Welcome back for another edition of A Second Look with Jeff Stockton! In this segment I will take a "second look" at a past LRF release with a fresh set of eyes.
With LRF returning to Liberty City for the recently released Grand Theft Auto IV, it seems like a good time to revisit the studio's first attempt at bringing Rockstar's enormously popular video game franchise to the big screen, all the way back in Season 6. Based closely on Grand Theft Auto III, the film follows Claude (Oscar Isaac), a small-time criminal betrayed and left for dead by his girlfriend Catalina (Eva Mendes), who escapes police custody and begins working his way through Liberty City's criminal underworld in pursuit of revenge. Along the way, he becomes entangled with rival mob families, the Yakuza, corrupt law enforcement, and a collection of other unsavory characters. At the time, I was fairly impressed by how directors Josh and Benny Safdie and writer Harry Wright managed to translate a video game largely associated with stealing cars and mowing down pedestrians into a reasonably compelling crime thriller. I was particularly fond of the ensemble cast, which was overflowing with talented performers, even if many of their characters were somewhat underwritten. I considered it a surprisingly successful adaptation of material that didn't necessarily lend itself to traditional cinematic storytelling.
Revisiting it now, however, I find myself considerably less impressed with the actual storytelling. The cast remains a major asset, with Isaac, Robert Duvall, Jon Bernthal, and company giving the film more credibility than its screenplay probably deserves, but there's remarkably little depth to any of these characters. The biggest problem is that Grand Theft Auto follows the structure of its source material far too literally, bouncing from one criminal assignment to another without developing much of a cohesive narrative. What works perfectly well as a series of missions in a video game becomes a rather repetitive and episodic experience on the big screen. Perhaps even more disappointing is the absence of the biting satire and irreverent humor that have always been such an important part of the franchise's identity. The Safdies bring some welcome intensity to the proceedings, but the film takes itself far too seriously without giving us enough substance to justify that approach. In hindsight, I wish Wright had taken considerably more liberties with the source material instead of treating the game's storyline like a blueprint that needed to be followed. There's a perfectly decent crime movie here, but very little that makes it feel distinctly Grand Theft Auto.
Original Grade: B
New Grade: C+
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