Blonde. Purple – Great Idea That Gets Lost in Flashbacks
Director: Marcus Flemmings
Writer: Marcus Flemmings (Screenplay)
Starring: Julian Moore-Cook, Elle Bindman, Adam J Bernard, Jennifer Lee Moon
Plot: An out-of-his depth inexperienced criminal is stuck in a bank, after a heist went wrong. How will he get out?
Runtime: 2 Hours 9 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Blonde. Purple starts as we meet Wyatt (Moore-Cook) in the aftermath of the heist gone wrong, his friend has been injured, he only has one hostage left, a 16-year-old Maddison (Bindman), as he tries to figure out what to do next, as he is surrounded by police.
As Wyatt looks to figure out a way out of the situation, we flashback to the planning of the heist with Nath (Bernard) who bought him into the gang, as we learn more about why he is hired to be part of the crew.
Thoughts on Blonde. Purple
Characters & Performances – Wyatt is the inexperienced criminal who has seen his partners in the heist captured, leaving him with one hostage and needing to think on his feet. He isn’t prepared for this situation and looking back to how he ended up here, we learn about what drove him into this job in the first place. Maddison is the teenage hostage that was looking to get the money she has earnt, spending time getting to know her captive, having her own problems in life. Julian Moore-Cook and Ellie Bindman are both great in their time with the interaction, which is easily the most interest part of the film. When we meet other characters we find ourselves seeing the people that led both to the situation they find themselves in, who held them up in life or guided them in the wrong directions.
Story – The story here follows an inexperienced criminal finding himself with only one hostage after a heist goes wrong, needing to figure out what he needs to do next, as he looks back at his life, leading to this moment and getting to know his hostage. When we look at just the lone side of the story with the interactions going on, rather than diving deeper into the heist, we will get an interesting and enjoyable side of the film, a different concept, which felt refreshing. When we dive into certain back stories, we do seem to get a lot of filler, with certain moments, barely even involving the pair in the bank being involved, which can take us away from the bigger picture, which the extended runtime doesn’t fell like it is needed, we could easily have trimmed this down.
Themes – Blonde. Purple is a thriller that will offer the interesting discussion during a hostage situation, which is kept contained, which would easily be a great discussion based film. As soon as we move away from this side of things, we find ourselves losing the discussions going on about what is happening within this world.
Final Thoughts – Blonde. Purple is a film that offers a fresh approach to a heist movie, only to lose the creative decision moving away from the contained environment.