Grade (F)
One of the worst movies I have seen in recent memory and a classic example of how the film industry works at times.
“EXPOSED” stars Keanu Reeves and Ana de Armas, and follows a detective that pursues the truth behind his partners death. As he digs deeper he crosses paths with a random woman who is at the same time finding her life altered by grim messages from a greater power – this is the synopsis of the film if one had to be written but in actuality it plays out like a hodge-podge of random scenes and multiple stories patched together without much concern for continuity, development or understanding, for that matter.
This film was one of the messiest scripts I had seen in some time and it was enough to raise my attention to how this could happen. Sure this is a limited release film that some would call a B-movie but the issues in the story were beyond the point of simply being a bad movie. The pacing, flow and organization of this story-line were so off and unconnected it could not have been viewed as a complete film in the eyes of people who make them. 
Once I had read the exec’s at Lionsgate Premiere assumed they had acquired a Keanu Reeves driven cop-drama, and not the cultural drama, with deep undertones they actually had in their possession it all made sense. With the mass editing work done on this script to fit Reeves more into the film then originally planned, and the director removing his name from his first full-feature film, I can see now why this film turned out the way it did. Once again in the industry of film-making business overpowered artistic creativity and as always the result was an extremely messy, un-enjoyable film.
The performance of Reeves was flat, he was unlikable and brought nothing to the generic burnt out cop persona. Ana de Armas, to her credit gave a strong effort and it was clear she even thought they were making a different film than the one they actually were. She brought a great deal of emotion to the role but it was useless in building any true connection to her character, or to what was happening to her. This story felt like a dog chasing its own tail and held a slow pace, all the while going nowhere.
The story-line was built of random collections of scenes and show no cohesiveness, no flow and for the most part makes no sense as literally two completely different films try to battle for screen time. With neither making much sense. I wouldn’t have wanted to be the film editor trying to make rhyme or reason out of what they were supposed to do with the material they had and there is so surprise this one failed to deliver any intrigue or enjoyment. This film is not worth the time and if I was Keanu Reeves I would be counting down the days till “John Wick 2” hits theaters.
– Starring –
Keanu Reeves, Ana de Armas, Mira Sorvino, Christopher McDonald, Gabe Vargas, Big Daddy Kane
– Directed By –
Gee Malik Linton
(Under the pseudonym Declan Dale)
Time: 102 min
MPAA Rating: R (For violence including a sexual assault, and for language)
Petition Lionsgate to release the director’s cut – significantly better film.
http://tinyurl.com/h592gnd