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44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-out: Review

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The based on real events, this gung-ho cop movie's strength lies less in its recreation of a notorious crime than in its success in infusing its semi-documentary approach with action movie gusto. The Los Angeles Police Department was completely unprepared for the events of February 28, 1997, though the so-called "High Incident" bandits, who had targeting North Hollywood for the past two years, were familiar to Sergeant Frank McGregor (Michael Madsen). As they orchestrate their upcoming assault on a money-transport van, lifelong law breakers Larry Eugene Phillips Jr. (Andrew Bryniarski) and Emil Matasareanu (Oleg Taktarov) agree that they'll do anything to avoid going back to prison. When the armored car fails to turn up at the appointed time, they decide to rob a nearby Laurel Canyon Bank istead. While customers are rounded up and placed inside the vault, the heavily armed robbers force bank manager Luis Rivera (Jullian Dulce Vida) to fill their bags with cash. Rivera takes a risk and slips in some bills booby-trapped with dye packs; the loot explodes as soon as Emil and Larry get outside. They rush back into the bank, but Rivera has prudently slipped into the vault with the other hostages and locked the door. With no human collateral, the heavily armed crooks decide to shoot their way to freedom. Though the police department has already dispatched multiple officers to the scene, they're unprepared for both the firepower Larry and Emil have at their disposal and for their ruthless willingness to use it. Brave officers like McGregor coordinate their efforts with members of the LAPD's elite SWAT teams, including Donnie Anderson (Ron Livingston), but the 44-minute standoff reaches its bloody conclusion only after the police appropriate assault weapons similar to those deployed by the robbers. The most remarkable thing about the shootout is that not one police officer or civilian died. This made-for-TV crime thriller was clearly designed to polish the LAPD's deeply tarnished reputation and succeeds admirably, but allowing the genuinely heroic characters more complexity and better positioning the talking-head interviews might have elevated this workmanlike crime picture to greatness. leave a comment --Robert Pardi
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44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-out
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