X - The Movie (2011)
Strong violence, sex scenes, nudity, coarse language and drug use
| Director: | Jon Hewitt |
| Actors: | Viva Bianca, Hanna Mangan Lawrence, Peter Docker, Stephen Phillips, Belinda McClory |
High class escort Holly is retiring, kissing her call girl life goodbye. She just has one last night on the job to get through. Meanwhile, teenage runaway Shay arrives in the city broke and alone, doing whatever it takes to get through her first night on the streets of Kings Cross. Holly and Shay are thrown together on a job that goes horribly wrong. They find themselves on an out-of-control roller coaster ride racing through a labyrinth of neon lights, seedy strip joints and grimy back alleys deep in the heart of the red light district. If they can get through this unrelenting night, they might just have a chance at a fresh start.
| Status: | QuickPick |
|---|---|
| Run time: | 90mins |
| Origin: | AUSTRALIA |
| Aspect Ratio: | 16:9 |
by Simon Miraudo, 4/08/2011 2:08:00 PM
Jon Hewitt’s thriller X stars Viva Bianca as Holly, a high-end call girl who’s about to call it quits and head to Paris. On her last, fateful night of work, she recruits a 17-year-old streetwalker by the name of Shay (Hannah Mangan-Lawrence) to join her for a threesome with a client. It’s easy money and Shay could use it. But, when they accidentally witness their drug-dealing john getting shot in the head by a corrupt cop, they have no choice but to go on the run and head even deeper into the seedy Sydney sex trade. Let me say this first – I’ve probably seen as many films about the Sydney sex trade that I’ll ever need to. I get it; it’s not a nice industry to work in. With that out of the way, there are a lot of things to like about X. It never pities its two lead females; although th...
Jon Hewitt’s thriller X stars Viva Bianca as Holly, a high-end call girl who’s about to call it quits and head to Paris. On her last, fateful night of work, she recruits a 17-year-old streetwalker by the name of Shay (Hannah Mangan-Lawrence) to join her for a threesome with a client. It’s easy money and Shay could use it. But, when they accidentally witness their drug-dealing john getting shot in the head by a corrupt cop, they have no choice but to go on the run and head even deeper into the seedy Sydney sex trade.
Let me say this first – I’ve probably seen as many films about the Sydney sex trade that I’ll ever need to. I get it; it’s not a nice industry to work in. With that out of the way, there are a lot of things to like about X. It never pities its two lead females; although they’re consistently hunted down by women-hating-men, there is nary a situation when they aren’t completely in control. Without ever succumbing to the depths of typical rape-revenge movies, X features a number of crowd-pleasing moments in which the film’s villains get their just desserts at the hands of Holly and Shay (who are both portrayed by Bianca and Mangan-Lawrence rather impressively). Hewitt’s direction is also slick and frenetic; maybe perhaps a little gimmicky, but it certainly doesn’t feel like an episode of Underbelly, which often look like Final Cut Pro vomited out its entire effects catalogue over every scene. There are a few clunky moments and some cheesy, chuckle-inducing pieces of dialogue, but X is a mostly-satisfying genre thriller.
3/5
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Member Reviews (15)
15 Member
Reviews
B GRADE
says
Jen
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The two female leads did pretty well but those blokes were painfully bad actors. Curiousity value only, better to stick some of the other Aussie films available. Probably wouldn't watch this again.
Cindy
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Came at this with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. The script and the tone gets a little messy in parts, but the performances are generally good and there are some strong moments. Worth a watch.
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Perhaps an appropriate view of "The Cross" although Coppers get a shellac - you would nearly think they were part of the Catholic Church? Move very well done Aussie
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Great moive
John
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I'd agree that overall this is a positive surprise movie. The 2 girls were really good. I think the directing yeah, was a bit odd... the first scene was weirdly porn-ish and kind of out of place... Im still not sure what he was trying to do there (not the actor, the director). The story and script were only ok, but overall still good.
alistair c
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Disappointing. The two female leads deserved better than the two main wooden blokes and dodgy storyline they were saddled with. There were some good scenes and nice, gritty touches, but the good parts were overwhelmed by stupid, gratuitous violence and some totally dumb, lame, amateurish scenes. Shame, as this could've been a much better movie. Oh, and it wasn't improved by the director's fetish for "arty" fuzzy light shots - very irritating!
Darren
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Was hard to follow at points, The story was there but wasl slow to see.
At times was very predictable b ut not a bad time killer. Young main Actress played well.
Sybil
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WEIRD & WEIRDER
Lee
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It was a good watch, I loved the ending, very clever
Johno
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What a great Aussie made movie well acted by Viva Bianca and Hanna Mangan Lawrence, this really was a surprise gritty and full on action and all those seedy little place's around Kings Cross, I rate this very highly.
says
Really well made, with neat characters and a compelling soundscape.
Stephen
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Very slow!
Jan
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Loved the photography & acting. There was a lot of violence though.
Ughnaught
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As I started to watch this I thought it was just going to be a soft-pornesque style movie (not that there is anything wrong with that), but after a slow start the movie gets quite good. The two female leads suit their characters and the action is enough to keep one's attention. As a bonus you get some nice views of Sydney :)