Robert J. Maxwell Not to be confused with "Ms .45," an earlier incarnation of Woman Power. The current example is more subtle than the earlier, which was directed by Abel Ferrara and has become something of a cult favorite. In Ferrara's film, a young woman is gang banged, acquires a .45 pistol, and walks around killing men. You know, "All men are brutes"? That's an arguable proposition and I won't pursue it further. In this one, a young woman (Jovovich) is savaged, humiliated, beaten, almost killed by the man she lives with -- "Big Al." (He's called Big for a reason. Size matters.) But Jovovich loves the gun-dealing Big Al and, despite the entreaties of three others who are in love with her (two of them, women), she can't bring herself to leave him. Also she's terrified of him. The only way she can be free of him is by removing him from her life. She does so, and in the process becomes as selfish, treacherous and exploitative as Al was. In other words, "All people are brutes." The use of interviews in inserts is a terrible crutch except for some of the embedded jokes. It was shot in Toronto-for-New York but I don't care what anybody says. Toronto does not look much like New York City. Its slums are cleaner. And safer. Once, visiting Toronto from New York, I spotted a crowd gathering and ran over to see the dead body. It was two old men playing chess. "Surprise" isn't the word for it. The budget must not have allowed much in the way of star power because Jovovich is the only name and face you'll recognize. Some of the others have Canadian accents.Of the few films I've seen her in, this is Milla Jovovich's best performance as a love-starved, pansexual slut. She has a hoarse voice that cracks and squeals at unexpected moments and is much better suited to shouting the F bomb than to making the pronouncements of Joan of Arc. She's stunningly beautiful, of course, in a modelesque way, with her refulgent pale blue eyes and remarkable figure. The camera is generous enough to give us a quick Cook's tour of that body, including the breasts, certain features of which, for some reason, reminded me of Farber's yellow wooden pencils they handed out in the fifth grade the ones with the long pink rubber erasers on the end. Spasibo, moia drug. More daringly, we see Jovovich in her disfigured state, post beating, sans glamorous make up. It only proves that without make up, none of us looks quite as rapturously gorgeous.Award for best performance goes to -- envelope please -- thank you -- Sarah Strange as the bisexual young lady who is in love with Jovovich. The plot lets the character down. Inexplicably, she changes from lesbian to, well, amenable to heterosexual intercourse in the blink of an eye, with only the murkiest of motives. Second prize goes to Steven Dorff as Reilly, who follows Strange around like a pet poodle despite her contempt for him. Big Al deserves to rot in the slams. Not only is his character repulsive but Angus MacFadyen doesn't do testosterone-ridden, New York drunks too well. Wow, is the part overplayed.The writing has some hidden gems, if you listen closely enough. "There was a period in her life when every guy she hooked up with changed his name to 'Plaintiff' in the first three weeks." Okay, it's not Raymond Chandler but what can you expect? There were some others that had me laughing, though I can't remember them now because I wasn't taking notes. If somebody starts paying me for these reviews, I'll be happy to document every claim I make. (Hint.) You know, for a cheap, sensationalistic, depressing, unambitious piece of utter garbage -- this isn't as bad as it might be. A split-second of Jovovich's frontal nudity half-way redeems it. Good work, I say.

Brettcurtissanders I've had to have seen this film at least 10 times. What a gripping portrayal of life in Hell's Kitchen. Milla was at her very best. The film was provocative and at the same time quirky, which is my absolute favorite combination for anything.Some parts were extremely disturbing to watch, but for some reason I could not turn away. The film was gritty, dirty, sexy, disturbing, grimy, dark, witty, and at the same time it was transforming. I would recommend this film to anyone that wants to go on a real journey and know what it's like to live in NY city Hell's Kitchen around that time period.

davidmarkcim I've been a fan of Milla Jovovich since "Fifth Element" and have always enjoyed watching her take risks with her roles -- from rockin' a runway of cheap and hilarious one liners in "Zoolander" to kicking ass in the "Resident Evil" flicks. Her turn in ".45" as Kat, a big city bad girl who uses sex as a weapon to exact revenge on her abusive BF, Big Al, is one of her most riveting performances. Writer-director Gary Lennon's gritty urban drama and the straight-from-the-streets realism of the dialog provide Jovovich a good platform to showcase her amazing talent as a leading lady -- and in this case that "lady" is a gun-toting, scene-stealing heroine that makes "Resident Evil"'s Alice seem like a wallflower in comparison. A number of explosive scenes seamlessly and brilliantly meld the emotional intensity of Kat and Al's turbulent relationship with the physical brutality that encompasses their baffling obsessive attraction to one another. Lennon's deft direction expertly balances the story's tough and tender moments with dark humor and some light laughs while letting the action steadily build through plot twists and a series of killer scenes that let Jovovich's sinister master plan -- and her manipulative personality -- unfold before the drama climaxes in a reveal that stands to destroy everything and everyone around her." ".45" is proof that Jovovich doesn't need CGI and otherworldly monsters to sell a good story or prove her worth as a multidimensional character actress.

dereksantosolson Loved this movie. The thing that elevates this film out of your typical small crime genre pieces are the originality of the characters and the directions they push the story. Don't get me wrong, you get your barfights, your shower scenes, and your double-crossings -- they just don't happen in the fashion you think they will. All these characters have issues that are at once hilarious (with great talking heads quick-pop scenes that share snippets of their past), realistic and identifiable (at her core Milla Jovovich plays a woman who knows she deserves a better life), yet unpredictable (these characters have Issues!) I swear there are times where two characters are laying in bed and you don't know if they are going to have sex or shoot each other. As their stories collide, you can't help but fall in love with Milla's character as she learns what is broken in her life and takes the necessary steps to fix it.If there is one weakness, it is Angus McFadden, who over-acts his performance in trying to bring to life a character that is a bigot but still at times loving. The character was already inherently intriguing but McFadden chews up the scenery. Milla is amazing, Dorff gives a gem of a performance, and writer/director Lennon coaxes some great character fireworks out of otherwise quiet and simple scenes. Great stuff.