Live Once, Die Twice

Live Once, Die Twice

Live Once, Die Twice

Moviecut—Live Once, Die Twice

Evan Lauker was part of a multi-million-dollar scam in which platinum bars were secretly made and stolen from their place of manufacture. Evan and a couple of confederates now plan to sell them on the black market. Evan has also been busy on the romantic front. He has two wives, Nicole and Zoe. When he is about to complete his big deal, he fakes his death twice. The two women bond over their "deceased" husband whom they know is a con man. The majority of the film is their search for him in Montreal with assistance from a bounty hunter. While "Live Once, Die Twice" had good potential for a noirish thriller, the film faltered in the home stretch. After finally locating Evan, Nicole makes the inexplicable choice of forgiving him and believing his lie that he was working under cover for the state department. She makes this decision even after a group of thugs threatened to kill her sister and mother, all because of Evan. Nicole's blunder inadvertently leads to the death of the kind bounty hunter, Earl "Mac" MacDuff, who was so devoted to the women. More collateral damage comes when Zoe is shot and seriously wounded by Evan. While the narrative scripting was sloppy, the most intriguing relationship was that of Nicole and Zoe. The latter worked in a strip club where she first met Evan, who went by the name of Luke Ravena. Zoe uses the expression "sisters of the pole" to refer to the camaraderie of women in a strip club. Nicole thereby becomes an honorary sister, as the two women courageously seek to thwart the thing they share in common: the platinum boy who took both of them for a ride.

Lifetime films also seem to have that constant common denominator among them. A lot of women often don't realize what they're headed for when they wed. Such is the case with this offbeat thriller. A fishing trip with a fellow guy turns supposedly tragic when an explosion occurs and it appears that both have been killed. Imagine when the FBI shows up and informs our widow-Kellie Martin-that her cute husband wasn't what she thought he was. The latter was in the smuggling business. Further revelations reveal a go-go dancer as his second wife and the two women team up to find out what's really going on. They're threatened by the guy who has been ripped off by "their" husband. In this film, you anticipate some more irony, especially that the team helping the girls are dishonest themselves but this never occurs. The ending is what is deserved but needed to be more substantive.

At the start of the movie, scenes are shown from what we are later told is a platinum refinery. In the next scene, Evan and his wife Nicole are naked and he is kissing her all over. She is going to miss him when he takes a fishing trip, but he is determined not to let her go. Evan has been traveling a lot in the past couple of years, and it really bothers Nicole. The Long Island couple can afford the finer things in life, such as a fishing boat with Nicole's name on it. But she would like him to be home more. Selling commercial real estate does seem to require sacrifices. At the last minute, Dugan calls Evan to say he has been in an accident and can't go on the trip, so it will just be Evan and George. In the middle of the night, a cop visits Nicole. This has to be bad news. It turns out the fishing boat blew up and there are two bodies. It will take DNA testing to determine whether Evan is one of the two. The FBI gets involved because the boat explosion suggests drug dealing. Dugan asks Nicole to meet him at a strip club, because he has news about what may have happened. Nicole wants answers, so she goes in search of them on her own. She has to do this with the help of her best friend Lucy (whose role is brief), because some bad men want their 5 million dollars and they think Nicole knows where it is. The search involves a * named Zoe and a bounty hunter and former cop named Earl MacDuff, known as Mac, who drives a huge RV despite current gas prices. There is quite a lot of excitement and even some humor in the second half, and some amazing plot twists. The big reason to watch this movie is Bruce Gray as MacDuff. He is quite a character, and very funny considering this isn't a comedy. Cindy Sampson as Zoe is enjoyable too. Martin Cummins also turns out to be a capable actor. And the actors playing the FBI agents are pretty good. I couldn't believe Nicole was the quirky sister of the teen with Down's Syndrome. I didn't see the very beginning, so I didn't know that was Kellie Martin until later. She sure has grown up. She's quite pretty here, and while she was better in "Life Goes On", she has her good moments here. I'm not sure fans of family-friendly TV would approve of some of her behavior here, even if she was married. Montreal is a beautiful city. As proof, right after one of the characters makes this statement, a gorgeous blonde walks in front of the camera. This brings to mind an important reason for straight guys to watch this movie. All the women with lines (except for the female FBI agent who looks like, but is not, Halle Berry) wear low-cut tops or nightgowns most of the time, and all of them try to show as much skin as possible. Occasionally, they do wear long pants. Nicole is shown getting undressed for a shower, and then getting out of the shower. Now, whether this is a sign of low quality, I'm not sure. But the pretty girls do make the movie more enjoyable. The violence here is not excessive. But there is enough shooting to be concerned about. No explosions, at least not in the version I saw, but I've never heard of editing out an entire explosion. Several car chases add to the excitement. I thought it was pretty good.

Fabulous movie with some really good unexpected twists that can jerk on your emotions. It was definitely worth the watch.