Don't listen to the negative reviews

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

I can't tell if Fantasia is a hooker or just a junkie. Either way, she sells out her LA 'friends' to her pimp/boyfriend, Ray.Ray and Pluto (cellmates from San Quinton) are looking to make some easy money, and Fantasia knows some street dealers. They turn up at their place and torture them until they tell them where their supplier lives.Then they murder them all. Pluto turns out to be a psychopath who gets turned on when he's stabbing people.They go over to the supplier and rob them of their cocaine and $15k. And them murder them all. Well, nearly all. Fantasia finds a kid in a back room but pretends that she can't find him.They get stopped by a state trooper while travelling out of town. Naturally, they kill him too, because that's the best way to stay off the radar. But by this time, they've already got a dedicated group of law enforcement hunting them down.Fantasia takes a bus to Star City, her hometown, while the murder duo travel from LA to Texas to sell the drugs to a pusher known to Pluto. When the pusher tries to bargain down the price, Ray and Pluto kill them all. Are we noticing a trend of stupidity yet, from the so-called 150 IQ genius Pluto?The LAPD get a tip that they might be heading to a small town in Arkansas, so they contact the sheriff there ("Hurricane" Dixon), who is very excited to be involved in a big city case, seeing as it might be his ticket for reassignment to the city force.The reason they might be stopping there is that Ray has an uncle who lives there and Fantasia (real name Lila) grew up there and has a kid living with her family.Dixon stakes out the house, and finds Lila who has come back to visit her son (turns out the father is Dixon, who was already married and has a child of his own). To keep that news to herself, Dixon promises if Lila calls in Ray and Pluto then he'll let her escape.They arrive, and everyone dies in a shootout, except Dixon (wounded) and his illegitimate child. Lila gets a bullet to the back of the head from Pluto, which, to be fair, she totally deserves. Three of her friends were brutally tortured and murdered because of her. She also murdered a cop (when they were pulled over earlier). And she abandoned her son after birth to go live in Hollywood and ended up a total loser.

One False Move is one of the key sleeper hits in film. It had a relative low-budget and was released straight-to-video. But word of mouth caused this to get a release in theatres soon after. It was the sleeper of 1992 that received acclaim by all. On "At the Movies" Gene Siskel ranked it as the best of the year while Roger Ebert ranked it the second best (behind Malcolm X). Usually surprises like this are always remembered, check out Rocky. Sure time has not been on its side and that's terrible for a film this good. It's just as bad as The Right Stuff from 1983 not aging well.Perhaps it is good that this is forgotten. That makes the surprise element of the watch stronger. If it was bigger, maybe some people would find it underwhelming and not meeting expectations. Nobody talks about this anymore, so that also gives me an intimate connection with this.The movie follows two parallel stories. The first is meeting a trio of violent drug dealers in Los Angeles. They're intense, profane, and ruthless enough to make the audience cringe while watching it. The movie opens with two extremely brutal drug busts--a good way to get the audience's attention. The trio consists of Billy Bob Thornton as the most vicious of the group, Ray; his reluctant girlfriend, Fantasia (Cynda Williams); and highly intelligent Pluto (Michael Beach). All the murders are brutal and they flee the state. A few times in the film they make boneheaded mistakes, but the guys' intensity and Pluto's brains can get them out of things. Although mistakes are made, we know they will definitely survive. Each scene with the trio are scary, but thrilling and fun. Also, we want them to stand a chance. Very few movies can successfully pull off unforgiving bad guys but still making them compelling.The other story deals with two LAPD cops who investigate the case and are led to the small town of Star City in Arkansas, where the sheriff Dale "Hurricane" Dixon (Bill Paxton) works with them. At first, there's some offbeat comedy as the big city cops bond with the cop from an uneventful town. As the deadly trio's route leads to the Dixon's town, the cops soon find secrets about Fantasia that really raise the stakes.In great crime films, the bad guys are always more fun. While the scenes with the bad guys are more fun here too, we still get great joy out of the good guys. And the secrets that raise the stakes make the heart beat faster. It is all about the characters. Character-driven movies are the best. We can't see through anything here, a job well-done. And the movie also expertly deals with the themes of the past, urban & rural cities, and loyalty. And of course, the principal photography are what's first and foremost when it comes to what's most memorable with this.Highly recommended!

I honestly wasn't sure what to expect when I decided to watch this movie. But after the first few minutes I could tell that this was going to be one of those films that might be worth watching. Essentially, Cynda Williams plays a young woman named "Fantasia" who has gotten herself mixed up with the wrong kind of people. Her boyfriend, "Ray Malcolm" (Billy Bob Thornton) has just gotten out of prison and along with another ex-convict named "Lenny 'Pluto' Franklin" (Michael Beach) are involved in drugs and murder. Unfortunately, things begin to go wrong for them as they travel from Los Angeles to Houston and then to Arkansas. Anyway, rather than divulge the entire story I will just say that this turned out to be a very good crime-drama. Both Billy Bob Thornton and Cynda Williams performed in an excellent manner and in my opinion carried this film. Definitely worth a watch if you like movies of this genre.

One False Move was simply a beautiful, and little seen, crime film. Three drug dealers on the run are suspected to be heading towards Arkansas. Here, a couple of big city cops meet up with the local sheriff. Paxton is fantastic in this role. He's not very worldly, has never had to use his gun, and is just a little too excited about the approaching threat. His enthusiasm comes off as naivety, and he is laughed off by the LAPD. The film does well to follow the cops and the killers. We see a bizarre triangle between the murderers. Thornton is filled with anger and out of control, whereas his partner is cool and calm but ultimately terrifying. The pacing of this film was done very well, offering moments of tension in a film that has a lot of waiting around. It also harvests a lot of emotion and depth for its characters. Paxton comes off the best as a giddy little boy waiting for Christmas. There are some great moments, such as his reaction to hearing the teasing from the city cops. Another scene sees him use the "n" word in front of the black cop. His facial expression is priceless, as he realises what he has said. Eventually Paxton takes responsibility, and he shows that his enthusiasm masks his competence. A big fish in a small pond. One False Move is very dark, but has a lot going for it. Most of all the tender ending.