Brick

Brick is an oddly depressing movie that most people will hate. The idea behind it is to transfer all of the fast-talking hardboiled sons-of bitches of late 20's noir characters and implant them within a group of tribal south-Californian high schoolers. I'm not sure if it works, and the result is a very grungy and unnerving, tense piece of work. Jason Gordon-Levitt of (500) Days of Summer and Inception is in the lead as a gleefully intelligent but stoic figure. His ex-girlfriend has turned up dead after he tried to protect her and he's mad as hell. He works his way through the different groups around town: the jocks, the potheads, the losers, the brains to figure out what happened and why. It's heavily in the tradition of noir, we know all will never be well with the girl dead, but perhaps justice can be uncurled. It's quite the good idea for a movie. However, I admit I felt like it was unbelievable at times, and that some of the actors didn't have the right edge for the material. Also, the sun is constantly in the camera and it grows annoying. This marks the novice within the director. However, I think that the writing and grunginess might have allowed for this imperfection to be okay. Brick is a very good movie, but I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't a great movie. It certainly had the potential, and I'm sure it will find people who trenchantly are sure of its greatness.
Brick: ★★★1/2