Killer Joe DVD
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Juno Temple, Thomas Hayden Church, Gina Gershon
Director: William Friedkin
Rating: 4/5
2012 has been a great year for actor Matthew McConaughey as he taken his career up a notch and tackled some roles that perhaps were a little unexpected.
And no role is more different than Killer Joe as the actor showed off a whole new side of himself in what is a fantastic turn.
When small-time drug dealer Chris Smith finds himself seriously in debt to his supplier, he hatches a plan to have his estranged mother killed in order to claim the $50,000 life insurance due to be paid to his younger sister, Dottie.
To do the job, he hires Killer Joe Cooper, a creepy, corrupt and crazy Dallas cop who Chris is informed moonlights as a professional hit man.
Unable to pay Joe’s fee upfront, Chris agrees to provide a 'retainer' in the form of Dottie, with whom Joe has immediately become besotted.
However, following the murder of his mother, Chris’ plan begins to unravel in a series of unexpected twists involving the interference of his father’s new wife, Sharla, and the development of an unlikely bond between Joe and Dottie.
Matthew McConaughey is just fantastic as a sadistic cop who moonlights as a hitman and he has a real presence in every scene he is in.
You are never quite sure if he is going to talk to the other characters in the scene or simply kill them as there is a real edge to this character and the performance the actor delivers.
This is something that we have never seen from McConaughey before and it is great to see him tackle a more dangerous and gritty role than we are use to seeing him in.
Joe is a character who is completely intriguing as well as creepy as hell and McConaughey plays him just right.
I confess there are some quite bizarre moments in the film - the scene with the fried chicken will have you thinking 'what the hell' and yet this is a movie that really draws you in.
Killer Joe is sick and twisted, dark and violent and yet all of the cast are superb and it will hook you from start to finish.
Of the supporting cast Juno Temple is superb as Dottie - who is used as a pawn by all of the other characters.
And yet she is a character that is underestimated in what is an explosive finale which sees Temple really turn up the heat.
Killer Joe sees director William Friedkin back on form in a movie that brilliantly cool, violent as well as a little odd.
Killer Joe is out on DVD & Blu-Ray now
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FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
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