Redirected

Finally, a Lithuanian directed movie I am proud to present to the international community.

Not another down-tempo super metaphoric berlin-festival-wannabe 'theather play' but a true global-standard entertainment.

Nothing much original: several B grade stars, lots of Guy Ritchie style swear-run-shoot scenes and Kusturica style humor. However, finally, two hours well spent with no sense of obligation to "support local produce".

The movie begins in London but moves out to Lithuania shortly after. To a disgrace (and even shock) to some Lithuanians, Vilnius is portrayed as a dirty and corrupted city with criminal elements roaming the streets day and night. Well, its wasn't that bad even in the 90s but, well, Balcan'ish chaos is much more entertaining to watch as compared to Scandinavian'ish modern and calm reality. Countryside is also shown at its ('somewhere in Siberia') extreme and reminded me the Russian movies, such as Osobennosti natsionalnoy rybalki (1998).

Don't trust the IMDb rating unless its has >20k votes, as the first 10k will be voted by patriot Lithuanians. In any way, to sum up, its a good film to eat some popcorn and to laugh with (or at) the eastern europeans.

It's not terrible, but that's also not saying much. The score also isn't very indicative of this film's quality, but on such a prominent site as IMDb - it is no surprise. 5 stars for the effort of trying to be something it clearly isn't - a Guy Ritchie style gangster flick.

Is it funny ? Yeah, at times - it is, but most of the laughs are accompanied by a cringe. Is it original ? Hardly. You always get a feeling you have seen all this before - which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but in this case it feels like Re-Directed is awkwardly trying to mimic its bigger brothers from UK. The dramatic arguments in some of the scenes feel incredibly forced - clear over-acting steals the emphasis from what should be really important in the scene. That said, the pacing is okay, there's enough action for this kind of movie and it doesn't stall too much. Also, I found some scenes genuinely comical, but some were a bit too cliché-ridden.

What deserves some applause though, is that the director didn't attempt to paint a realistic picture of Lithuania, but took the satirical, "Looney Tunes" approach instead. It's one of the things I actually liked about this film - it's very light-hearted and doesn't take itself seriously, which scores it some very much needed points.

This is something you watch once, then remember how many times you had watched Snatch/Lock Stock, and then watch them again - because they are worth it.

I like Emilis Velyvis movies in general: the Guy Ritchie influenced tough characters interconnecting with one another, gritty street life, fast pacing, stylized action. They appeal to most Lithuanians, because they show a lot of nuances from everyday life of the country in a comic way (Zero being my favorite). I had big expectations from this movie and it was quite promising in the beginning, but as it went by it turned into a complete crowd pleaser, exchanging any subtlety for some cheap laughs.

The performances were pretty good on the English side, (Vinnie Jones never disappoints) but the Lithuanians were on a bit lower level overall. Some of Lithuania's best actors are cast in roles which don't use their great acting potential at all. The target audience can spot some funny cameos of characters from the earlier movies and Lithuanian show business, but I wouldn't call them interesting, to say the least.

The plot was quite simple and intriguing, but that also faded out into the banal. At some point you could start feeling that it won't get any better - the intrigue is getting drained with cliché situations and stereotypical comedy which isn't really clever. The dialog is, on occasion, well written, but it often seems unnatural and hollow.

The production quality, cinematography is one of the best I've seen from our country's movie-making, but again, there is nothing you haven't really seen before anywhere else. It's nice that this movie is helping Lithuania to get some attention in this field internationally and I hope it allows the creation of more quality films here. I feel like Emilis Velyvis finally got what he needed to make the movie he wanted and sadly in the end it came across as an another competition of who can curse better. Maybe it was the movie he wanted to make, but seeing his older work, I'd say he can do better.

First of all, the movie got me a lot of good laughs, especially in the beginning, where Brits get into all kinds of awkward situations and troubles in an Eastern-Europe country. I absolutely love the stereotypical depiction of locals, however they are too inhospitable and swear way too much -- people in Poland and Baltics usually are a lot more friendlier than the movie wants us to believe.

There are lots of really good jokes about the stereotypical eastern-European "love" of foreigners (means: you will most probably end up robbed, naked and find yourself in the middle of nowhere if you walk too far from city centre and trust locals too much), lots of funny moments flavoured with a good load of nonsense and stupidity.

I say, you should watch it. Well done, Lithuania.

Redirected has all the hallmarks of a Guy Ritchie film except it's not. This movie is directed by a Lithuanian who goes by the name of Emilis Velyvis and is the first time he has directed an English/Lithuanian cast, successfully I must add . Not only has he made a cracking film, he has thrown in a bit of gangster action, comedy and a bunch of Lithuanians fighting cockney geezers. This is probably the best film that Vinnie Jones has starred in (one that he actually has a speaking part) since Mean Machine (aye I liked it n whit?). Also starring Scot Williams, Gil Darnell and Oliver Jackson. If you are a fan of Lock Stock, Snatch and RocknRolla (we all know that Revolver was an abortion) then you'll be a fan of this movie.