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Last Hand, The
Lionsgate Home Entertainment // R // January 6, 2004
List Price: $24.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
THE MOVIE
Filmed back in 1997 under the title "After The Game", The Last Hand finally makes its way to audiences thanks to this DVD release. I'm always a little wary going into movies I have never heard of before, but I'm happy to report that while The Last Hand isn't something you'll want to watch over and over again, it does make for an enjoyable evening's worth of viewing.
The film opens in the backroom of a casino (Vegas? Reno? The movie never specifies – although we do know we're in Nevada) where three old buddies are playing a game of cards. Frank Bertini (Stanley DeSantis) is the owner of the casino, and we find out that he already owes a lot of money to Sam Kowalski (Mike Genovese), one of the other players. The third player is Benny Walsh (Frank "Riddle Me This!" Gorshin), a casino regular who is doing quite well on this particular evening…to the tune of $30,000!
Taking his winnings and heading home, Benny's car is shot at by a masked man. The car goes off the road, but Benny manages to make it out…only to be shot and killed by the mysterious sniper. Benny's car then explodes in flames, burning up any evidence that he was shot by a bullet…or at least the county coroner (a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo by Lou Rawls) can't find evidence of a gun shot (where's Gil Grissom when you need him?!).
Benny's death results in his son, Clyde (Robert Dubac), making his way into town to try and find out what happened to his father. When he discovers that Benny won big on that last night, he immediately becomes suspicious that his father was murdered. But who did it? Was it Frank, who owed Sam Kowalski $50,000? Or was it Sam, who was owed money and would do anything to get it back? Or was it another party? The rest of the movie has Clyde trying to work out the mystery.
While this story isn't exactly fresh material for a film, I did appreciate the ending – which was both unexpected and kind of cool. While Benny's true killer is kind of obvious from the first half-hour of the film, that doesn't mean The Last Hand doesn't entertain. Most of the performances by the cast are quite good, and just a tad off-center or quirky enough to maintain the viewer's interest in an otherwise by-the-numbers movie.
THE DVD
Video:
The Last Hand is a low budget movie, that was apparently shot on a very low-grade film stock. The picture here is quite grainy, dark and with a lot of dirt on the transfer. It's also presented in the full-frame format – although it doesn't appear to have been shot that way, since I didn't notice any panning from one side of the screen to the other. However, this isn't a very good video transfer at all – and the video quality doesn't look much better than VHS.
Audio:
The audio is presented in 2.0 Dolby, and it fares much better than the video quality. Although there are some sections of gun play and other action in the movie, this is basically a "talking" film – so the lack of 5.1 or better sound is hardly noticeable. Voices are clear and understandable, without any evidence of echoing or the "tinny" sound you often find with low-budget movies transferred to DVD.
Extras:
The only extras on this disc are a few Trailers, which can be accessed by clicking on the Lion's Gate symbol on the main menu. In addition a couple of trailers for other Lion's Gate releases, you'll also get the trailer for this movie. All of the trailers are in the full-frame format.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Given the lack of extras and the poor video quality, there's not much on this DVD to warrant a purchase. However, both the story and the acting are good enough to make for an interesting, if not enthralling, rental. If you think you might like a crime-noir thriller set in the seedy side of a Nevada casino town, then give The Last Hand a look.
Filmed back in 1997 under the title "After The Game", The Last Hand finally makes its way to audiences thanks to this DVD release. I'm always a little wary going into movies I have never heard of before, but I'm happy to report that while The Last Hand isn't something you'll want to watch over and over again, it does make for an enjoyable evening's worth of viewing.
The film opens in the backroom of a casino (Vegas? Reno? The movie never specifies – although we do know we're in Nevada) where three old buddies are playing a game of cards. Frank Bertini (Stanley DeSantis) is the owner of the casino, and we find out that he already owes a lot of money to Sam Kowalski (Mike Genovese), one of the other players. The third player is Benny Walsh (Frank "Riddle Me This!" Gorshin), a casino regular who is doing quite well on this particular evening…to the tune of $30,000!
Taking his winnings and heading home, Benny's car is shot at by a masked man. The car goes off the road, but Benny manages to make it out…only to be shot and killed by the mysterious sniper. Benny's car then explodes in flames, burning up any evidence that he was shot by a bullet…or at least the county coroner (a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo by Lou Rawls) can't find evidence of a gun shot (where's Gil Grissom when you need him?!).
Benny's death results in his son, Clyde (Robert Dubac), making his way into town to try and find out what happened to his father. When he discovers that Benny won big on that last night, he immediately becomes suspicious that his father was murdered. But who did it? Was it Frank, who owed Sam Kowalski $50,000? Or was it Sam, who was owed money and would do anything to get it back? Or was it another party? The rest of the movie has Clyde trying to work out the mystery.
While this story isn't exactly fresh material for a film, I did appreciate the ending – which was both unexpected and kind of cool. While Benny's true killer is kind of obvious from the first half-hour of the film, that doesn't mean The Last Hand doesn't entertain. Most of the performances by the cast are quite good, and just a tad off-center or quirky enough to maintain the viewer's interest in an otherwise by-the-numbers movie.
THE DVD
Video:
The Last Hand is a low budget movie, that was apparently shot on a very low-grade film stock. The picture here is quite grainy, dark and with a lot of dirt on the transfer. It's also presented in the full-frame format – although it doesn't appear to have been shot that way, since I didn't notice any panning from one side of the screen to the other. However, this isn't a very good video transfer at all – and the video quality doesn't look much better than VHS.
Audio:
The audio is presented in 2.0 Dolby, and it fares much better than the video quality. Although there are some sections of gun play and other action in the movie, this is basically a "talking" film – so the lack of 5.1 or better sound is hardly noticeable. Voices are clear and understandable, without any evidence of echoing or the "tinny" sound you often find with low-budget movies transferred to DVD.
Extras:
The only extras on this disc are a few Trailers, which can be accessed by clicking on the Lion's Gate symbol on the main menu. In addition a couple of trailers for other Lion's Gate releases, you'll also get the trailer for this movie. All of the trailers are in the full-frame format.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Given the lack of extras and the poor video quality, there's not much on this DVD to warrant a purchase. However, both the story and the acting are good enough to make for an interesting, if not enthralling, rental. If you think you might like a crime-noir thriller set in the seedy side of a Nevada casino town, then give The Last Hand a look.
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