88 Minutes

Hoo-whaa! Al Pacino is in another movie. And what makes Al Pacino so great is the way he talks. If he talked like anyone else, he wouldn't be interesting.

88 Minutes stars Al Pacino who plays FBI forensics expert and law teacher Dr. Jack Gramm who was an expert witness for a trial of the Seattle Slayer, which led to the conviction and recommendation of execution of Jon Forster (Neal McDonough).

Forster's brutal murders were unique in that he used some chemical to sedate his victims, then hung them upside-down, and committed some unseen act, which led to some blood being shed which caused them to die. The unseen act is part of the mystery of his method.

However, trouble brews when another victim dies in an identical manner just hours before Forster's scheduled execution. And to make matters worse, Dr. Gramm gets a phone call informing him that he has 88 minutes to live.

Throughout the movie he is reminded of the number of minutes he has to live while he tries vigorously to track down this mystery person. Meanwhile, he starts to suspect that all of the students in his law class are the culprit.

This thriller certainly kept my attention as I was unable to pin the perpetrator of the crimes. However, clues were too conveniently distributed near the end at just the right moment, not giving the viewer the ability to use the clues and figure out for themselves what was going on.

Of course it's not until the end when it all comes together, a culmination of events that I believe most people would not have suspected, but again, one of convenience for the director. It was like a Scooby-Doo mystery where very few clues are given and Fred and Velma explain what happens in the end.

This movie is Rated R for violence, language, disturbing scenes, and an unrealistic reference to someone being a fan of the Seattle Mariners. The movie is an hour and 40 minutes long. The movie also stars Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, Amy Brenneman, and William Forsythe, names I know little if anything about.

I certainly didn't hate the movie, but I wish I was given more opportunity to figure it out. Al Pacino certainly makes a movie interesting and I found myself imitating his quirky statements in additional to randomly yelling out, "Hoo-wha", which for those of you in your 20's is a reference to Scent of Woman.

I give this movie 3 stars. It was okay. Not great, but not bad either. And how do you like the French poster? Couldn't find an English one, not that I looked that much.