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Almost two years ago, an action movie fan who at that point went by the moniker "SFist Eve" gave a rave review to a little indie-noir film called The Prodigy and subsequently managed to drink herself into a stupor with the director and the movie's star, garnering herself some friends for life.
Well, SFist Eve, who now goes by the name "San Francisco Chronicle Blogging and Interactive Editor," passes along the word that The Prodigy is finally opening in wide release and will be playing at the Roxie from May 25-31. So we're reprinting Eve's review here to get you in the mood! (And Eve, maybe not so heavy on the sauce when the guys come back to town for the premiere, okay?)
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First we saw the world premiere of The Prodigy, a first effort from almost everyone involved that looked anything but. Mining the same territory as Saw and Seven (we refuse to do that dumb number thing in the middle of the word), we're halfway convinced that director and writer William Kaufman is the bastard progeny of David Fincher and Luc Besson (with maybe a little Tarantino around the edges), so strong were their imprints on the film.
The rest of Eve's review after the jump! Do you think the lead actor looks kind of like Ben Affleck too?
Exciting new face Holt Boggs (compared to Ben Affleck in the post-film Q&A; we don't really see the likeness, but if a resemblance to Affleck helps "get him in the door" we're all for it) plays Truman, a failed boxer and mob enforcer who becomes the prey of the ultimate bad-ass assassin, with lots of loved (and an equal number of unloved) ones dying horrible deaths along the way.
This movie gives us everything we want from this type of genre film: excellently choreographed kick-ass fights (both hand-to-hand and gun varieties), relentless suspense, and just enough "oh s**t he's right behind you!" moments. IndieFest Programming director Bruce Fletcher said it best when he said "this film deserves an audience." Not to get all Designer Impostors on you, but if you like hard-core action films like The Professional, we promise you'll appreciate this film.
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