User Reviews

In his first effort at directing, Michael Ironside completes his duties in fine fashion but is hamstrung by his own script that remains mired in the cliche-filled species of police procedural cinema, with a result that this low budget affair, although being a pleasure to look upon and seldom dull, is burdened with continuity flaws and overdone devices native to a genre well-kenned to Ironside. Better titled as BLOOD MONEY for its American home video release, the film's action begins with a robbery and murder of five drug dealers, upon which Detectives Connor ( Ironside) and LaPierre (Currie Graham) from a police department of an unnamed United States city, are assigned to the investigation that has also attracted the attention, for varying reasons, of two federal agencies that obviously place greater worth upon solving the crime than may be reckoned by dollar recovery. Ironside is quite ambitious within his screenplay and one readily perceives that a new primary character appears during nearly each scene in the film's first half - there are nine lead players and about 20 principals, with 11 roles cut to fit a two million dollar budget (a good portion of the cast worked at scale); however, providing appropriate dialogue for each character while fulfilling the many other directoral functions becomes a bit overwhelming for a first-time overseer. Ironside and Graham are as capable as ever in their parts and good turns are provided by Richard Riehle, Bill Dow and Jon Cuthbert, whereas peculiar Lori Petty is obviously somewhat of a tartar for Ironside and her role thankfully dims as the film (shot in Edmonton, Alberta) progresses; a standout contribution is from Brian Hebb for his cinematographic compositions utilizing highly creative lighting skills that are aptly wed to the palettes of designer Terry Gunvordahl and Jim Murray for his sets; an effective score is composed by Neil Smolar and the sound mixing is top-flight.

THE ARRANGEMENT might look terrible for two reasons. First, it's directed by one of the stars (Michael Ironside) and usually movies directed by their own stars are hard sells. Second it has a appalling score of 5,3 and only two reviews to date. All this would lead to a wretched movie. Yet, I saw it because I am apparently one of those guys who can stomach anything, so this shouldn't be a problem. Now I can go to the review.

It begins with a robbery organized by the mob where some underworld assassins get killed and a load of cash is stolen. In the meanwhile stripper Candy (Lori Petty) is the only eye witness that could implicate a vicious crime lord and her life is at stake. Now her only chances to stay alive rest on the shoulders of detective Jack Connor (Ironside) and his associates. After lots of chasing and hiding in the basement of a church, the villains will be arrested.

So is THE ARRANGEMENT that bad a movie as it might look? Yes and no. In the first half it looked nice and was going to give it a 8 or a 7, but as it progressed (especially after the church part) it dragged a bit and it made the acting (which was good especially by Ironside and Petty) stilted and the editing rushed. It had a nice atmosphere that was really 90s, and Ironside captured it well.

Overall, some sort of missed opportunity. It could have been a great forgotten movie but instead, it resorted to cheap measures.

I was interested in seeing this movie not just because Michael Ironside (one of my favorite actors) starred in it, but that he also wrote the screenplay and was the director - I was curious to see if he could make as great an accomplishment behind the camera as he usually does in front of the camera. Sadly, while I didn't think that this movie was a real stinker, it's overall a disappointment. There's nothing wrong with Ironside's acting, or the acting of anyone else in the cast. However, Ironside's story is kind of dull. There's an endless amount of talk, and there's no feeling of urgency or real action at any point. Had there been less talk and a bit more action or tension, Ironside might have had something here. As I said, this isn't a terrible movie, but I would only recommend it for die hard fans of Ironside.