Two Hands (1999)

"Two Hands" is like a woman in a little black dress. Without the glitter and glam of Hollywood accessories to distract you, all you see is the fire in her eyes. Utterly simple in its telling, I was moved by the characters' evolution. And, though the colors were rich and vibrant, the shades of grey were the most touching and enlightening. Real people, true actions and reactions, and my kind of humor made this a movie to be savored. I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a movie with substance and not the typical fluff of mainstream.

Fmovies: "Two Hands" is an entertaining, funny story about Australian lowlifes. The screenplay contrasts the world of fast money and deadly acts with the inexplicability of fate and circumstance. In a subtle way we are asked to ponder the concept that major events in our lives are sometimes generated without our being fully aware of the root causes. The forces of fate and circumstance take Jimmy, the main character, into situations that bring about the realization of his shallow dreams and, ultimately, an understanding of a more personally promising world.

The clueless Jimmy, portrayed with acumen by Heath Ledger, is a kid who grew up without opportunity. The high paying world of crime offers the greatest appeal to his blunted senses. The love and help of friends guides him to a higher plateau.

The film is well-directed and well-acted. The band of criminals teeter between likable and despicable, keeping us interested in their crazy antics all through the film.

Wannabe Jimmy gets given a simple delivery job to do for local mobster Pando. When he inevitable messes it up and loses $10K he goes on the run and loins a bank job to try and get the money back. Under the watchful eye of his brother, who has dug himself up from hell to see if Jimmy can learn from his mistake, Jimmy stumbles through a series of misadventures to get to safety.

This is very enjoyable - one of the many modern black comedies that use small time criminals as the starting points of violently funny stories. Here the film follows the hapless Jimmy as he gets himself into and out of hot water of the criminal type. The story is daft - lets be honest! It starts well but gets pretty stretched after we see the scene from the start of the film again, and the tidy conclusion is just very unlikely. However it's all done with such style and wit that you don't really mind. The characters link together tidily and the story is very enjoyable.

The director kicks Australian cinema in the ass by delivering a very stylish package, from the intense scenes of sudden violence, the really visually clever credit sequence right down to the great soundtrack and camera work, this is a stylish feast. The only problem with this is that it highlights the weaknesses of the story.

Heath Ledger is really good and deservedly is a rising star in Hollywood. Bryan Brown is really great and his mob is very funny - barely competent at best, but dealing out violence without a second though. However the real star is the director. Vidler as Jimmy's brother is OK, but his philosophising gets a little tired after a while (but his failed redemption makes sense). Overall it has plenty of weaknesses, but it also has much to enjoy - very stylish, very funny in a dark way and very enjoyable for those that like the current band of `Lock, StockÂ…..' films.

Two Hands fmovies. Jordan takes us into the seedy crime side of Sydney, Australia, following the desperate attempt of nineteen year old Jimmy, (Heath Ledger), who bundles a job for a local gangster and needs to make amend before they get to him. The gangsters, (led by Bryan Brown), are a menacing bunch with a humorous streak in them. That's what makes the film work, because we always view gangsters as a rough bunch out to screw you badly. But this mob tickle your funny bone as well. A clever structured script by Jordan has characters crossing paths and getting caught in the web plot.

The inspiration for this film was the fact that American Gangsters are well dresses, but the Aussies, well when you might kill a guy as soon as look at the blighter, then you can dress as badly as you want and people won't criticize you.

Jimmy is fighter, an illegal boxer, sometimes bouncer and is offered work by Pando, the local gangster boss in the cross (That is, Australia's notorious Kings Cross District, not the Cross of London fame as many a British backpacker finds out the hard way).

Due to feelings of love he stuffs up a job, loses a lot of money and has to get it to Pando before Pando and his heavies can kill him.

Lots of dark humour, interesting action, revelations about the Australia's underside and human nature. It is very centred in the Australian nature and explores the nature of Australian criminals (versus the American and British ones).

One problem is that each of the elements of the story don't have enough substance and depth, but it is a painting with broad strokes that covers a lot of area not covered previously, so as an overall package it is worthwhile.

Team it up with "Chopper" and "Dirty Deeds" for your Aussie Crime fest or "Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Miller's Crossing" for an International falling short of the criminal gangs fest.

By the way, Bryan Brown is a great actor who has just done a huge number of really bad movies. Here is one of his great movies.

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5 Years ago if you were to watch an Australian film you would expect to see crocodile hunters, stories of war, drag queens, kangaroos and koalas, and Australians in general being represented as nitwits living off the land, saying words like ‘cobber' and generally being the classic underdog.

Luckily Australian film has evolved over the last couple years and is churning out modern day ‘classics' such as Blackrock, Moulin Rouge, Chopper, Yolngu Boy and Sample People.

In this evolution of film we also find Two Hands.

Set in Sydney's Kings Cross, Two Hands is a black comedy about crime and survival in the rough end of town. Pando, played by Bryan Brown, is a Sydney Mob boss. He's the king of organised crime wearing thongs, carrying a stubby and helping his son with his origami. He's vicious, but real. As are his ‘mob', holding gun's to someone's head in one scene and then playing boardgames in the next. They are well respected and if they ask you for a favour, you don't say no.

Enter Jimmy, played by Heath Ledger. Jimmy is your average Aussie guy in his early twenties. He's a good guy who wants to make a name for himself without getting on anyone's bad side, so when Pando asks Jimmy to deliver $10,000, Jimmy accepts.

Things start to get exciting when 2 teenagers manage to steal the money while Jimmy is at the beach. So now Jimmy is $10,000 in dept to a major mob boss. From here we start to see all the interconnecting stories with Jimmy and his attempt at a bank robbery to recover the money, Jimmy and Alex (the love interest, played by Rose Byrne), Pando trying to find Jimmy and, of course, the two teenagers and their new found prosperity. The concept is deepened by the narrator, Jimmy's dead brother, Michael, who was killed by Pando and his gang years earlier.

In the end all the storylines connected really well with a surprise twist to shock and stun the audience. I thoroughly enjoyed it.