Official Synopsis
Set in 1970s Los Angeles, down-on-his-luck private eye Holland March (Ryan Gosling) and hired enforcer Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) must work together to solve the case of a missing girl and the seemingly unrelated death of a porn star. During their investigation, they uncover a shocking conspiracy that reaches up to the highest circles of power.
One of the best things about Shane Black is how he can create down to earth characters that every man can relate to and enjoy. His ability to develop these beings in such a short amount of time through heavy amount of interesting dialogue makes Black one of the best writers that Hollywood has in their arsenal of pens. With movies like Lethal Weapon, The Monster Squad and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang in his portfolio, it isn’t difficult to see his style, as well as his talent.
Having said that, Black seemed to get lost in his latest batch of characters and temporarily forgot the story he was telling. He creates a simple storyline that contains a simple solution, even by 80s standards, and tries to make up for it by making his cast into something bigger than they should be in the scheme of the storyline. By the way, dear readers, that doesn’t mean that the movie is bad, it just means that it isn’t as interesting as it could have been.
Without further delay, let’s break this down.
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The first act establishes the two leads and their purpose in the story. Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) is a hired brute that makes sure the innocent are protected from the bad — even if that means beating the hell out of people or even killing them. Holland March (Ryan Gosling) is a widower detective that is trying to make easy money through the laziest ways possible. Both paths collide when they’re trying to do their own job, which is to investigate the disappearance of Amelia Kuttner (Margaret Qualley). Jackson wants to protect her from snoops, such as Holland, and Holland wants to find her for her aunt, who is worried sick about her. When she goes missing, they reluctantly team up to go search for her. That’s where the first act ends.
The first act of this film is entertaining as hell. Both characters are complete opposites and their own way of doing things makes for a wonderfully dysfunctional relationship. They have their own sets of rules, problems and expected outcomes, which gives way to some very entertaining dialogue (Lethal Weapon-esque). The story, at least at this point, creates enough of a spark to keep everything moving splendidly. You want to find out what happened to Amelia, why she is running and who is chasing her. The first part of the film truly is a great way to begin a detective movie like this.
The second act begins with the pair beginning to piece together Amelia’s whereabouts, as well as piece together why she is on the run. What you get with the second act is the establishing of certain puzzle pieces that don’t look like the fit together, but they eventually come together to form a bigger picture. The duo finds their way into a porn party, which connects Amelia to the pornography industry, which also connects her to a bigger message she’s trying to promote. The second act jumps from the party to a murder to an escape to a murder and then springs into action ready for a third act.I don’t want to give too many details away about what is created and connected in act two, but you can probably make the connections without a big reveal, at least by the end of it.
Act two does its best to throw the audience off the predictability track, but it ends up running right into it by the end of the act. The big reveal, or at least the supposed big reveal is outshined by the moments created by the characters, such as the porno party, which is hilarious, especially with Holland’s part. The story peaks early in the second act, loses its way a bit and then flatlines, which doesn’t lead into much excitement by the third act. The second act should always be an upward climb, kind of a like a rollercoaster, where anticipation and moments create a bigger, better experience. The small hill at the front of act two does little to carry the excitement through out, so what you get back the beginning of act three is a stale mystery that you might have already guessed.
Having said that, the third act brings quite a bit of action, classic 80s shootouts at the end and a predictable resolution. There are a couple of moments where you will be a bit shocked, but nothing that will have you talking once the film concludes. Again, the characters really make this film work, even when the story teeters on falling short.
Overall, The Nice Guys is entertaining because of the characters that Shane Black creates. The story takes a backseat to them and almost depends on their actions to keep the viewer’s attention retained. Like I said before, this doesn’t mean The Nice Guys is a bad film, rather it just means that it fell short of what it could have been. I thoroughly enjoyed the people, the style and world Shane Black created, as well as what Gosling and Crowe (and the talented Angourie Rice) brought to the screen. They make this movie fun and the moments memorable. They make the journey worth it.
On the special features side of the tracks, there isn’t much here, but it’s enough to keep the movie rolling a bit. Here’s what you get:
– Always Bet On Black
– Worst. Detectives. Ever. Making The Nice Guys
I would have died for director/actor commentary. Anyway, the two features included aren’t a huge amount of goodness, but they’re good nonetheless.
Onto the summary.
