Endgame (2003)

A stylish British thriller about a male prostitue who becomes involved in a web of murder and deception. Stars Mark McGann, John Benfield and Daniel Newman.

Beauty and Violence

Not for the faint of heart.

Tom, an emotionally damaged British rent boy, accidentally kills his sadistic pimp during an attempted rape and turns to an American couple living in the flat one floor below for help. Despite being primarily a stylish thriller - which is not my usually thing - this one has all the character elements that make a film worthwhile for me.

The beatific Daniel Newman, as Tom, plays the character's exterior sexy insouciance perfectly, but keeps his broken boy vulnerability just close enough to the surface to be utterly heartbreaking - sort of a buffed up, new Millennium version of Davy Jones as the Artful Dodger. And this kid is my favourite sort of character - completely damaged goods in a cool, attractive package. That he finds some semblance of love late in the film, and in the least likely of places, has caused a bit of outrage among some viewers, but in the context of the story it made perfect sense to me. The mystery of Tom's tragic life, and the basis for his fear and distrust of men, is slowly [and poignantly] revealed in brief, wordless flashbacks.

Be warned, this is NOT a feel good film. It's violent, depressing, ugly and doesn't end particularly well. I'll even cop to fast-forwarding past two scenes of torture because I just wasn't up for it. But if you can stand it, this is a really wonderful and well-acted character piece.
March 5, 2008

Great Plot

A British TLA Production,is a great story. What seems to be another hustler movie, it develops into a cat and mouse thriller, and becomes other than just another "gay" movie.

The story revolves around a very high priced hustler (rent boy) who lives in a plush, expensive apartment provided by his pimp. Tom (Daniel Newman) is a real handsome young man with an equal body. George is the sadistic pimp, violent man who deals in drugs with a crooked cop Dunston, who gets free sex from Tom. He is getting cold feet and tells George that he wants to back out of any more deals. He has one more sexual session with Tom who tapes all of his encounters in a secret room where he has sex. Interesting enough George is shown in the beginning with his normal, handsome family, going to his son's violin's recital.

Tom meets an American couple who are his neighbors and becomes friends, Max (Corey Johnson) and Nikki (Toni Barry). One night they invite Tom for dinner while George arrives at Tom's apartment for a dose of violent, erotic, sadistic treatment with Tom, which is how he gets his kick. After Tom leaves his friends and goes back to his apartment, George starts beating him up. Tom pushes George, who falls and cracks his head on a table, dying. Tom panics and goes to Max and Nikki covered in blood. He asked for help to get him away and no call to the police. The American hesitate but finally giving in. They take him to a cottage they own in the country side.

After the police arrives at Tom's apartment, Dunston who is in charge of the case, discovers the secret room and all of the tapes which Tom has made. Dunston starts eliminating people in very brutal way. Max leaves the cottage and Nikki and Tom are left behind. Tom has sex with Nikki. Dunston murders Max to find out the location of the cottage. Dunston arrives at the cottage, Nikki gets shot to death as an accident. Tom hits Dunston (I am not sure if he died), and evidence was sent to his police department about him.

At the end of the movie, Tom is shown with a very rich older man as a couple.

It could be said that the acting of Tom as a gay is very put on (as someone else reviewed.) Tom comes out as a cross of a drag queen with one those guys with greasy hair out the 60's (West Side Story.) But you have to look beyond and see a credible thriller. Clips of his troubled childhood are shown throughout the movie reminds us the gay aspects of the story, but the psychopath cop takes the movie to another level. Hooray for the British!!! February 28, 2008

Sex and Violence

"ENDGAME"

SEX AND VIOLENCE

Amos Lassen and Cinema Pride

"Endgame" (TLA Releasing) is one of those movies that you love to hate and hate to love. Directed by Gary Wicks, it has some of the most brutal and blood chilling scenes I have ever seen and it also has a wonderful script and fine acting. A rent boy, Tom, (played by hunky Daniel Newman) is being kept by George Norris (Mark McGann) who is wildly masochistic and a gangster. George has set Tom up in a special bedroom furnished for two purposes---sexual pleasure and blackmail and he uses Tom as part of a lurid scheme that involves drugs, money and protection. From almost the moment this movie begins there is brutality,not just good old movie brutality,but the kind that causes you to grimace. There is one scene in a gay bar that I am never likely going to forget. If you like thrillers this is the movie for you. It is sexy, unnerving and very disquieting. There is not a dull moment in this move.
The term endgame comes from Chess and it is the final plan one has before winning (or losing). And this movie s about those final moves.
Through the use of flashbacks, we learn of Tom's childhood and how he came to become involved in male hustling. His past was one of abuse and unhappiness, his present is sordid, and his future does not look too good. As the recipient of much of the brutality in the film, he is also subjected to a great deal of verbal abuse. His "job description" says that he must turn tricks while his master takes care of the blackmailing. When he suddenly becomes involved in murder, Tom manages to flee his master and run away with the help of American friends but his problems are not yet over. There are some extremely graphic sex scenes as he settles into country living, Here is where I stop giving details so as not to spoil the movie for you.
One of the pluses of this film is how It manages to draw the viewer into the characters, as despicable as they may be. From the get go when sex and currency are equalized, the characters somehow manage to suck us in, into their minds, their psyches, and their brutality. This has not happened to me since "Bonnie and Clyde".
Sex has the power,it commands power and it can instill fear. When Tom is drawn into the seedy scheme, we are taken into a world that is disgustingly twisted. Tom becomes a hapless pawn in one of George's narcotic schemes with a Welsh cop who abuses his position of power. What ensues is a vicious circle of blood money, vice, and ruthless violence from which there seems to be no exit. Here is a study of concentrated evil?the character (George) is so obsessed with power and is indifferent to human suffering that he represents the personification of pure evil. In fact this movie would do well being subtitled as "A Study in the Nature of Evil". As violent as the movie is, what makes it even more interesting is that there is also a great deal of violence that you do not see,it is only suggested---but it seems as if you are actually seeing it as well.
Here is one of those thrillers that keep you on the edge of your seat while you cringe and cover your face. There is so happy ending and the chorus line will not appear on the screen with the final credits. I was relieved it was over because it meant that the violence stopped?but it didn?t. I actually awoke in the middle of a sound sleep,haunted by some of the images I saw.
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Amos Lassen
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January 3, 2007

I really liked it!!

I just sat down to watch the movie tonight and I was really impressed. It had me sitting on the edge of my seat through the whole movie. I am sorry about those that think that you should have reservations about seeing this movie, if you want to see a feel good movie without suspense and is not a gay theme movie, then go rent a Disney movie. October 1, 2006

endgame

it was an okey movie, the older guy was really creepy , but other than that was okey. February 26, 2006

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