Please don't spend money on this.

Perfect cast and a good story

Let's be realistic.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

I stumbled across this movie on Warner Brothers TV and even though I missed the first part of the movie it was so captivating that I had so watch it. The premise though seemingly simple, relied upon character studies of people in a stressful situation where everybody feels over their heads, even those supposedly in control. This has been done many times before so it's not unusual, but I liked the idea of Canadian 'gang kids' who have an executive treed in a park overnight. All in one scene emotions could run through fear, bravado, self doubt and aggression; the darkness of the people mirrored that of the night. Both inner and outer group conflicts manifested themselves as the night wore on. There was subterfuge, guile, bluffing and cunning and for the most part, the dialogue didn't seem forced or false. Throughout all and the acting was excellent. In disagreement with another reviewer I thought that just having another thoroughly evil gang passing through and not choosing to involve them further was wise and kept unnecessary complications from distracting from the group dynamics we'd already gotten familiar with. The other gang just served to highlight the insecurities and more human aspects of our gang's personas, and therefor made the outcome more plausible.Detractors of the film should know that for the most part, Canada is a kinder and gentler country, where firearms are restricted so are not common, and we don't have as many issues with large inner city slums or ghettos. The makeup of 'our' Toronto gang was African Americans, Caucasians and one girl, which is certainly not stereotypical. The movie speculated how Canadian 'wannabe' gang members might try to ape the actions of the more street hardened thugs south of the border who make the papers every day, but in reality be more unsure and fearful of the real consequences of their actions. Lastly, all the situations and changes and revelations the individuals underwent made the ending plausible and showed that sometimes in extreme circumstances when the poop really hits the fan, opposing sides can come together to offer kindness and caring and come to the aid of others even at risk to themselves. That's the Canadian way.

Taking a page from old-fashioned, one-off thrillers from the Sixties and Seventies like LADY IN A CAGE or THE INCIDENT, writer/director William Phillips uses a deceptively simple plot to produce a psychological thriller/character study that at the very least is engaging. Thank goodness the producers made sure that it got a title change before reaching American screens. As it is, the new title "GET DOWN" may trick some people into thinking this is some kind of disco period piece like CAN'T STOP THE MUSIC. For anyone who may have given this film the brush-off for that reason, let me assure you: this one is WAY better.The premise is straight to the point: a harried businessman, John Murray (David Hewlett from the excellent CUBE, another controversial indie flick), is on his way to work downtown, and probably late. Not wanting to be bothered by the homeless people and the panhandlers, he decides to take a short cut through the city park. Bad luck for him. On the way, he is stopped by a young thug whom he asks for directions. The teen demands money for his help, and when Murray refuses, the kid blocks his way and demands his wallet. P*ssed off by this, Murray pops the kid in the face with his briefcase, which results in the sudden appearance of the rest of the "gang" the young thug belongs to. WORSE luck for him.A chase ensues, and a desperate Murray resorts to the only thing he thinks will prevent him from a severe beating: he climbs a very tall tree. Hence the title. Now a war of words, wills and wild attempts to get at him begins, revealing things about Murray and the young punks who are after him, that let the audience in on one important truth...none of us is better than anyone else, even when we'd like to believe we are. Because as it turns out, we are more alike than we want to admit, or may even realize.For a small, short film with no big names to speak of, there are strong performances all round, with Hewlett leading the cast. Murray is not a likeable character, even when we know that he's in the right about defending himself, yet Hewlett still manages to make him seem human and flawed, rather than outright hateful, which would've been a major hardship for the film to overcome.All the young performers are fairly good, with Cle Bennett a remarkable standout as the "gang's" leader, Shark. He has a lot of the same vibe and style as ANGEL'S J. August Richards, and I suspect it won't be too long before we end up seeing him getting a lot more work.Though the socio-political and economic issues addressed here have reviewed before, and in much better fashion in other movies, at least Phillips guides his cast in a way that makes it all seem fresh and original. That said, the director couldn't miss throwing in a least one homage, namely to John Carpenter. It involves a very unexpectedly creepy scene, in which Murray witnesses first hand, the one thing that makes his aggressors actually run for the hills, (or in this case, the bushes.) It is a very goosebump-raising scene that carries with it echoes of ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK or ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, and you've gotta love somebody with enough smarts and savvy to give 'props' to those two classics.I'll give this four out of five stars. A bigger name cast and a more seasoned director would have raised GET DOWN'S cinematic pedigree, but as is, it won't leave you bored, and not too disappointed, (unless, like me, you don't get into the anti-climactic finish.)

A man named Murray gets into an altercation with a gang after getting lost in a park. The gang then chases him and Murray is forced to hide in a tree. Of course it doesn't take the gang longer than a minute to find him hiding up there (and thankfully it didn't take them longer... that would've made for a poor movie). This is how Treed Murray begins. The rest of the movie takes place over the course of one night, with Murray hiding in the tree, and the gang waiting, taunting, intimidating, and threatening him from down on the ground.Of course Treed Murray isn't as simple or basic as the plot may lead you to believe. At only 90 minutes long, it manages to be more intriguing, fascinating and brilliant than any movie I think I've seen in the past year. The dialogue, which makes up 95% of the film, is more than enough to carry the entire movie on it's own. On top of that there are amazing performances from all the actors. David Hewlett, who was the best thing about the Canadian show Traders, is in almost every scene as the main character, Murray. He brings so much to the movie and his character. At every point in the movie you sympathize with him, despite his character being a bit of a low life. It seemed like every other scene had some new revelation about Murray that gives you good reason to hate him, yet Hewlett still makes him a likeable guy somehow. If Treed Murray can get as much great exposure as one of Hewlett's earlier movies CUBE got, he could become one of Canada's next big acting exports.But as brilliant as David Hewlett was in Treed Murray, myself and everyone else who watched it with me thought he was upstaged by Cle Bennett, who plays the gang leader Shark. Bennett is powerful and charismatic, an odd thing for a young and fairly inexperienced actor. One of the questions brought up in the story is why Shark is the leader, and why he makes all the decisions for the rest of the gang. I'm thinking if I knew someone like him, I'd probably do whatever he said too. I hope there's a Director out there looking to hire Bennett, because he has such star potential.In the end what really works about Treed Murray is it's realism and character development. Even though Murray is the hero of the film, he has many flaws. And even though all the gang members would be clear cut villains in a typical American movie, here they have several redeemable qualities. I loved that all the characters had interesting and honest things to say. Despite the fact they're trying to kill a guy for no reason, I found myself agreeing with so much that they said.Treed Murray is one of those rare movies that you not only can't turn off once it begins, but you can also watch over and over and over again. I give it 10 out of 10. If I was allowed to give it anything higher, I would. I LOVE this movie.

While this movie seems to revolve around characters and situations that are cliche and perhaps more based on American media archetypes than reality, Treed Murray nevertheless turns out to be a thought-provoking examination of issues relevant to today's times.Growing up watching the TV series Degrassi Junior High, we always used to joke that for a show noted for its "reality" they sure did a remarkable job of overlaying every possible teen calamity on a very small group of characters. This movie can be accused of a similar projection. However, perhaps in 90 minutes of film this sort of license may be not only allowable, but necessary.Overall, this is a very worthwhile, entertaining and interesting film, that manages to stand quite apart from those movies from which its characters have been lifted.