Wow! Such a good movie.

Disappointment for a huge fan!

The first must-see film of the year.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Why You Might Like It: Most notably, the acting by all involved is very good and really is the highlight of the movie. Jamie Bell is spot on in the lead role and Josh Lucas is fairly convincing as the villain. There is some really nice scenery in the movie that showcases the South very well and puts you almost into the movie. On top of that, the story isn't bad either which makes for a fairly entertaining watch.Why You Might Not Like It: I would argue there is some odd editing and directing at some points in the film. I found the freeze frames in multiple parts of the film to have little meaning and almost seem forced for no apparent reason. There is also some slow spots in the film that make you wish that the scene would hurry up and play out. These scenes again have some purpose, but not anything immensely important. Some might argue against these points, but I tend to believe they are a couple of the obvious downfalls. Acting/Casting: 6.5* Directing/Cinematography/Technical: 5*Plot/Characters: 6* Entertainment Value: 5.5* Total - 6+5+6+5.5 = 23/4 = 5.75*

David Gordon Green directs a project produced by Terrence Malick and it's a film that resembles Malick's works of his own. It's not about going somewhere , it's about going with the stream, enjoy the ride, the adventure, the danger and maybe you can get something out of the experience if you're wise and patient enough.It's the story of the young Munn brothers having to find a way of saving their lives and run away from their violent uncle Deel (Josh Lucas), who recently escaped from prison, killed his own brother (Dermot Mulroney), the kids father, an farmer who happened to have some valuable old coins, family heritage. The brothers are played by Jamie Bell and Devon Alan, who play respectively, the reckless older brother Chris and the young and innocent Tim, who deals with some health problems.Working almost like a "The Night of the Hunter" from the 21st Century, "Undertow" is an interesting piece about two kids struggling to survive the adversities of life at an early age. Rather than being an tale on good versus evil, this absorbing tour de force concentrates in involving us with the eminent danger brought by the uncle's boys, his perversity and thirst for blood. The character played by Lucas is far from the greatness of Reverend Henry Powell but I find him extremely scary as well. Yes, he's a little ahead of Robert Mitchum's character mostly because the time in which we live allows more things to be explored than the time when classic films were made. The fight between brothers that led to the death of one of them is completely unconceivable back in 1955, for instance.And if the tensions works in reasonable ways, quite realistic, is because the actors involved in the movie were perfectly cast. Bell, Alan, Mulroney and Lucas - all deserve praise for bringing life and quality in this powerful drama, something that can appeal to all kinds of audiences."Undertow" is pure and simple, doesn't need much to make its case. It's not a Malick work but has the same effect and his fans won't be disappointed that he had time and money to put in such a beautiful movie. 10/10

