An occasionally taut chamber piece that overplays its hand, Laurence Malkin’s "Five Fingers" catches its digits on repetitious dialogue and sadistic mutilations bound to provoke groans of disbelief rather than winces of horror. Tale of a Dutch musician kidnapped by terrorists in Morocco takes many unexpected turns, but a low-key approach does battle with more outre elements, and the surprise denouement creates a less-than-satisfying close, no matter what one’s political stripe. The accomplished cast lends credence to the scenario, though the terrorist theme, minus strong word of mouth, may result in empty-handed returns.
I attended the Five Fingers screening at the TriBeCa Film Festival this past weekend. Not familiar with Five Fingers? What, you don’t remember the video of the nearly naked Ryan Phillippe getting a spongebath? Yeah, that one. (After being held captive for days, Ryan’s character soils and urinates in his pants, so Gina Torres‘ character, Aicha, must give him a good wash down.) The movie is called Five Fingers because Ryan’s character, jazz pianist Martijn, loses his fingers one by one (he only loses four fingers though). Five Fingers was a decent movie overall despite Ryan Phillippe’s Dutch accent fading in and out (especially when he whispered). Laurence Fishburne’s performance (as "terrorist" Ahmat) was flawless as usual, Arab accent and all. And this movie doesn’t have a release date yet, sorry! More production stills in the gallery!
HUGE SPOILERS :: The last scene of Five Fingers shows The Statue of Liberty in the background, revealing that Ahmat and Aicha were US government agents and Martijn was a Dutch terrorist. (Ahmat kills Martijn in the scene before.)
Hollywood hunk Ryan Phillippe was out and about earlier
this week in a sleeveless t-shirt. Ryan ranked #16 on
E!’s List of the 25 Sexiest Celebrity Blondes. His wife,
Reese Witherspoon, bested him by six spots, at #10.
