15 Minutes (2001)
Directed by John Herzfeld
When Eastern European criminals Oleg and Emil come to New York City to pick up their share of a heist score, Oleg steals a video camera and starts filming their activities, both legal and illegal. When they learn how the American media circus can make a remorseless killer look like the victim and make them rich, they target media-savvy NYPD Homicide Detective Eddie Flemming and media-naive FDNY Fire Marshal Jordy Warsaw, the cops investigating their murder and torching of their former criminal partner, filming everything to sell to the local tabloid TV show "Top Story."
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What critics compared 15 Minutes to
A clumsy "Network"-style opening, featuring Kelsey Grammer as a sensationalistic telejournalist, is thankfully short-lived as the film shifts focus and morphs into a surprisingly gritty crime drama with Robert De Niro and Edward Burns as, respectively, a famous homicide detective and a low-profile fire marshal who join forces to solve a combination arson/homicide.
The script, by the helmer, takes a fresh approach to the subject of media hype that has been plumbed many times in the past, most notably in Sidney Lumet's "Network."
The film's concept has promise -- imagine Network reborn as an episode of NYPD Blue.
Seven years ago, Natural Born Killers struck a nerve with its attack on violence and the media, and while not as successful as Oliver Stone�s masterpiece, 15 Minutes effectively hits many of the same notes.
As disreputable as Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers" is as an artistic document, the infamous 1994 satire on the linkage between the cult of celebrity and the culture of violence in contemporary America can at least be admired for the director's able deployment of his patented bag of film-school tricks to give the picture the hysterically jazzed-up surface so characteristic of his work.
As if Oliver Stone hadn't already driven this material into the ground with Natural Born Killers.
Somewhere between a buddy-cop potboiler and a blunted, commercialized "Natural Born Killers" lies "15 Minutes," a slick, violent thriller with an acerbic statement to make about media sensationalism.
Unlike Natural Born Killers, which constantly shifted from film to 8mm to various others, 15 Minutes just alternates between film and a Sony digicam.
The bad news is, judging from the numerous devices stolen from "Natural Born Killers," it now appears he wants to be the next Oliver Stone.
“15 minutes” is probably that long but is an unmoderated look at the images and research that inspired the look and content of There Will Be Blood.
When they crest a hill, a startling sight meets their eyes - amidst ancient ruins, Grigori Rasputin (Karel Roden, "15 Minutes") is opening a portal to unleash the seven gods of chaos to begin Armageddon.