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Good story, Not enough for a whole film

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

With a talented cast (Peter O'Toole was my main reason for seeing this and it was interesting how his final film and role would fare) and with such a good idea for the story, there was an at least decent film somewhere in 'Diamond Cartel'.An at least decent film that never comes out. 'Diamond Cartel' could have been far better. No, scratch that, it should have been far better. It could have been a diamond in the rough, it would not have mattered so much if it was not quite a gem considering the budget, but it fails to even be that and it completely fails to sparkle. Lets start with the few good things, being a fair (or try to be) reviewer who tries to see the good things in bad films. The photography and production design are not bad at all, looking generally colourful and slick. Armand Assante also attacks his role with enthusiasm, he is the actor who tries the hardest, is the least poorly used of the actors and is definitely the actor who comes off best.Regarding Assante though, it is clear that doing something with what he was given was not easy for him in having to work with such limp and unnatural sounding writing, too many far-fetched and on the wrong side of odd moments and an insipidly written character. In his favour, as said, he was clearly giving it a go and he was not completely wasted.That cannot be said for everybody else, with the rest of the cast looking uncomfortable and miserable in roles that are far too limited in writing and screen time. This is including Don Wilson and Bolo Yeung, have not seen in a while a film that wastes its cast like 'Diamond Cartel' does. It also has to be down there with the worst final films for any talented actor there is, Peter O'Toole deserved much better than this. There were talented actors that went out on career lows but still managed to be the best thing about the film in question (even the only good thing), Boris Karloff comes to mind. O'Toole was nowhere near close to being as lucky, didn't see the need for his involvement with his role being little more than a useless cameo with embarrassing dubbing that robs him of his distinctive speaking voice. The less said about Michael Madsen's phoning in the better.The dubbing as an overall whole, as has been said before in previous reviews, is terrible to the point of unintentional comedy. It certainly affects the dialogue, what was already a limp and cheesy script has those factors plus the strangeness and stilted-ness multiplied to the maximum. It also makes it difficult to take any of the characters seriously, a big problem when they were not interesting or likeable in the first place with insultingly stupid character behaviours. Moreover, the story never comes to life and is far too bizarre and far-fetched. The climax is far from spectacular, it was actually ridiculous beyond belief and not buyable or thrilling for a second. The action is clumsy and very deja vu, complete with confused editing at times. The effects are less than special as well, their slapdash look sticking out like a sore thumb.In summary, a long way from sparkling or a gem. 2/10 Bethany Cox

This review may contain spoilers I watched this movie on Netflix and came to IMDb to see if Peter O'Toole was really in the film.He was. I had some high hopes for this movie as it starts out with several b movie action stars sitting around a table. Sadly they are mere cameos and a group of mostly unknowns star in the actual movie.The story seems jumbled and hard to follow the action, what there is of it is mediocre. IMDb seems to connect this movie to another as a re=edited version of that film. Perhaps the original version made sense and was interesting. I found this version to be neither.Most of the actors,including Peter O'Toole are over dubbed. Even the narrator who is supposed to be the lead character(I think) sounds nothing like the on screen voice. I love campy outdated 80's style action flicks. I did not love this.Unless you have no choice watch something else.

This is just . . . strange, surrealistically bad. It's intended to be (I think) some sort Kazakhstan interpretation of cliché action movie vignettes, woven together into a bizarre concoction of what is supposed to be a story, of sorts. As a sort visual art piece, it does have its moments. Clearly a lot of work and technical effort went into this production, not to mention a budget to make this possible. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this film is who they managed to get to star in this strange production.The voice dubbing is beyond comical, but then again, that description summarizes this entire production. Clearly, this is not for everyone, or even that many, but for those looking for a weirdly out of sync, attempted cultural experiment in hybrid Kazakhstan dark comedy filmcraft, this might be your cup of tea . . . maybe.Rating? OK, 3 stars for effort.

Russian crime boss Mussa (Armand Assante) and Mr. Lo of Hong Kong make a $30 million dollar diamond deal that gets raided by Aliya, former Casino worker and trained assassin. Ruslan, a former lover and childhood friend of Aliya almost gets killed. As they make their escape, everyone is after them. "Nothing is what it seems" we are told by Aliya who does part of the narration. The film takes place mostly in non-scenic southern Siberia.The film opens with a lousy teaser and takes most of the film to get back to it. It starts out as a decent grindhouse with appropriate soundtrack, then is ruined by a lengthy Asian style love story. It has some good shoot outs but also a ridiculous car chase scene with 50's style effects for the car ride against the gang that couldn't shoot straight. The last five minutes attempts to make amends for a bad film by creating some idea of being twisty and clever. Peter O'Toole had a very small role near the end which he didn't do well.Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.