The Films of Darrell Roodt

A Place for Weeping

Tenth of a Second

City of Blood

The Stick

Sarafina!

To the Death

Father Hood (July 5/18)

Basically adequate yet completely forgettable, Father Hood follows Patrick Swayze's affable Jack Charles as he kidnaps (or rescues) his two children (Sabrina Lloyd's Kelly and Brian Bonsall's Eddie) from a corrupt, city-run institution and embarks on a cross-country chase from Los Angeles to New Orleans - where he and a fellow criminal (Michael Ironside's Jerry) have concocted a robbery scheme worth a great deal of cash. Father Hood, for the most part, plays like a mindlessly entertaining time-waster that never quite adds up to much, with the movie benefiting quite substantially from Swayze's typically charming turn as the rakish protagonist - to the extent that the actor's very presence ensures that large swaths of the production are, at the very least, watchable. Director Darrell Roodt delivers a somewhat episodic midsection revolving around Jack and the kids' misadventures on the road, and there's little doubt that hardly any of this stuff is as engrossing or compelling as Roodt has obviously intended. The ensuing lack of momentum prevents the viewer from working up any real interest in (or sympathy for) the central characters' exploits, which effectively paves the way for a somewhat tedious third act devoid of any real stakes (and it doesn't help, certainly, that Roodt opens the movie with a spoiler-laden peak at the climax). Father Hood is, in the end, a sleepy, entirely unambitious comedy that barely manages to justify its very existence, with the strong efforts of Swayze and a talented supporting cast ultimately unable to compensate for what's mostly a half-baked and paint-by-numbers narrative.

out of

Cry, the Beloved Country

Dangerous Ground

Second Skin

Witness to a Kill

Pavement

Sumuru

Dracula 3000

Yesterday

Prey (July 8/18)

Fairly worthless from start to finish, Prey follows Peter Weller's Tom Newman as he and his new wife (Bridget Moynahan's Amy) arrive in Africa with his two children (Carly Schroeder's Jessica and Connor Dowds' David) for a work trip/vacation - with terror ensuing after Amy, Jessica, and David are trapped inside a vehicle by a pride of man-eating lions. It's a fairly solid premise that's employed to consistently (and infuriatingly) lackluster effect by director Darrell Roodt, as the filmmaker, working from a script cowritten with Beau Bauman and Jeff Wadlow, delivers a perpetually tedious narrative that's almost entirely devoid of exciting (or even interesting) set pieces - with the movie's disastrously uninteresting vibe compounded by a trio of scarcely-developed and highly unsympathetic central characters (ie there's never a point at which one is rooting for their survival and indeed, it's ultimately the lions who become the focus of one's rooting interest). And although Roodt does manage to pepper the proceedings with a very small handful of compelling moments - eg Amy makes a dash for the car keys as a lion approaches - Prey's overall impact is severely hampered by a consistent emphasis on boneheaded decisions made by the protagonists (eg after retrieving sad keys, Amy inexplicably begins driving the car at what seems like top speed). The interminable atmosphere certainly isn't helped by a hopelessly dull subplot detailing Tom's efforts at tracking down his family, which, when coupled with a ludicrous (and entirely unearned) happy ending, confirms Prey's place as an unusually incompetent thriller that thoroughly squanders its promising setup and talented cast.

out of

Lullaby

Winnie Mandela

Safari

The Lullaby

Lake Placid: Legacy