Go

Doug Liman USA | 1999 | 103 mins

Go is a fast-paced action-packed rockin' rollin' movie. The influence on its structure is clearly Tarantino's seminal flick Pulp Fiction. Don't worry... you're not about to spend an hour and forty-three mminutes in dazed confusion, trying to work out what happened when. Go follows suit, not with the screwed-up chronology, but by intertwining three stories of drugs and guns that revolve around the LA underworld lowlife. The similarities in style end here though. Go is about spontaneous youngsters and not preacher-professionals (Harvey Keitel and Samuel L Jackson take note).

Doug Liman directs a cast of relative unknowns, all who grow on you as the film progresses. This host of mischievous characters are split into separate groups which happen to clash at different junctions, which is what makes things interesting (otherwise the whole thing would be a straightforward collection of shorts). Each section of the story begins at a certain point in time, after which each group of friends sets off to enjoy their night in their own chosen way. In each case, loads of fun is had before something mental happens, and things start getting complicated. In effect, the film is a guided tour of how not to spend your evening. But it's highly amusing. Some of the situations have the audience in hysterics, particularly a scene where Simon (Desmond Askew), finds himself in a Vegas hotel bed with two women. Things get a little hotter than he anticipated...

The comic punch is nicely balanced a bit of suspense. Having grown comfortable with the first story, you are thrown violently into the second, and although you're thrilled with the new one, you're still desperate to know what the hell happened to the first group of people. The film is drawn out long enough to keep you entertained at every corner, and also finishes at the right moment just as everything has finally dawned on you. The adrenaline burst may shock you, but I guarantee you won't stop smiling for more than two minutes of Go's running time.

Review by Rob Hayward
Taken from EUFS programme spring 2000