"Lust. Greed. Betrayal." Don't believe the video box: this tepid South-of-the-Border tale would likely never have been made if it weren't for the backing of star Minnie Driver and her sister Kate's production company, Two Drivers. Minnie, Josh Brolin, Stuart Wilson and James Spader (the latter sporting an [1] unnecessary, [2] inconsistent and [3] drama-defeating accent) topline this Mexican desert-locked tale about a woman obsessed with recovering her ancestors' lost treasure of diamonds, and the cat-and-mouse game she ends up playing with the two escaped convicts who stumble upon the goods first. Slow Burn does get off to an intriguing start, and there is a nice little kicker in the end, but the sprawling middle is as dry as the film's locale. The four admittedly talented leads give capable performances, but scripter/director Christian Ford and co-writer Roger Soffer give them little to play with. Not recommended. (S. C. Sickles)
Slow Burn
Artisan, 97 min., R, VHS: $82.99, DVD: $24.98 Vol. 15, Issue 6
Slow Burn
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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