Red Mercury

Red Mercury, the 2005 British film recently released on DVD, is a dog, and a shaggy dog at that. Plus this mutt has fleas or at least I'm scratching my head as to what possible meaning MTI Video intended with this confusion of a story-line that rattles on and on.

Farrukh Dhondy, the scriptwriter, was apparently thinking "cute" in his tale of three mega-bomb toting terrorists who, when it looks like the jig's up, invade a Greek restaurant somewhere in London and hold the inhabitants hostage. The back stories on these rogues make two of the intruders look no more menacing than college students whose lab experiment has gone awry. Their parents are worried about what has gotten into them, and there are some jolly moments with the people in the restaurant.

The only actor I recognized is Stockard Channing, whom I had admired from way back to her student acting days at Harvard and on to films such as Six Degrees of Separation. Here, as the matriarch of a family eatery, she has acquired an accent more Greek salad than Parthenon which she apparently borrowed from Carl Reiner in his days on television's Show of Shows.

The cinematography is better than passable. This is one of those instances, however, where the content renders the filmmaking not worth the cost and effort. My thought is that Red Mercury would be a waste of your time. I think Miss Channing would agree and be happier if you don't view it.