This end-of-summer screen filler has, despite some blatancy, force of conviction and some sharp, whippet style.
Haven (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:61
Fresh:8
Rotten:53
Average Rating:3.9/10
Consensus: The plot's gratuitously nonlinear structure only ends up confusing viewers of this island thriller.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language, drug use, sexual content and some violence
Runtime: 1 hr 55 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Sep 15, 2006 Limited
Box Office: $104,610
Synopsis: Imagine you just got a fax that the Feds will be at your door in a matter of minutes. The government has remembered the taxes you forgot to pay and it's time to take an extended vacation. No... Imagine you just got a fax that the Feds will be at your door in a matter of minutes. The government has remembered the taxes you forgot to pay and it's time to take an extended vacation. No problem -- you can pack light and still get by with a little extra weight strapped around your midsection - 28 lbs. to be exact -- the weight of a cool million in hundred dollar bills. Such is the case with corrupt businessman Carl Ridley (Bill Paxton). He let his greed get the better of him, and now he's on the run, his daughter Pippa (Agnes Bruckner) reluctantly in tow. Just turned 18, Pippa is not happy to leave her friends and comfortable life in Miami, even if it's for the exotic Cayman Islands, but Dad's in kind of a rush, so there's no time for questions. When they get to the islands, Ridley is preoccupied. Banks are rapidly closing and he's got to find a clean place to store his dirty money. In fact, he doesn't even notice that the bungalow he rented is already occupied -- but his daughter sure does. She finds native Caymanian Fritz (Victor Rasuk) sleeping off a late night in her bed, and when she walks in on him, he flees out the window, leaving his wallet behind. Suddenly Pippa's not so sorry about landing in paradise. She tracks down Fritz and discovers that the local bad boy is a real charmer who's more than willing to show her the island, including its wild parties. But Fritz has a dark side, too. He owes money to island gang leader Ritchie Ritch (Raz Adoti), and when he spies Pippa's dad handling a lot of cash, Fritz suddenly knows how to get Ritchie off his back. Unaware that she's leading her father into even more trouble than he had in the United States, Pippa and her innocence are headed for a rude awakening. Also about to have their innocence destroyed are young lovers Shy and Andrea (Orlando Bloom and Zoë Saldana), who finally consummate their passion, only to be discovered by Andrea's brother, gang wannabe Hammer (Anthony Mackie). Acting on his father's wishes, Hammer is bent on ending the relationship . . . no matter what it takes. Written and directed by native Caymanian Frank E. Flowers, and filmed entirely in the 100-square mile West Indies paradise, Haven is an edgy, suspenseful, viscerally gripping ensemble film in which unconnected lives intersect and ignite a violent chain of events that turns tranquility into chaos. In an instant, greed collides with innocence and passion goes up against those who forbid it, and all at once an idyllic tropical refuge becomes anything but safe. -- © Yari Film Group [More]
Starring: Bill Paxton, Stephen Dillane, Orlando Bloom, Agnes Bruckner
Starring: Bill Paxton, Stephen Dillane, Orlando Bloom, Agnes Bruckner, Victor Rasuk, Razaaq Adoti, Anthony Mackie, Zoe Saldana, Joy Bryant, Bobby Cannavale, Robert Wisdom, Jake Weber, Rachel Miner
Director: Frank E. Flowers
Director: Frank E. Flowers
Screenwriter: Frank E. Flowers
Producer: Kelli Konop, Robert Brenner
Studio: Yari Film Group
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Reviews for Haven
What the film lacks in dramatic depth it makes up for in its visuals, which keep viewer attention even when the story drags.
The debut from writer-director Frank E. Flowers tosses all the classic noir elements into the shaker but comes up with a taste that's excitingly pungent.
Time will tell if Bloom can grow, but Haven suggests writer-director Flowers may become a perennial pleasure.
Flowers's directorial debut is sometimes a little hard to follow, but shows genuine concern and hope for his native land.
Although writer-director Frank E. Flowers, making his feature-film debut, falls into the common traps of MTV-Soderbergh progeny, busybody editing and camera action, he generates tension with relatively strong storytelling and compelling relationships.
What Haven is selling is cultural vividness. Each detail feels right.
An extraordinary directorial debut that just may knock your socks off, or at least your flip-flops. ... Though Flowers may be accused of sensationalizing his subject, there's no denying his stunning cinematic flourishes.
The nonlinear editing only maintains your interest so long before its frustrating collapse -- at approximately the third shift in the narrative.
Orlando Bloom is the name star in Haven and also serves as executive producer, which must mean he thought making the film was a good idea.
a lackluster and muddled portrayal of island social strife and petty melodramas.
Orlando Bloom swaps swashbuckling swords and Elvish arrows for crimes of island passion in this murky, confusing thriller.
Too bad Flowers couldn't have put the two stories he's telling together as well as he did the shooting schedule.
As much as I was bored to tears with the drama, I was fascinated by where Flowers was going with this train wreck.
The audience just has to work a little too hard to see through the bad editing to the Haven that lies beneath, no matter how interesting and promising that movie may be.
The movie ends up being mostly a haven for actors who want to stretch their tear ducts.
Haven has the makings of a decadent nighttime soap, but none of the components of a cohesive, satisfying film.
Writer/director Frank E. Flowers loses track of his own narrative puzzle that includes a story about a shady but rich Floridian (Bill Paxton) with an 18-year-old daughter (Agnes Bruckner %u2013 "Blue Car") escaping to Grand Cayman from the feds who want t
The goal seems to have been to create a multilayered thriller, but the senseless, verbose and convoluted saga never generates simple suspense, let alone tension.
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