It is genuinely strange how a film made over a quarter of a century ago can look so obscure despite the obvious high budget, massive ambitions, and the involvement of some of Hollywood's most notable names. The reasons for this obscurity are not the ones its authors could have possibly anticipated at the time, but looking back, the cracks in the foundation become painfully clear. One such example is 15 Minutes, the 2001 film written and directed by John Herzfeld, a strange, hybrid combination of a buddy cop action film and a satirical comedy that ultimately fails to find its footing, leaving it as a curious footnote in cinema history.
The narrative kicks off with a darkly comic introduction to two East European ex-convicts: Emil Slovák, (Karel Roden), a Czech, and Oleg Razgul (Oleg Taktarov), a Russian. They have arrived in New York City with a singular, bloody purpose: to settle some unfinished business with their former partner, Milos Karlova, played by Vladimir Meshkov. The partner explains that he doesn't have the money anymore, which enrages Emil to the point of violence. He kills Milos and his wife in a brutal display of rage. Oleg, who is also an aspiring filmmaker, records the entire crime on his video camera. The murder is witnessed by Daphne Handlova (Vera Farmiga), a hairdresser and illegal Slovak immigrant. To cover their tracks, Emil and Oleg set up a fire and make it look like an accident, a clumsy lie that doesn't hold up for long.
The investigation brings together two investigators who could not be more different. We have NYPD Detective Eddie Fleming (Robert De Niro), a man who has become a celebrity and cultivates a symbiotic relationship with tabloid TV host Robert Hawkins (Kelsey Grammer). Opposite him is Joe Warsaw (Ed Burns), a more modest and professional FDNY Fire Marshal. The two quickly realise that the incident is a murder rather than an accident and attempt to track down Daphne. However, the killers are also hunting for Daphne. It is at this point that Emil gets a brilliant, terrifying idea. Looking at how the US media covers crimes, he realises that if he continues his murder spree and targets Fleming personally, he can be declared criminally insane and sell his life story for millions of dollars.
John Herzfeld had begun his career on television, delivering dramatic reconstructions of true stories about crimes that went unpunished due to clever media manipulation. This story, on the surface, looked tailor-made for him—a hard-hitting satire on the sensationalist and manipulative nature of US media, obviously inspired by the O. J. Simpson affair. It even features a cameo appearance from celebrity defence attorney Jim Cutler, best known for successfully defending mafia boss John Gotti, playing himself, which adds a nice touch of authenticity to the legal satire.
Unfortunately, Herzfeld is unable to fully realise this ambitious vision because the film gets buried under the weight of generic buddy cop action movie tropes. We are forced to sit through scenes of brutal violence, shootouts, and the protagonist making last-minute escapes from burning building. The film is drowned in clichés. This includes lame attempts at comic relief, a pair of lawmen who can’t stand each other, and Warsaw even falling for Daphne while trying to protect her as a witness. Another set of cliches, typical of 1990s Hollywood, treats "East Europe" as some sort of generic post-Cold War Mordor and acts as if all East Europeans are the same, completely erasing the nuance that Karel Roden brings to the table.
Apart from the obvious suspension of disbelief—where two foreign criminals who just arrived are somehow able to evade capture and manipulate American media so effectively—the film also suffers from poor characterisation and acting choices. Robert De Niro completely lacks chemistry with Melina Kanakaderes, who plays a TV reporter and his girlfriend, making their romantic subplot feel forced and unconvincing. Ed Burns is completely bland in the lead role, serving as a generic anchor for the action without adding much depth. Meanwhile, other, more talented actors like Avery Brooks are wasted in undeveloped roles. Somewhat unsurprisingly, the Czech actor Karel Roden makes a much better impression as the psychopathic villain, delivering a performance that is chaotic and unhinged. Oleg Taktarov, a Russian MMA fighter who was making the switch to acting, is even better as his henchman. Oleg’s childlike enthusiasm for filmmaking could even evoke some sort of sympathy for the character, which is a difficult feat to pull off given that he is a cold-blooded killer.
But, at the end of the day, the film is a failure. Originally produced in 1999, and scheduled for release in 2000, its premiere had to wait for March 2001. Despite the stellar cast, it fizzled at the box office. Its obscurity was further undermined by the fact that Robert De Niro soon afterwards appeared in the similarly themed buddy cop comedy, Showtime. What ultimately made obscure this film is 9/11. A thriller about a bunch of foreigners coming to New York City and creating mayhem suddenly wasn't looking so funny or attractive to the American audience. Today, it is mainly interesting as being one of the last Hollywood films showing the World Trade Center towers still standing. This historical curiosity is interesting, but it isn't enough to make two hours of running time worthy for the average viewer.
RATING: 3/10 (+)
==
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/ InLeo blog https://inleo.io/@drax.leo Substack https://draxster.substack.com/
InLeo: https://inleo.io/signup?referral=drax.leo Leodex: https://leodex.io/?ref=drax Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax 1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7 BCH donations: qpvxw0jax79lhmvlgcldkzpqanf03r9cjv8y6gtmk9
