn's favourite #11. While Rayburn slumps, Primo becomes a star. The fans turn against Rayburn and embrace Primo. There's some reflection here on the fickleness of sports fans - the "what have you done for me lately" attitude - as well as on the big money that players make. But Gil is on Rayburn's side. He wants Rayburn to succeed - and he becomes obsessed with Rayburn, to the point at which he goes to great lengths to "help" him (watch the movie), and then, when Rayburn won't thank him for what he did, he kidnaps the star's son and threatens to kill him unless Rayburn hits a home run in the next game and publicly dedicates it to Gil. That's the story in a nutshell.Overall, the story isn't that compelling to be honest. Aside from De Niro's performance, which is excellent throughout, there really wasn't a lot to this. It takes a very long time for the movie to really get going. Most of the first hour or so is tied up with Gil's personal troubles with his job and his son. I didn't think we really needed that long to understand that the character is mentally unstable. Snipes tried hard, and he wasn't bad, but his character was less than compelling. He came across as little more than an arrogant, self-centred millionaire ball player until the angle with his son was introduced. There was very little interesting about the character. Some of the baseball action portrayed had problems. To mention something that really stood out for me - every time Rayburn was portrayed coming up to bat, he went to the batters' box from the dugout? Shouldn't he have been in the on deck circle if he was next up? Minor point perhaps, but it bugged me a bit.The last half hour (once Rayburn's son is kidnapped) is fairly tense; the last scenes on the field are way too over the top unfortunately. So, no, this isn't really a great movie. It's watchable for De Niro's performance. As far as the story is concerned, you really haven't missed much if you haven't seen this. (5/10)