Last week I saw my second David Gordon Green film; the name David Gordon Green wasn't very familiar to me before seeing, back in October 2008, the Apatow production Pineapple Express and it wasn't familiar to me after seeing it. It became familiar when I began to read stuff about Undertow and about Gordon Green's first feature film George Washington (that is part of the Criterion Collection) and then it was when I realized that the director I really wanted to start watching was the man behind Pineapple Express. Undertow is the only title of Gordon Green available on R4 DVD (not even Pineapple Express has been released on R4 DVD) but anyway, this film has some scenes that alone make of it a worth watching one, it has amazing acting, it is something I definitely would like to watch again in a near future. Billy Elliot is a film that I really disliked when I saw it years ago, if you ask me now I certainly don't recommend it at all but if you ask about the other two films with Jamie Bell in that I had seen before seeing Undertow you will get my highest recommendations, you know I loved both Dear Wendy and Peter Jackson's King Kong, both with a terrific Jamie Bell so for me Jamie Bell is not Billy Elliot and since I also think Undertow is a fine film Bell can be also Chris Munn. And Bell is great here, doing his very first performance of an American character yet I think Josh Lucas, as the uncle of Bell's character, steals the film. Undertow is about family, about isolation, the isolation of a family in a rural part of Georgia. The first sequence with Chris, Chris' father John (Dermot Mulroney) and Chris' younger brother Tim (Devon Alan) all together happens after John heard about what Chris did now (the opening credits sequence is a great one and is Chris running like hell, trying not to bee caught by the father of his love interest), about why Chris is now at the police station, is a sequence with John certainly angry, he got he call from the police in a day that was supposed to be about Tim, was Tim's birthday and, in words of Tim, was supposed to be "a lot of fun, a good time with you and dad and me". Soon Josh Lucas' character appears, as I said Lucas is AMAZING and he steals the film as John's brother Deel who after being in prison found John and his family. There's always the interest to know more, at first we get to know that after John's wife died John took the kids and moved to the place where they all now live in and that John's wife was first Deel's girlfriend. Is typical what we get with the character Deel, he will stay with them and look after the kids and is classic the actions of Deel specially with Chris, you know Deel is like "it's like living in a fishbowl being stuck here like a workhorse" when we have before Chris saying to his father "you never let me leave this place, we can't even have friends. What can of birthday is it with just the three of us?" so I clear what is the "role" of Deel, trying to give the kids some elbow room and, in words of John, "he came to find me for a reason". We get to know about those coins of my title ("those coins are greed" is a line of John) in a conversation between John and Deel and for once it seems like something that is just not quite relevant, I mean is Deel bringing to the talk with John the Mexican coins that his father stole from a museum and that were supposed to give both him and John richness and is John saying that those coins are lost since long time ago. Tim is a strange character, he is certainly not a common 10 year old boy and as Dell says to Tim he is smarter than most of the kids of his age. There's something to make us feel worried, Tim has health problems, pretty much he eats all kind of stuff but food. Tim is the one who reveals to Deel and then to us that his father has the treasure and later on, while Deel is trying to find the coins Tim will ask about them to his father, John tells him what his father told him, pretty much what Tim and Chris hear from their father is that those coins are cursed, they can't use them, "those coins are greed", those coins for Deel represents what belongs to him but was taken away from him by his own brother. Undertow has two parts, the second one place the boys simply running like hell, there's no time for laments, there's no time to sort of get what's going on, how their life changed completely, is all a fine piece of film, great performances, superb editing, a story told to us as it was told… recommended. Can't wait to see more of David Gordon Green.

...that, if nothing else, confirms that auteur David Gordon Green is a director to watch. "Undertow" is a somewhat picaresque tale, of a stripe labeled Southern Gothic these days, that concerns itself with the lives of two generations of brothers, one the parent to the other. The Terrence Malick (one of the film's producers) influence is apparent, along with that of Mark Twain, Miguel de Cervantes and the like. The story is a simple one of Good betrayed and pursued by Evil, with a resolution that may leave some viewers cold, if not befuddled, but as is the case in so many similar tales, it's the journey itself and the lessons learned (or not) along the way that is the meat of things, and Green serves up a mostly satisfying meal. The acting is quite good, especially from the young leads. Jamie "Jumper" Bell is superb, proving himself once again as an immensely talented young actor with a long and successful career ahead of him, while relative newcomer Devon Alan shows good chops as Bell's younger brother. Dermot "Living in Oblivion" Mulroney and Josh "Poseidon" Lucas, as the boys' fathers, ably demonstrate their abilities with excellent performances of characters notably against type. The supporting ensemble features a number of recognizable faces, including a very brief appearance by Bill "Deliverance" McKinney ("Squeal like a pig!"), although unfortunately Kristen "Panic Room" Stewart and Shiri "Swimfan" Appleby don't get near enough screen time. Longtime Green collaborator Tim "Sex Drive" Orr handles the camera chores with great finesse and an eye for the corroded beauty of downhome Alabama. The score by Philip "Koyaanisqatsi" Glass is appropriately pastoral and foreboding as required, not his strongest work but quite serviceable. Likewise, the editing by Green collaborators Steven Gonzales and Zene Baker is good, though in my estimation marred by seemingly random freezes and fades that practically scream, "Cut to commercial!" Still, whatever minor quibbles I have, "Undertow" is a worthy rental, if not purchase, and a commendable alternative to typical Hollywood fare.