13

Géla Babluani's "13" plays like a more voluntary version of the events in Michael Cimino's "The Deer Hunter." In the Vietnam sequences of the 1978 classic, prisoners of war are forced by their captors to play Russian roulette, a fateful game in which men point the barrel of a gun at their temple and pull the trigger in the hope that the chamber is empty. In "13," they're pointing it at someone else's head. While Cimino's masterpiece detailed the troubling effects that war can have on tortured soldiers, Babluani's disposable picture is about how men's lives can be used for sport -- with a punch that needs more force to it.

"13," contrary to popular belief, is not the 6th sequel to "Se7en," nor the 287th prequel to "300," but is a redo of "13 Tzameti" -- which is also written and directed by the remake's Georgian-born filmmaker. I have not seen the French-language original (which won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival), but I'll bet my tooth-marked fingernails that it's miles ahead of this mediocre attempt.

The film opens with a gun pointed directly in the face of Vince Ferro (Sam Riley, "Control") as the young chap aims one right back at his unseen opponent. In the darkness that suddenly encapsulates the screen, we hear a single gunshot. Either it's from one of the pistols the two fellows are holding, or it's the sound of the film breaking before it falls to pieces.

Three days earlier, Vince is an electrician working on the house of William Harrison (Michael Berry, Jr., "Where the Wild Things Are"). While going about his duties one day, Vince overhears a conversation William has with his partner, in which he talks about doing something that will earn him a hefty sum of money. Unfortunately, William then dies of a drug overdose in his home, and Vince, desperate for cash, takes a mysterious letter the recently deceased druggie was in possession of.

Reading its contents, he makes the rather moronic decision of following its instructions, planning to assume the identity of William Harrison and doing whatever it is he has to do to get a little richer. This lands him unwittingly taking the place of the late Mr. Harrison as #13 in a demented game of "Shoot the Poor Bastard in Front of You." Not the official title.

The rules of the game are relatively simple: a group of men, each given their own individual number, stand in a circle and are handed a pistol with one bullet in the cylinder. They aim the gun at the man positioned in front of them, wait for the light bulb in the middle of the ceiling to light up, and pull the trigger. Those who survive go on to the next round with more bullets placed inside their guns. The winner is the last one standing. Spectators bet high amounts on who will live and who will die. Sounds fun, right?

In the remake of his own 2005 flick, Babluani shows himself to be an artist with a camera, but an amateur with a script. Judging by what I have heard of his praised work on the original "13 Tzameti," lightning most certainly has failed to strike twice. The problem with "13" is that it simply is unable to captivate from the get-go and is unsuccessful at doing so even later on, despite the dangerous situations the characters force themselves into.

I will say that "13" is, without a doubt, a good-looking flick, Babluani's cold visual direction one of the good points of an unexceptional and underwhelming feature. Still, the film is mostly without an enthralling aura for the audience to latch onto, leaving us just watching, very mildly entertained, but overall unsatisfied. I wouldn't go so far as to call the film soulless, just uninspiring and lukewarm.

In the rather bland opening 15-20 minutes, the soundtrack suggests that something fishy is going on, something intriguing, but none of this sense of excitement comes across on-screen, leaving these introductory moments a flat and stale experience. The film struggles to recover from this, though moments of arousal do pop up every now and then.

The repetitive nature of the game itself, as well as the orders the always-furious Michael Shannon barks at the "players," puts a gun to the film's forehead, too. While momentarily tense (which, given the format of the game, is unavoidable), it develops into a portrayal of tedium, with shouts of orders becoming obnoxious to listen to again and again. It's a drawing concept to begin with, but falters with repetition.

The film tries to deal with raw emotion and, in some aspects, it occasionally achieves this -- to a certain degree, however. Vince's experiences are at first traumatising, being forced at gunpoint to kill a man when hesitating to pull the trigger in the game's first round. He is pushed to murder in the name of competition and money, his personality morphed over the course of the game. While initially sickened at the prospect of what he has to do, he does become more used to it as the day goes by, made into what some would consider a stronger and tougher soul.

His most notable competitor is #6, Ronald Lynn Bagges (Ray Winstone, "The Departed"), a burly, sweaty slob whose temper is rather unpredictable, his mental state a questionable one. He's just been signed out of a hospital by his brother Jasper (Jason Statham, "Crank"), his manager of sorts in the lethal tournament. The ravishingly handsome Statham is eloquently attired, covering his stubble-scalp with a bowler hat, and his hands with a pair of black leather gloves. Winstone ain't the only "Sexy Beast" of these two English siblings.

Also of note is Mickey Rourke ("The Wrestler") as Patrick Jefferson, who is player #17 in the deadly contest. Rarely seen without a stetson placed upon his head, he's a tattooed, muscular convict who has travelled to the house of death in a box from his prison cell, sent by his captors. Seemingly courageous about the whole ordeal, he offers his look-out, Jimmy (rapper 50 Cent), fifty times his earnings to get him out of there.

"13" is a film in which the title is apt. Scrambling to be an immersing narrative, it rarely rears its head above run-of-the-mill inadequacy. Its salvation lies with the strong cast and the easy-on-the-eye visuals, as well as the ways of the central game itself, but they aren't enough for me to class the film as above second-rate. Unlucky.

5/10