Phantom Halo (2014)

Summary :
Brothers Samuel and Beckett Emerson are barely scraping by. Their father, Warren, continues to gamble and drink away any money they bring home. With all the havoc that is constantly going on in their lives, the family members each find solace in his own way, through Shakespeare, comic books and impossible love affairs. Beckett seizes the opportunity to make some easy money by counterfeiting in hopes of repaying his father's debts. When Beckett's plan goes awry, the family must decide to change their ways or pay the ultimate price

Genre : Crime/Drama
Country : USA

Cast :
Thomas Brodie-Sangster : Samuel Emerson
Rebecca Romijn : Ms. Rose
Luke Kleintank : Beckett Emerson

Director : Antonia Bogdanovich

My opinion

"At your age, I was better !"

Occasionally you come across a movie you've never heard about, with a well known actor starring in it. Like "Phantom Halo" for instance with Thomas "The Maze Runner" Brodie-Sangster. In hindsight it seemed as if they wanted to cram different stories in one film. One of those stories was portrayed in a successful way. The storyline which covered the criminal element, lamentably ended in a fiasco. The use of centuries old literature written by Shakespeare, won't turn it into a classical drama. Even though this was the most successful part.

Samuel (Brodie-Sangster) and Beckett (Luke Kleintank) are two brothers whose daily task consists of hiding the little bit of money they own for their father Warren (Sebastian Roché). The latter is a gambling alcoholic who apparently quoted Shakespeare somewhere on a stage in the past. And that's what Samuel has to do at street corners. He holds a Shakespearean monologue, while his brother deprives the bystanders of their wallets and other valuables. When it turns out that Warren owes a rather large amount of money to a loan shark, Beckett tries to solve this problem with help of his old friend Little Larry (Jordan Dunn).

And as this second fact evolves, the level of this film goes downwards and culminates in a horrible, clumsy denouement. The moment Ms. Rose (Rebecca Romijn), the breathtaking handsome mother of Little Larry, opposes Donny, I expected the worst already. This fragment felt so amateurish and implausible. And indeed, the follow-up was nothing to write home about.

To think that the run up to this ending was so much better. The portrayed family drama was fascinating to watch. Especially the brilliant interaction between father and sons. The way Samuel and Beckett try to make ends meet and how they are instructed by their father to scrape together the much needed cash, which Warren spends at the gambling table afterwards. But unfortunately this is ruined by irritating futilities and stupidities. At some point you even forget where the title of the movie is related to and the cartoon character "Phantom Halo" seems to be nothing more than a fait diverse. Out of nowhere a fingertip-chopping Chinese girl appears (after which I was wondering what the punishment would be when stealing her fathers car). And although Little Larry was repeatedly warned by Donny not to deceive him, after a while he's unabashedly driving around together with Beckett with a glitzy Bentley. That was a bit shortsighted, not to say plain stupid. The brief affair with Ms. Rose was totally irrelevant. And apparently they tried to finish it in a Tarantino way. But this attempt looks amateurish and rather fake.

Briefly and concisely: this movie is an accumulation of unfinished ideas.