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Any Day AKA Fighting Demons
R2 - United Kingdom - Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Matthew Crossman (9th July 2015). |
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The Film
 Vian (Sean Bean) is released from prison after twelve years. He had been convicted of 2nd degree murder when he savagely beat a man to death at a party at which he was drunk. Vian had previously been a boxer on the cusp of a promising career when convicted, now released he has nothing. Vian turns to his Sister, Bethley (Kate Walsh), who lives alone with her Son Jimmy (Nolan Gross). Bethley’s Husband left them along time ago and now she struggles as a single mother. Bethley takes pity on Vian and allows him to stay in the garage until he can find somewhere permanent to stay but only on the condition that he does not drink. Vian’s next move is to try and find a job. After several unsuccessful attempts, mainly because he is an ex-convict, he finally finds work at Jerry’s Pizzeria which is run by Rowland (Tom Arnold). Vian and Arnold hit it off immediately. Things get even better for Vian when he gets a date with the beautiful Jolene (Eva Longoria) and all of a sudden his life seems to be back on the right track again. However, disaster is just around the corner in the form of several unfortunate incidents. First Vian is fired from his job at the pizzeria when he tells Rowland that he does not want him dating his sister Bethley. Then Jolene discovers that Vian is an a convicted murderer and this sours their relationship. Worst of all, Jimmy, Vian’s nephew is hit by a car whilst out on his bicycle and ends up in a coma. The relationship between Vian and Jimmy was all that Vian had left to cling onto and when Jimmy dies Vian seeks solace in alcohol. Returning to Bethley’s house drunk his sister kicks him out. Drunk and furious Vian goes to his old gym where he used to train and after being told to leave attacks the owner of the gym. The owner then, with the aide of some friends, savagely beats Vian. Vian ends up in hospital where he is informed that he is to be charged with assault and this will result in him going back to prison for a long time. Then, in a vision, he gets a visit from Jimmy that will change his life forever. With a relatively well known, and well liked, cast you would expect, or at least hope, for better. Unfortunately this film is flawed on so many levels that it’s difficult to know where to begin. Sean Bean as Vian does a reasonable job despite a slightly dodgy American accent. Tom Arnold probably took on his role as manager of Jerry’s Pizzeria for the reason that he was once an alcoholic and his character is in recovery too. I imagine that Arnold could sympathise with the role and took it on because of that and probably because his career basically fell off a cliff after ‘True Lies’ It’s interesting to note that ‘Fighting Demons’ does not appear on Arnold’s Wikipedia page. Eva Longoria looks like she lost a bet to appear in this film. ‘Fighting Demons’ does not appear listed on her Wikipedia page either. Kate Walsh as Bethley spends most of the film looking sad and angst ridden except for the scenes after her Son dies and then she just looks mildly perturbed as if she has just discovered that she left the milk out and it’s gone sour and the shops are closed. By far the most annoying, cloying, irritating part of the film is Nolan Gross as Jimmy. His huge, toothy grin and all American haircut are cringe worthy but acting ability is such that I would be surprised if he did not give himself splinters. I like children but when Jimmy dies it’s the highlight of the film. What starts off promisingly soon goes downhill once religion and the power of belief are involved. I have nothing against any religions of any sort but ‘Fighting Demons’ is akin to being lured onto a free trip to an exotic location only to find out it’s a time share seminar. The script is clunky and cliché ridden, the direction pedestrian, and the acting half hearted for most of the film. Only Tom Arnold looks like he's having any kind of fun. And if ‘little’ Jimmy was to fall down a well I get the impression that most of the other characters would be just as happy to board it up and forget that he ever existed.
Video
For something so poor the picture is pretty good. Nice, sharp detail with nothing really to complain about. Presented as 2.35:1 anamorphic ‘Fighting Demons’ has picture standards well above it’s station.
Audio
English Dolby Digital 5.1 and English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo are your options. It really doesn’t matter which one you choose as the rear surround speakers and the sub woofer are severely underused. No subtitles. This is becoming a bit of a bug bear with me. I do find it rather unacceptable that companies are willing to ignore the purchase power of people that are hard of hearing when it’s relatively inexpensive to provide subtitles.
Extras
There is a start up trailer for a western called ‘The Virginian’ and that’s all. Normally I would bemoan this fact but judging from the main feature this isn’t a bad thing. Actually, now I think about it, I would have loved a commentary on this.
Overall
I am loathe to be overly critical on films. I know how much time, effort and money is put into these productions. I also know they can be a labour of love. I think this must be one of those productions. If Christianity, miracles, etc, etc are your kind of thing then you may get something out of this. It has moments of poignancy, and the cast are decent, and some people will find this movie quite uplifting. Personally I found it to be preaching to the unconverted by stealth and poorly executed at that.
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