Actuakers One of my all time favorites.
Skunkyrate Gripping story with well-crafted characters
Benas Mcloughlin Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.
Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film
sir_brettley It's a nice drama film but threads are picked up and dropped without adding to the plot. This is distracting and makes you wonder what was chopped out during editing to "tighten up" the movie. It's not that long, though (104 minutes) and scenes have been obviously reshot, so I think they simply ran out of money.For example, the "tough cop" played by Daniels receives a lot of screen time at first but then simply gets a letter stating that he has been dropped from active duty and oh, by the way, could he please turn in his gun and badge? Not only are those things done in person, we never see Daniels again. His character really isn't needed for the plot if he can be dropped without affecting it! Then there is the assassin, who gleefully shoots everyone at the drop of a hat but decides to knock out Stoltz's character instead. If Stoltz is needed alive later in the movie then why not have him escape, or shot but just wounded? You know the plot requires him later when Spader's character just bops him on the head.There are other problems as well, but I'm sure you'll notice them if you decide to watch. You just have to leave it up to sloppy writing/editing or really, really suspend your disbelief. :/
punishmentpark '2 days in the valley' is, as many films are, modeled after the work of Quentin Tarantino. A complicated crime story mixed with a lot of (near absurd) comedy on a deadpan level. And this one, like some others do as well, gets away with it. There are plenty of fun characters, the entanglements are fun and at times even pretty original, and the actors do pretty good jobs, especially Danny Aiello, Gregg Cruttwell, Jeff Daniels, James Spader and Charlize Theron - though I have no specific complaints about anyone in particular.A crime story, as said, and with a lot of comedy, but, also, there are some dramatic touches here and there, which pushes '2 days...' into the sentimental, but never too much. Nearing the end, there are a few too many happy coincidences for my taste, but alas.7 out of 10.
carbuff Well-written story with odd characters, intricate plot, and some callous but not excessive blood-letting. I don't want to give anything away, but this is one of those movies with a bunch of interlocking stories that come together and resolve at the end. There isn't a weak performance in the ensemble cast and the script is likewise pretty much rock solid. It was also really nice to see Spader before he got too chunky--he always had that doughy look and lately he's been looking anything other than svelte. A total treat which only makes you wonder why we suffer from such a dearth of good movies today, given that this dates way back to 1996 and there has been plenty of time to do at least as well.
Matt_Layden Here is an example of a film that tries too hard to be something it isn't. In this case, 2 Days In The Valley tries to be several different things at once. It tries to come off as this sleek crime film that has numerous characters whose lives interconnect over the course of 2 days. It's cast includes Jeff Daniels, Eric Stoltz, Charlize Therone, James Spader and Teri Hatcher, just to name a few.James Spader tries to emulate this cool talking bad-ass who gives his victims one minute to think about their life before they die. He literally takes out a timer and does this before shooting someone. It's a neat idea that doesn't come off as threatening or 'cool', which is what it looks like they were trying to do. I did like his performances though, just the little things that the character does is annoying.I didn't care for any of the characters, except for one. Now, this is where the film really drops the ball and is my main problem with it. I thought Jeff Daniels had the most interesting character out of the entire batch, but his story is never resolved or revisited. They literally drop him out of the picture half way through and this saddens me because I didn't give a crap about anyone else.I give the film props for the Teri Hatcher VS Charlize Theron cat fight. Even if it was just for the sake of having these two cuties get the guys all riled up. Their stories needed more attention I thought and others just didn't gel well with the rest of the script. A lot of the comedy was off and didn't flow with the rest of the film either.
