The Narrows (2008) Movie Review

The film is based on Tim McLoughlin’s novel Heart of the Old Country. While entertaining and well acted, this film was a bit scattered at many times. The plots shifts too inconsistently at many points, some characters are underdeveloped, and some performances just simply did not work. From the surface this film somewhat resembles A Bronx Tale (1993) with a naïve kid entering a world of crime by doing a few “favors” for a local mob boss. This film, though, is by no means a rip-off, as it has many original features. It just has some flow and pacing problems. There is not enough of a balance between developed and underdeveloped characters. Vinny’s character is a bit inconsistent. Did he or did he not work for Tony at one time? What is his current relationship with Tony? These are the type of questions that should’ve been answered in the film yet they’re left somewhat unresolved. Nicky’s character was also a bit of a mystery, but not in a good way. For all the screen time he got, there was little explanation to his character and I don’t feel it helped the film’s cause. The love triangle between Mike, Kathy, and Gina was a bit off as well. Both Kathy and Gina seemed to have too much screen time devoted on them with little payoff. With some tightening of scenes, better explanations, and character development, this film’s pacing would have been better. Unfortunately, some of the film’s twists and turns at the end didn’t have the expected impact due to the pacing problems. The camera work is great in this piece. I really liked the POV shots from Mike’s camera and the devotion the film spent on Mike’s photography. The art of black and white still photography is rarely touched upon in films today. It was a great idea for Mike’s character to take pictures of the horrors that he encountered in his normal day. The chemistry between Mike and his professor (Roger Rees) was great as well. The film’s opening in black and white was also a nice touch and very stylistically shot. For acting, Kevin Zegers (Mike) handled the lead very well. Zegers has come a long way since his days in the Air Bud series. He had the look of the part and passion down pat. Aside from his underdeveloped character, Vincent D’Onofrio (Vinny) was great in every scene. You really believed the chemistry he had with Zegers. Sophia Bush (Kathy) was pretty disappointing in her role. Her character was very necessary for the film, yet Bush just didn’t fit the part. She came off as more annoying than she probably was meant to be. Monica Keena (Gina) had the NY accent down pat and was very annoying and nagging. Unfortunately that’s about all the depth that her character had. Eddie Cahill (Nicky) did well, but his character was too underdeveloped. They shouldn’t have tried to make him so mysterious and just explained him better. While their parts were small, I want to give a shout out to Tony Cucci (Big Lou) and Titus Welliver (Tony). They played their mob roles to perfection. While there are some character problems in this film, it is still pretty entertaining. The film is ambitious, but knows its limits and doesn’t try to be anything more than it is. The film really captures the story of a South Brooklyn youth who thinks doing a few favors for the mob won’t get him into any trouble, but soon becomes involved up to his eyeballs in the world of crime