while this latter-day noir never builds up the froth of lurid delirium that brings genre pictures into a headier dimension, it's got enough juice to hold your attention
watching Swank and Ealy play flawed characters flexing at each other in tense sequences of dialogue is frankly old-fashioned and refreshing; It's a well-made, well-acted neo-noir absent any sort of self-seriousness or superfluous posturing
the real star here is veteran Oscar-nominated cinematographer Dante Spinotti's glossy camera work, illuminating an upper-middle-class world where the high-end cars and homes are scrubbed and sparkling to an extreme. This movie looks damn fine
Hilary Swank's strength as an actor is her hard-scrabble pragmatism, which doesn't come much into play here; The movie requires her to go full on crazy-ass slasher-bitch, much like the character at the end of another movie previously mentioned here
"Fatale" proves very watchable, in an incredulous B-movie kind of way, and Deon Taylor is a slick enough filmmaker to keep things moving swiftly and entertainingly
"Fatale" is a fun movie. It's not necessarily a good movie, but it is one that involves some real craftsmanship in terms of story; it's an exercise in holding an audience entirely through insane turns of story, and in that way, it works
by Steve Davis [Austin Chronicle ]
by Mick LaSalle [San Francisco Chronicle ]
